Tokyo Iced Tea

Difford’s Guide
Discerning Drinkers (31 ratings)

Serve in a Sling glass

Ingredients:
12 oz Light white rum (charcoal-filtered 1-4 years old)
12 oz Hayman's London Dry Gin
12 oz Ketel One Vodka
12 oz Patrón Reposado tequila
12 oz Cointreau triple sec liqueur
12 oz Green melon liqueur
1 oz Lime juice (freshly squeezed)
1 23 oz Lemon-lime soda (Sprite/7-Up) chilled
× 1 1 serving
Read about cocktail measures and measuring

How to make:

  1. Select and pre-chill a Sling glass.
  2. Prepare garnish of lemon slice wheel.
  3. SHAKE first 7 ingredients with ice.
  4. STRAIN into ice-filled glass.
  5. TOP with lemon-lime soda (or lemonade)and briefly stir.
  6. Serve with a straw.

Review:

You will be surprised how the half shot of melon liqueur shows through the many other ingredients.

View readers' comments

Variant:

Adios, Motherfucker (AKA Alaskan Iced Tea - with blue curaçao in place of green melon liqueur.

History:

When, where and who added green melon liqueur to a Long Island Iced Tea to create the Tokyo Iced Tea is unknown. Who would want to own up to doing such a thing?

It's a cocktail I identify with TGI Fridays during the mid-1990s when the chain was known for the professionalism of its bartenders and consequently was very influential. The Tokyo Iced Tea doesn't appear in any of the cocktail books I have from the 1980s, indeed its first appearance in print is credited to Paul Knorr's 2007 10,000 Drinks: 27 Years' Worth of Cocktails.

Nutrition:

One serving of Tokyo Iced Tea contains 203 calories

Alcohol content:

  • 1.7 standard drinks
  • 14.35% alc./vol. (14.35° proof)
  • 24.4 grams of pure alcohol

Difford’s Guide remains free-to-use thanks to the support of the brands in green above. Values stated for alcohol and calorie content, and number of drinks an ingredient makes should be considered approximate.

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10th January at 18:23
Not bad at all, my first experience and I’d say it was a bit like a salt free margarita - and no worse for that! Question now is, how many years will the Midori sit in my cupboard?
15th November 2024 at 16:57
Like honest I expected something which is Long Island iced tea taste from this twist, and then I went to a renowned bar. Their bartender crafted me this thing and it turns out like a whole cup full of lemonade which is rather boring… I expected more from this recipe, but it turns out to be like a big cup of lemonade.
Simon Sedgley’s Avatar Simon Sedgley
30th October 2024 at 04:08
We thought the melon liqueur was fighting a lone uphill battle against the spirits and sours. So we added 15ml Aqua Bianca. Lifted it nicely for us. A very refreshing cocktail.
10th January 2024 at 20:22
I used what I had to hand (el espolon tequila, normal clear lemonade instead of sprite) and it turned out really nice, a lovely jade green colour too.
Avery Garnett’s Avatar Avery Garnett
14th February 2023 at 16:47
It's...fine. It tastes of nothing in particular, which makes it significantly more headache than you care for when you've got to grab 8 different bottles.
JACQUELINE KIRK’s Avatar JACQUELINE KIRK
7th May 2021 at 19:14
I have fuzzy memories of drinking too many of these on my 21st birthday in San Francisco O_o
I do think the ingredients used were not very high-quality :D I will revisit this with the recommended alcohols here and hopefully create a better memory of this cocktail! Now that we're adults...
William Y’s Avatar William Y
23rd September 2020 at 16:01
Followed the recipe and the drink turned out to be slightly green instead of the yellow color with the photo, it tasted great nevertheless =)
Simon Difford’s Avatar Simon Difford
23rd September 2020 at 16:15
The photograph dates back to 2001, before we used digital cameras so the colour could be an image processing rather than mixing issue. Worthy of an update!
John Hopkins’ Avatar John Hopkins
8th August 2020 at 11:45
Love this variation on a Long Island Iced Tea.