This cocktail was created by Martiny's bartender Takuma Watanabe based on his imagination of what the cocktail culture would have looked like if it had existed during the Azuchi-Momoyama period* (1568-1600), when the tea ceremony was at its peak and the samurai culture was enjoying its golden age.

November is the most delicious season for both shochu and matcha, as it is the month when the new shochu and matcha of the year are released after maturation. This cocktail is made with the finest matcha from Kyoto, which is used in formal tea ceremonies, and served not in a cocktail glass but in a ceramic vessel called Bajo-hai.

Bajo-hai were used in ancient times by Chinese and Japanese samurai to drink sake while riding on horseback, and were later used in Japan for drinking matcha.

Please enjoy the best matcha shochu cocktail and feel like a samurai of 400 years ago!

*The Azuchi-Momoyama period was the heyday of the tea ceremony and also the time when shochu was first produced in Japan. It was also a period when many Westerners came to Japan and Japanese and Western cultures merged. Sen no Rikyu, Japan's most famous tea master, lived during this period, and it is said that the ritual he invented of drinking matcha (powdered green tea) by passing it around mimicked the ritual of passing around red wine at Christian masses.

iichiko Shochu is the native spirit of Japan – a white spirit that’s incredibly rich in flavor, yet smooth and easy to drink with food.

iichiko is a true expression of a pristine natural environment. iichiko is crafted in Oita Prefecture on Kyushu, Japan’s southernmost island – a region famous for its clean air, lush greenery, dense cedar forests, mountainous terrain, and geothermal springs. For more information, please visit this Web site.

https://www.iichiko.com