{"id":3563,"date":"2026-03-20T05:55:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T05:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/?p=3563"},"modified":"2026-03-20T05:55:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T05:55:00","slug":"sakura-season-is-brief-these-are-the-drinks-to-try-while-it-lasts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/?p=3563","title":{"rendered":"Sakura Season Is Brief \u2013 These Are the Drinks to Try While It Lasts"},"content":{"rendered":"

These drinks capture Japan\u2019s most fleeting season, says Alice Lascelles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Cherry blossom season in Japan is one of the wonders of the world \u2013\u00a0but it\u2019s not just a feast for the eyes, it\u2019s a delight for the nose and palate as well. For those few short weeks, sakura <\/em>blooms are in and on everything; infused into sake, blended with tea and soda, on rice and cakes, and tweezered into cocktails.<\/p>\n

The traditional way to toast the season is with a cup of sakurayu, <\/em>or cherry blossom tea, made by steeping salted cherry blossoms<\/a> in hot water to create a delicate infusion. If they\u2019re mixed with tea leaves then it\u2019s more often known as sakura-cha<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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The Kioku bar at Raffles London is offering blossom-themed cocktails<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sakura-cha is on the menu at SABO<\/a>, a tea room by renowned designer Shinichiro Ogata, that\u2019s housed in the stylish Hanamurasaki<\/a> ryokan in Ishikawa. Made from a blend of cherry blossoms and sencha from a local tea garden, it\u2019s served from early April «until the cherry blossoms fall. It is a quiet and elegant way to welcome the arrival of spring,» says owner Kohei Yamada.<\/p>\n

(If you prefer your tea unsalted, Rare Tea Company<\/a> also does an excellent unsalted tisane made from rare \u2018Rumjache\u2019 blossoms hand-picked in the Himalayas, which gives the tea subtle aromas of rose, cranberry, sweet hay, and marzipan-y bitter almond.)<\/p>\n

Japan does a great line in drinking vinegars, and for a really refreshing, non-alcoholic highball, I love sakura-infused rice vinegar, mixed 1:4 with sparkling water. The sweet-and-savory recipe by the 300-year-old vinegar maker Tobaya Suten<\/a> is particularly good \u2013\u00a0produced seasonally, it sees rice vinegar steeped with blossoms for six months and then seasoned with mirin, sugar, and soy sauce.<\/p>\n

See more:\u00a0<\/em>The Best Restaurants in Tokyo<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

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\u00a9Barmini \/ Kevin Parisi <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Sakura\u2019s delicate notes also marry well with sake \u2013\u00a0and Hayashi Honten\u2019s seasonal Hyakujyuro Sakura Junmai Daiginjo<\/a> is a treat. Palest ros\u00e9, with notes of pear, red apple skin, wild strawberry, and a mouthwatering, saline finish: it\u2019s intense but elegant. It\u2019s produced in very small quantities, just once a year, so get it while you can.<\/p>\n

(The Hyakujyuro series of sakes is named after a celebrated early 20th<\/sup>-century Kabuki actor from nearby Kakamigahara, who donated 1,200 cherry trees to line the banks of the city\u2019s Sakai River, and which you can still see blossoming today.)<\/p>\n

See also: The Japanese Island You\u2019re Not Visiting (But Should Be)<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Cherry blossom doesn\u2019t just take place in Japan, of course \u2013\u00a0it\u2019s also famously good in Washington DC<\/a>, particularly around the Tidal Basin which is planted with cherry trees that were gifted to the city by Tokyo<\/a> in 1912 as a token of friendship. To celebrate the blossom season this year, several of the city\u2019s top bars have teamed up to create a two-week Festival of Friendship, during which time they\u2019ll be offering snacks and drinks with a Japanese twist.<\/p>\n

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\u00a9Moon Rabbit \/ Kevin Parisi <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Silver Lyan<\/a> has created a Sakura Vesper, made from blossom-laced Roku gin and a sakura pickled onion; while the Vietnamese restaurant Moon Rabbit<\/a> is serving a whisky cocktail with a shiso shrub. At Jose Andres\u2019s inventive barmini<\/a>, meanwhile, you can sample a Hibiki Harmony whisky cocktail with a matcha ‘air’. (The Festival of Friendship runs from March 25 to April 12).\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re in London<\/a> in the next fortnight, make a beeline for the 14-seater Waltz<\/a> bar in Old Street, where owner Gento Torigato will be serving a seasonal sakura cocktail made with sake, shochu, a dash of bourbon, and cherry blossom liqueur, prepared with all the style and precision of the very best Tokyo bars.<\/p>\n

The sake-focused Kioku<\/a> bar at Raffles London is also offering a trio of blossom-themed drinks, including a sakura-and-red-shiso gimlet, a Martini made with sakura tea-infused vermouth, and a highball of rhubarb, fermented strawberries, and homemade sakura distillate.<\/p>\n

A good addition to your cocktail cabinet, meanwhile, would be a bottle of Mancino Sakura Vermouth<\/a> which marries traditional vermouth botanicals with the gentle florality of Kyoto cherry blossoms and Italian violets. Great with gin or vodka, in a Martini, or simply sipped neat, over ice.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

These drinks capture Japan\u2019s most fleeting season, says Alice Lascelles.\u00a0 Cherry blossom season in Japan is one of the wonders of the world \u2013\u00a0but it\u2019s not just a feast for the eyes, it\u2019s a delight for the nose and palate as well. For those few short weeks, sakura blooms are in and on everything; infused […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","beyondwords_generate_audio":"","beyondwords_project_id":"","beyondwords_content_id":"","beyondwords_preview_token":"","beyondwords_player_content":"","beyondwords_player_style":"","beyondwords_language_id":"","beyondwords_title_voice_id":"","beyondwords_body_voice_id":"","beyondwords_summary_voice_id":"","beyondwords_error_message":"","beyondwords_disabled":"","beyondwords_delete_content":"","beyondwords_podcast_id":"","beyondwords_hash":"","publish_post_to_speechkit":"","speechkit_hash":"","speechkit_generate_audio":"","speechkit_project_id":"","speechkit_podcast_id":"","speechkit_error_message":"","speechkit_disabled":"","speechkit_access_key":"","speechkit_error":"","speechkit_info":"","speechkit_response":"","speechkit_retries":"","speechkit_status":"","speechkit_updated_at":"","_speechkit_link":"","_speechkit_text":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3563"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3563\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/facesjournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}