The Tokyo Iced Tea swaps the cola for Midori, the bright-green Japanese melon liqueur. The drink turns a startling neon green and gains a sweet, candied honeydew flavour over the same formidable five-spirit base.
A Long Island that has stopped pretending to be tea.
The Colour Is the Point
Where the Long Island hides behind cola's brown and the Long Beach behind cranberry pink, the Tokyo Iced Tea does the opposite — it announces itself in vivid green. It is a drink with no interest in subtlety, and more fun for it.
Midori's Sweetness
Midori is sweet, so the Tokyo Iced Tea needs less added sugar than its siblings, and a firm hand with the lemon to keep it from cloying. The melon flavour is candied rather than fresh — part of the drink's frank, retro charm.
Sour to Balance
A Tokyo Iced Tea built without enough lemon is simply sweet. The citrus is what makes it drinkable — pull the drink toward sour, and the melon reads as a flavour rather than a syrup.
The Long Island Iced Tea Family
The infamous five-spirit highball — vodka, gin, rum, and tequila with triple sec, lemon, and a whisper of cola.
- 1/2 oz eachVodka, gin, rum, tequila
- 1/2 ozTriple sec
- SplashCola
The Long Island with cranberry for the cola — pink, tart, a touch brighter.
- 1/2 oz eachVodka, gin, rum, tequila
- 1/2 ozTriple sec
- TopCranberry juice
The Long Island with bourbon added — bigger, browner, and unrepentant.
- 1/2 oz eachFive white spirits
- 1/2 ozBourbon
- TopCola