Yuzu drinks: yuzu tea, yuzu soda and yuzu lemonade

The short answer

Yuzu drinks are citrus drinks with a tart, fragrant, grapefruit-and-lime taste. The easiest way to make them is with a yuzu syrup: 15–30 ml of syrup in 100 ml of water, tea or soda, over ice. One bottle covers yuzu iced tea, yuzu soda, yuzu lemonade and yuzu bubble tea.

What is yuzu?

Yuzu is an East Asian citrus fruit, popular in Japanese and Korean food and drinks. It is more fragrant than a lemon and less sharp than a lime, which is why it works so well in cold drinks. Our Yuzu Flavor Syrup is a yuzu-flavoured syrup made for drinks: it gives that tart, grapefruit-and-lime taste in one pour, with no fruit to cut or juice.

The base method (printed on our bottle)

1. Add 15–30 ml of yuzu syrup to the cup.
2. Pour 100 ml of water or milk and mix well until the syrup dissolves.
3. For more depth, add 10–15 ml of green tea or black tea beverage concentrate.
4. Add 5–10 ice cubes.
5. Optional: put 30–40 g of tapioca pearls, nata de coco or popping boba in the cup first.

Use more syrup for a sweeter, bolder cup and less for a lighter one.

Ways to serve yuzu

• Yuzu iced tea: the base method with green tea concentrate. Light and fresh, and the most common yuzu drink on café menus.
• Yuzu soda: the base method with chilled soda water in place of plain water, for a fizzy yuzu cooler.
• Yuzu lemonade: yuzu syrup with chilled water and ice, served as a citrus lemonade-style drink.
• Yuzu fruit bubble tea: the base method over popping boba or nata de coco, which pair well with citrus.

Yuzu is best in cold drinks. For a milk-based drink, our creamier syrups such as brown sugar or ube are the usual choice.

Other citrus and fruit syrups

If yuzu sells well on your menu, the same method works with kumquat lemon, sakura rose and dragon fruit. All are 700 ml bottles, made at our FSSC 22000 plant in Hyderabad. Compare them all in our bubble tea syrups guide.