Here’s the short list of my personal rules that are violated by the drink in the photograph:
- Do not combine Chinese and Japanese elements.
- Do not mix caffeinated beverages with alcoholic beverages.
- Do not drink tea cold.
Despite all of the above, I tried – and enjoyed! – shochu oolong (Oolong Hai) this past weekend. One of the staples on nearly every Izakaya (居酒屋) (Japanese pub) menu, it is a combination of oolong tea with shochu, served over ice in a highball glass. Shochu (焼酎) is a traditional Japanese distilled alcohol made from grains, usually barley or wheat, and/or sweet potatoes. Its character is completely unlike sake and its alcohol content is considerably higher.
Kaname Izakaya and Shochu Bar in the International District in Seattle where I tried this drink, feels like a bar designed more for Issei (一世) and Nisei (二世), than for locals who approach the International District like tourists. You will not be able to get one of those absurd and trendy “saketinis” there, but you will be presented with interesting and more traditionally Japanese adventures in food and drink. I admit to being tempted by the shochu maccha, although my motivation would have been pure curiosity, not anticipation that it would actually be a pleasing experience to drink. The waiter admitted that he had never tried it himself, and my impression was that he had no desire to. Unlike the shochu oolong, the shochu maccha is served hot, I assume in a traditional ceramic shochu cup.
The particular drink that I tried was made with Takara Jun, a distillation of Corn, Barly and Sugarcane and the resulting beverage was quite smooth and refreshing. The oolong tea provided a mild, dark flavor counterpoint to the shochu, also serving to tone down the high alcohol content. I do not know the specifics of the oolong tea used, but it tasted like most medium-grade oolongs, without a tremendous amount of distinctive flavor or scent. And really, when a tea is going head-to-head with grain alcohol, there’s little need for it to be of subtle or refined flavor. Of course the Japanese do not limit themselves to drinking only Japanese grown and processed teas, but oolongs are very distinctly Chinese and therefore the shochu oolong, while a distinctly Japanese drink, is a curious combination of Japanese and Chinese elements. In this case it works quite well and is a drink that I would choose again, presented with the opportunity.
Wow, that sounds fantastic! I think I’ll try to make one of those myself …
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Left by Tonnvane on June 17th, 2008
It was the perfect thing for a rainy, cold summer day.
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Left by Cinnabar on June 17th, 2008
Hi! I’m not sure if you’ll see this reply to a your 8-month old post, which I came across by Googling “oolong hai” in a thus-far unsuccessful attempt to discern the tea-to-shochu ratio of the conconction. (By coincidence, I too am in Seattle.)
I thought you might be curious to know that Wann, the Japanese izakaya franchise in Belltown, uses a bottled oolong for the cocktail — specifically one from large-scale Japanese bottled tea brewer Ito En. It’s available at Whole Foods under the brand name “Teas Tea” or at Uwajimaya as “Ito En Golden Oolong.” (And while most tea snobs, including myself, would recoil on principle at the idea of bottled anything — I’m normally partial to high-quality oolongs from Floating Leaves in Ballard — Ito En makes a surprisingly distinct and flavorful bottled product.)
Anyway, Wann uses the same brand of shochu for their mixed drinks as Kaname does; it’s likely that they use the same tea as well. If you happen to discover the mixing proportions somehow, please post them!!
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Left by D. on February 24th, 2009
8 months old, but certainly still relevant.
I haven’t been to Wann, but I was at Kaname a couple weeks ago and noticed that Ito En oolong that they were using in the Oolong Hai and remembered seeing it at Uwajimaya. I can’t imagine bottled oolong being good for anything else either, but I can see that it’s perfect for shochu cocktails. I semi-watched them make an Oolong Hai since I was sitting at the bar, but I wasn’t trying to take note of details. Perhaps a reconnaissance mission is in order. I think it should be fairly easy to tell what proportions they’re using if you can watch them make it.
I see what you mean about the dearth of oolong hai recipes online. I found this really great list that has all kinds of wonderful shochu recipes EXCEPT oolong hai:
http://www.nymtc.com/pl_shochu/cocktail.html
Or you could buy the ingredients and experiment with making it yourself until you make it taste the same. The main variable is going to be how much water to put in, I think. Now I’m racking my brain trying to remember which local liquor store I was in recently that had shochu. I talked myself out of buying any that time.
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Left by Cinnabar on February 24th, 2009
I too just randomly stumbled across this entry via google… and it’s nice to (finally?) see a feature on oolong-hai in the English-speaking world.
I wanted to add my two cents about the whole “recipe” concept. While industralized izakayas probably have their own house recipe for a la carte orders, I’ve found in my years spent in Japan’s nomi-ya-sans (local pubs) that oolong-hai is meant to be a never-ending drink.
Shochu (or imojochu, depending on where you are in Japan) are the default poison at many nomi-ya, perhaps only rivaled by the obligatory “nama” (draft beer) at the very beginning. So instead of ordering cocktail after cocktail, you usually choose your “warimono” (mixer) after the nama, and the “barmaster” or “mama-san” (bartender) automatically refills it when it’s near empty. This is all assuming that you participate in “bottle keep”, but that’s another story. Anyhow, the better the mama-san, the more often your drink gets filled… and the result is a magical buzz that lasts for the entire night.
If you do want a more empirical approach that is still in faith of the Japanese way, try this method:
-Fill ANY glass to the brim with ice cubes
-Pour Kyogetsu-green (http://www.suntory.com/business/liquor/shochu.html) or Jinro (yes, Jinro IS used in Japan too) into the glass until it’s about 1/4 full
-Pour in Suntory oolong tea until full
-Give one or two quick stirs with a bar spoon
-Kampai! When the glass gets to be 3/4 empty, repeat!
Though this drink rarely induces a hangover, one of the more not-so-fun side effects is a strange half-awake/half-asleep haze you get from the caffeine come 4am… at that point, it’s time to switch your warimono to water
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Left by Rainier on June 28th, 2009