Silhouettes of You – Ki No Tea Gin
The third bottling of gin from the Kyoto Distillery highlights a special botanical also used in the other gins. Obviously, we are talking about green tea. Japanese culture and green tea have a deeply rooted connection and the Ki No Tea reflects that. Of course, this also means that I had to come up with a cocktail honouring this heritage and the Japanese green tea tradition.
Well, let us first take a look at the Ki No Tea Gin which was developed in collaboration with tea-grower and blender Hori-Shichimeien. Similar to its brothers the botanicals for the “Tea” are distilled in separate groups. Uji teas, especially Tencha and Gyokuro, form the special part of this edition. On top of that, the Kyoto Distillery blends the tea spirit with a secret mix of other botanicals. What they do disclose is that the base spirit consisting of juniper, orris root as well as Hinoki chips and the citrus spirit with Yuzu and lemon make it into the mix. All in all, the Ki No Tea is bottled at an ABV of 45,1 %.
Delightful green tea notes
Even on initial impression, the Ki No Tea shows distinct green tea notes. However, they tend more towards the sweeter spectrum, without actually being sweet. On top of that, you do not get a lot of umami notes, as you would with freshly brewed green tea. Behind it all there is a layer of the familiar Ki No Bi notes. You can detect juniper and some citrus notes along with quite some spices. I enjoyed the “Tea” very much. When mixing up a G&T with it, I went for the dryer Le Tribute Tonic. The resulting highball was quite dry with the distinct green tea notes from the gin. All in all, the Gin & Tonic was quite the pleasant sip.
Built – highball glass over ice cubes – top off with tonic water;
Garnish: Dried Grapefruit Half;
More green tea!
I guess that somehow the White Lady was the inspiration for my cocktail with the Ki No Tea Gin. Yet, I also added a bit of Kabuse powder tea and changed the orange for ginger liqueur. To balance everything out I also included a bit of coconut blossom syrup. I have got so used to replacing egg whites with Aqua Faba that I almost do not think twice about it. However, if you want you obviously can also use egg white.
1,5 cl Dwersteg Ginger Liqueur
3 cl Cold Keiko Kabuse No. 2 Tea
3 cl Lime Juice
1,5 cl Coconut Blossom Syrup
1,5 cl Aqua Faba
Garnish: Matcha Green Tea Pocky Stick;
Song: Isaac Gracie – Silhouettes of You;
Like the gin the cocktail starts off with noticeable green tea notes. However, they are accompanied by herbal and spicy notes from the gin and the ginger liqueur. After a short while the lime juice introduces a refreshing element to the mix. The Aqua Faba balances the whole recipe and adds a nice mouthfeel to the “Silhouettes of You”. To be honest, I am quite pleased with the way the drink turned out.
*The fact that I received a product reviewed in this article for free, did not – in any way – influence the rating of said product. The gin was provided by Pernod Ricard.
