Tokyo Tea
Tokyo Tea is a bright green spin on Long Island Iced Tea made with Midori melon liqueur. It’s sweet, citrusy, and even better than the classic!
Here’s a neon green drink that’s as eye-catching as it is delicious: Tokyo Tea! This spin on the Long Island Iced Tea stars Midori, a honeydew melon-flavored Japanese liqueur.
Reserve your judgement until you taste this one, because it is by no means a low-brow drink! As a cocktail expert, I find it refreshing and zingy, infused with intriguing flavor notes from the lemon, orange liqueur, and bright melon.
What Is a Tokyo Tea?
Tokyo Tea, aka Tokyo Iced Tea, is a spin on the ultra popular Long Island Iced Tea. This ubiquitous cocktail was invented in the 1970’s and has now been canonized by the International Bartenders Association (IBA) as a classic cocktail.
Honestly, I rarely order a Long Island Iced Tea because it’s pretty potent, but make the LIIT correctly and it actually tastes balanced and delicious. Use quality liquor, fresh citrus and higher-end Cointreau as the orange liqueur, and it’s bright, nuanced and sweet tart. Adding Midori liqueur makes it into Tokyo Tea and it actually tastes even better with a light honeydew melon nuance.
Ingredients in a Tokyo Tea
Fair warning: this drink does called for six different liquors, so it’s for those of you with a well-stocked liquor cabinet. Here’s what you need to make Tokyo Iced Tea:
- Vodka: Any mid-range bottle works; I like Tito’s.
- Tequila: Blanco is my go-to here, but whatever you have works.
- White rum: White rum has a light flavor so it doesn’t compete with the melon.
- Gin: Just a half ounce adds botanical complexity.
- Cointreau: I typically use Cointreau as my orange liqueur of choice, but triple sec works too.
- Fresh lemon juice: Freshly squeezed only! It makes the drink.
- Simple syrup: It’s easy to make at home with my How to Make Simple Syrup tutorial.
- Midori: The star! More on this green liqueur below.
- Soda water: Add a splash of bubbles to top it off.
What Is Midori?
Is it worth buying Midori for Tokyo Tea? In a word: yes! If you’re a cocktail enthusiast, it’s a fun liquor to tinker with. Here’s what I’ve learned about it:
- Midori is a bright green, honeydew melon flavored Japanese liqueur. It was first released in 1964 as Hermes Melon Liqueur. It was released in the US in 1978 under the name “Midori,” the Japanese word for green.
- It tastes sweet and melon-forward, with a candy-like honeydew melon flavor.
- A bottle is affordable: a small bottle (375 ml) costs around $15, and a large bottle (750 ml) is about $25-30.
Buy it for a Tokyo Tea and you can also make other famous cocktails with Midori like the Midori Sour and Japanese Slipper.
How to Make a Tokyo Tea
You can build your Tokyo Tea drink right in the glass: so you don’t have to dirty a cocktail shaker or spend time shaking! The only time involved here is measuring out each liquor. Here’s all you need to do to make this easy drink:
- Stir: Pour the components into a highball glass. Add ice and stir.
- Add soda water: Then top it off with soda water! No shaking required. Garnish with a cocktail cherry if you’d like.
Substitutions and Variations
The Tokyo Tea calls for a laundry list of liquor that can seem daunting! Here are a few ideas for some substitutions:
- Midori: No substitute! You’ll absolutely need Midori for Tokyo Tea. If you don’t have it, go to Long Island Iced Tea instead.
- Vodka: You can leave it out and double one of the other liquors.
- Tequila: You can leave it out and double one of the other liquors.
- White rum: Use another type of rum (aged or dark) if you don’t have white on hand. Aged adds a sophistication to the flavor. Or you can leave it out and double one of the other liquors.
- Gin: You can leave it out and double one of the other liquors.
- Cointreau: Want a Cointreau substitute? Use Triple Sec, Grand Marnier or Orange Curacao.
When To Serve Tokyo Iced Tea
Tokyo Iced Tea is great for sipping in summer or warm weather, but you can drink it all year round. Try it as a:
- Summer cocktail
- Happy hour drink
- Dinner party drink
- Late night drinks drink
- Guys or girls night drink
- Cocktail hour drink
Frequently Asked Questions
They’re comparable: both have about 4½ ounces of alcohol per drink. The Tokyo Tea can taste a bit stronger since soda water dilutes less than a full pour of cola.
The two drinks have the same base of five liquors, lemon juice, and simple syrup. A Long Island Iced Tea is topped with cola, while a Tokyo Tea uses Midori and soda water, giving it a bright green color and sweet melon flavor.
It tastes sweet and citrusy with a honeydew melon flavor from the Midori. The lemon juice and soda water keep it refreshing.
Yes! Multiply the ingredients (except soda water) and stir them together in a pitcher with ice, then pour into glasses and top each with soda water just before serving.
Tokyo Tea
Pin RecipeTokyo Tea is a bright green spin on Long Island Iced Tea made with Midori melon liqueur. It’s sweet, citrusy, and even better than the classic!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 1 drink 1x
- Category: Drink
- Method: Stirred
- Cuisine: Cocktails
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- ½ ounce* vodka
- ½ ounce tequila
- ½ ounce white rum
- ½ ounce gin
- ½ ounce Cointreau (or Triple Sec or other orange liqueur)
- ½ ounce fresh lemon juice
- ½ ounce simple syrup
- 1 ounce Midori
- 1 splash soda water
- For the garnish: Cocktail cherry (optional)
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients (except soda water) in a highball glass. Fill it with ice and stir.
- Top with splash of soda water. Add the garnish if desired, and serve.
Notes
*½ ounce = 1 tablespoon
More Midori Cocktails To Try
Want to use up your bottle of Midori? There are a few other Midori cocktails starring this green liqueur:
- Midori Sour Midori, lemon and lime make a sweet tart, brilliant green drink.
- Japanese Slipper Pair Midori with Cointreau and lemon for a classy cocktail
from A Couple Cooks
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Sonja Overhiser
July 10, 2026 at 02:16PM
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