Japanese Yuzu Cocktail

Yuzu Chuhai | Yuzu Sour | Japanese Yuzu Cocktail

JULY 2, 2012

by NAMI

This coming Wednesday, July 4th is the United State’s Independence Day.  It’s a day of celebration, with great barbecue food and drinks, and watching fireworks.  Since I don’t like the taste of beer, I’ve decided to share one of my favorite Japanese alcoholic beverage called chuhai for other non-beer drinkers to celebrate this  holiday.  I enjoy all kinds of fruity chuhai and this particular chuhai has Japanese citrus fruit yuzu juice in it and it’s very refreshing!

Chuhai (チューハイ, 酎ハイ) is a cocktail containing the Japanese alcohol called shochu (焼酎), soda, and any kind of fruit juice.  In Tokyo area we sometimes call it Sour (サワー)  instead of chuhai.  This cocktail is very popular in Japan, commonly served in izakaya-style restaurants and restaurants that cater to Japanese salary workers.  Have you tried shochu or chuhai/sour before?

If you are curious about this chuhai recipe or want to know more about this Japanese cocktail, please find my full post about it on Ang Sarap today.  You might remember Ang Sarap because the blogger Raymund shared his delicious Kare Kare (the popular Filipino dish) recipe on my blog while I was in Japan last April.   He has numerous recipes in various cuisines on his blog and I’m sure you will find some recipes you want to try for this week’s meals!  Please click HERE to see the post.  I hope you enjoy the drink and Happy July 4th!

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Yuzu Chuhai | Yuzu Sour | Japanese Yuzu Cocktail Recipe

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Yield: Makes 1 drink

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup club soda (soda water)
• 1/4 cup shochu (brand or type doesn’t really matter)
• 1 Tbsp. simple syrup
• 1 tsp. yuzu juice (see picture below)
• Ice cubes
• 1-2 Tbsp. Korean Citron Tea (Yuja Cha) (optional)
• Lime/lemon slices for garnish (optional)
Simple Syrup (enough for 2 drinks)
• 1 part (1/4 cup) water
• 2 parts (1/2 cup) sugar

Instructions:

1. Combine club soda, shochu, simple syrup, and yuzu extract in a glass and mix well.
2. Add ice cube and Korean Citron Tea (optional) and mix well.
3. Garnish with lime or lemon, and serve immediately.
4. For Simple Syrup, bring the water to a boil in a small saucepan. Dissolve the sugar into the boiling water, stirring constantly. Once the sugar is dissolved completely, remove from heat and let cool completely and thicken.

Enjoy!