Inspiration Komorebi
You inhale deeply and close your eyes. You can almost smell it. The sunlight as it filters through the leaves of the trees and dances over your face. When was the last time you breathed this deep? The gentle rustling of the wind is almost deafening because for the first time in as long as you can remember it’s not competing with the thoughts in your head. Your eyes open and the profound simplicity of life washes over you. There is nothing more than this. It’s easy to get lost in the deadlines and schedules, but everything comes right back to here. To the stillness - the calm. You spread your fingers through the carpet of grass underneath your hand, lightly gripping it so you don’t fall right off the world. Your head tilts towards the sky and you inhale again. God it’s good to breathe.
“Komorebi” is one of my favourite words from the Japanese lexicon. It means, “the visible rays of sunlight as they filter through the leaves of trees.” Earl Grey has always held such peaceful association for me, conjuring memories of sitting by the Nanaimo River on Vancouver Island in the early spring, watching the last of the snow melt from the tree branches in the warmth of the sunlight.
The Four O’Clock® Classic Earl Grey Black Tea also works extremely well with Japanese cuisine flavours because of the strong citrus quality lent by the bergamot. That flavour profile is what we’ll lean into with this recipe. Our base for this sour is Junmai sake which is a particular style of sake that translates as “pure sake”. Junmai sake is made with only rice, water, yeast, and koji (used in all sake production to help break down the starches of rice into sugar the yeast and convert them into alcohol). This differs from other styles which may include additional sugar or alcohol to achieve their desired results. What I like about Junmai sake is the clean and flavourful profile it has which mixes really well into cocktails.
The Four O’Clock® Classic Earl Grey Black Tea foam is going to substitute for egg white for a vegan foamer. Vegan foamers are a great alternative to egg whites and is a combination of botanicals and plant-based proteins that expand and foam when whipped. Traditionally they are flavourless, but why waste an opportunity to make a beautifully flavoured foam by using tea instead? The best part about making this flavoured foam is that it lasts for quite a while and doesn’t take up that much space in your fridge.
Orgeat is classically made from almond milk, orange blossom water, and sugar. The name has grown to become an entire category of syrups that substitute water for the “milk” of nuts, seeds, or grains. Classic recipes call for making your milk from scratch which does produce great flavour but can be quite messy. My suggestion is to simply buy the milk you need from a store - easier and less clean up!
When it comes to finding rice milk, I suggest the “Rice Dream” brand which can be bought online or at your local health food store.