Yesterday I shared with you some holiday recipes I will be making. The cocktail’s recipe contained 1 ingredient many of you may not be familiar with: Green Tea Liqueur.
Honestly, I just discovered it myself this summer while I was in Toronto. The Quebec liquor stores SUCK when it comes to variety so I had to pay a visit to the Toronto Liquor store and that is where I saw the bottle of Green Tea Liqueur. Since I actually have some left I wanted to include it in my holiday cocktail recipe.
It appears from my quick online search only one company makes it and it is sold under the name of Zen Green Tea Liqueur. But I also came across some homemade recipes! Since most of you will not be able to find this product (and it’s more expensive too) you can just make your own! I think I paid about $36 for the Zen bottle. Making it yourself will probably run you about $20 ish dollars. That is a savings of $16. Like making your own liqueurs? Check out my green almond liqueur recipe.
Homemade Green Tea Liqueur
- 6 tsp. green tea leaves (loose, good quality)
- 3 cups vodka
- 1 cup syrup
- 2-3 drops green food coloring
The tea leaves should be steeped in the vodka for only 24 hours; longer makes the liqueur bitter. Shake the jar or bottle well when you add the leaves. Add the sweetener and coloring the next day.
How easy is that! here is a sugar syrup recipe too!
Sugar Syrup
Equal parts of sugar and water, bring to a boil and simmer for five minutes. Cool before adding to the recipe.
I made it! Thank you very much. I can’t even find this product in Japan however I tasted it a long time ago. But I just had a tiny taste of my homemade concoction from your (Cunningham) recipe and it’s every bit as green tea as green tea is. I used Smirnoff 100 proof sans the green food coloring. Will try searching for some cocktail recipes later. I guess you’ve deleted the original holiday ones you posted back in 2009 as the link just brings me to the beginning of the blog posts. Thanks again!
Thanks for your comment Richard, o glad you made the recipe and are so happy with the results. I have been playing around with the tags, I retagged holiday but it is everything related to the holidays, the recipes are in there. Cheers!
Oh Conor! I challenge you to create that dessert! Like a green tea ice cream parfait with green tea liqueur.
Glad I saved you a trip to the calculator drawer 😛
I suspect my penchant for green tea ice cream would extend over to green tea liqueur. Perhaps I could make a boozy green tea dessert..? Hmmm…
Oh and thanks for doing that savings calculation for us, was about to get my calculator 😉
i love green tea! I’m sure the cocktail possibilities are endless with this!