I’ll Be🐝your Honey🍯Bee!
The Matcha Bee Cocktail is THE fresh-As-Spring cocktail to wake you up after a long winters hibernation. It’s creamy with floral, citrus and grassy notes all in one delicious tipple 🥂. This is my new, go-to “Crafted Cocktail”. Try this Matcha Bee Cocktail. I mean, it’s practically health food in a cocktail glass.
Mind Your Bees-Ness
When a young girl’s old lady’s fancy turns to thoughts of spring, naturally, bees 🐝 come to mind. This year it’s all about the bees. We’re starting a new hobby, beekeeping. Well, I am watching this new hobby, my husband is the beekeeper around here. He’s all in it, and I’m all about what I can make with all the great stuff that comes from it! Honey, honeycomb and of course, pollen 🍯. As tribute to the arrival of spring and our newest obsession, I bring you, The Matcha Bee Cocktail! It’s springtime in a glass.
This is all thanks to my sister and her sweetie pie’s holiday gift to my husband last Christmas. A complete beekeeping start-up kit. Everything he needs to get into the bees-ness of honey bees 🐝 . Our first queen bee 👑 arrives in April and we are anxiously awaiting her majesty.
In honor of the impending coronation, here’s a delicious cocktail 🍸 to turn your attention away from winter and onto delightful and refreshing thoughts of spring.
Why I Could Never Be Royalty 👑 🐝
Unless you have a real need to know, I wonder how many of us have stopped to question what makes a queen bee and what makes worker bee. I certainly never thought about it until recently.
When bees are first hatched, they all eat *royal jelly. In order to become the queen, it appears that she must eat the royal jelly exclusively. The ability to abstain from eating what the common worker bees eat, a mixture of pollen and honey, and only eat the royal jelly is the key to the royal coronation and a life of privilege.
That’s the reason I could never be “The Queen”. I am sure that, faster than lightning, I would have put my sweet-loving finger into the honey pot 🍯 and immediately been thrown out of the royal court. Cast away from the palace and off to the life of a common worker bee.
It’s good to be queen, but with all good things, apparently some sacrifice is mandatory.
What is Royal Jelly?
*Royal jelly is a milky secretion produced by worker honey bees 🐝 . It typically contains about 60% to 70% water, 12% to 15% proteins, 10% to 16% sugar, 3% to 6% fats, and 2% to 3% vitamins, salts, and amino acids. Its composition varies depending on geography and climate. (PS, there is no royal jelly in this Matcha Bee Cocktail! 😉)
Matcha Honey Syrup
The sweetener in this cocktail is a green tea and honey simple syrup. You can alter the recipe depending upon how many cocktails you plan to make. This recipe is enough for about 3 cocktails.
Into a small sauce pan add 1/3 cup water and let it come to a boil. Add 1 teaspoon of matcha powder and whisk to combine. Set the heat on medium low and add 1/3 cup honey. Whisk to combine and simmer until everything is well combined and the honey has melted into the syrup, about 3 minutes. Cool completely and store in a covered container in the refrigerator, up to 2 weeks.
Match Bee Cocktail 🥂🥃
Shaking the cocktail ingredients first, without ice is the “dry-shake method”. This is the best way to get the most frothy, creamy topping from the egg white.
Into a cocktail shaker, without any ice, add 2 ounces gin, 3/4 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice and 1/4 ounce elderflower liqueur and 1/2 ounce of matcha honey simple syrup, one egg white and 2 dashes of grapefruit bitters.
Shake vigorously for about 30 seconds.
Add 1 cup of ice, and continue to shake another 25 to 30 seconds. Strain the cocktail into a chilled coup or cocktail glass .
Garnish with a lemon peel or try a fresh flower bloom (clipped to the side of the glass).
Ingredients
- 2 ounces gin
- 1/2 ounces Matcha Honey Simple Syrup
- 3/4 ounces freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1/2 ounce elderflower liqueur
- 2 dashes grapefruit bitters
- 1 egg white
Garnish
- Lemon Twist or small flower bloom clipped to the outside of the glass
For the Matcha Honey Simple Syrup
- 1 teaspoon matcha powder
- 1/3 cup boiling water
- 1/3 cup honey
Instructions
Match Bee Cocktail
- Into a cocktail shaker, without any ice, add 2 ounces gin, 3/4 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice and 1/2 ounce elderflower liqueur and 1/2 ounce of matcha honey simple syrup, one egg white and 2 dashes of grapefruit bitters.
- Shake vigorously for about 30 seconds.
- Add 1 cup of ice, and continue to shake another 25 to 30 seconds.
- Strain the cocktail into a chilled coup or cocktail glass.
Garnish with a lemon peel or a small flower bloom (clipped to the side of the glass)
- Cheers!
For the Matcha Honey Simple Syrup
- Into a small sauce pan add 1/3 cup water and let it come to a boil. Add 1 teaspoon of matcha powder and whisk to combine.
- Set the heat on medium low and add 1/3 cup honey.
- Whisk to combine and simmer until everything is well combined and the honey has melted into the syrup, about 3 minutes.
- Cool completely and store in a covered container in the refrigerator, up to 2 weeks.
