Matcha Gin Sours

The first time I made this, it was at the tail-end of a dinner party, and there was about 8 of us. I wasn't sure what I'd been expecting, aside from thinking that perhaps I have a bit of matcha and lemons to spare. I was making the drinks in bulk, shaking two cocktails’ worth at once (which is a no-no because ice, melting to form water, is an essential part of a cocktail and shaking two drinks at once throws the balance off.) 

I hadn’t added the egg whites either, because I didn’t know how it was done. I’m sure it sounds silly to people who are familiar with cocktail basics, but I didn’t, and I had some doubts about how to make raw egg whites safe for consumption.) Still, my unauthorised ways made such delicious cocktails, and I knew I needed to learn some bartending basics to do this drink justice.

Despite owning one of those cocktail shakers for several years, I’d never felt like I’ve gotten the hang of making cocktails until recently. Some drinks like this citrusy fizzy cocktail were happy little accidents, but most of the recipes that I’d done were perhaps only alright at their best.

Perhaps like reading the right book at the right time in my life just hits differently, we wait for the right season to learn some of these things. 

I took a detour exploring using egg white powder to create the foam, which didn’t work out well. It wasn’t until a work friend and I talked about tiramisu one day, and how he bought pasteurised eggs specially for it, that pointed me in the right direction. What would anyone accomplish without friends? 

So this is me on my first attempt using pasteurised eggs, which turned out much better than I could have asked for. It’s picture-perfect, and tasted absolutely wonderful. The one bad habit that I kept on with was making two cocktails at a go, which works well here for this recipe. It's perfect if there's someone to split it with, but if not, well, we all have been through one of those days where you just need a couple of drinks.  

Is it a party drink though? Only in the sense that to make this for loads of people, you need a whole party to help out.


Matcha Gin Sour
Makes 2 servings
Adapted from Takes Two Eggs 

Ingredients

Matcha Mixture (1 part, makes 2 servings)
1/2 tsp matcha powder
2 tbsp water

Matcha Gin Sour (makes 2 servings)
1 part matcha mixture (above, entire portion)
4 part gin
2 part lemon juice (from a lemon)
4 part simple syrup
1 egg white (from 1 medium-sized, pasteurised egg)

Steps
1. In a small milk pitcher or bowl, whisk matcha powder with water until no dry clumps remain. I use a handheld milk frother and a milk pitcher, which I found to be the most efficient way.

2. Dry shake (without ice): Add the matcha mixture, gin, lemon juice, simple syrup and egg white to a cocktail shaker. Shake vigorously for 1 minute until frothy.

3. Wet shake: Add ice and shake again until the shaker is thoroughly chilled, about 20-30 seconds. Pour out into cocktail glasses and serve.

Note: a possible alternative to pasteurised eggs would be liquid egg whites, though I haven’t tried that for myself.