I wanted to create a lighter style Old Fashioned variation in a similar vein of Joaquín Simó’s Young Laddie, which uses Bruichladdich Scotch and the same bitters. I had the idea of using Suntory Toki since it is also a lighter whisky. I chose honey syrup as the sweetener since I knew it would pair well with the Toki’s apple notes. What else pairs with honey? Green tea! So, I decided to freeze a cube of Japanese Sencha for the ice cube. I knew grapefruit and hops also paired well with green tea, so this seemed to make sense. If I’m being generous, it follows the old punch traditions a bit by featuring tea so prominently. The name of the drink translates to “tea time” since it uses tea and since “Toki” or “時” from the whisky name translates to “time”; pretty self-explanatory. I decided that this drink needed a bit more sweetness than a standard Old Fashioned due to the slightly higher dose of bitters and the extra bitterness and grassy flavors from the melting tea ice cube. You will notice that the drink is a bit on the sweet side, but as the ice continues to slowly melt, you may understand why this was necessary. Sencha is quite bitter and astringent, even when using a good quality one. Overall, it drinks like a slightly sweeter, slightly lighter Old Fashioned variation with a tea and grapefruit angle. Hope you can give it a try soon!
Ocha no Jikan (お茶の時間)
Ingredients
- 2 oz Suntory Toki
- ½ oz honey syrup 1:1
- 2 dashes Bittermens Hopped Grapefruit bitters
- 2 dashes Peychaud's bitters
- Sencha tea for ice cube
Garnish:
Instructions
- Freeze a large ice cube made of brewed sencha tea.
- Combine all ingredients in rocks glass.
- Add tea ice cube.
- Stir to chill.
- Dilute.
Garnish
- Grapefruit twist
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