KI NO TEA, The Limited Edition Juniper Gin

Whether its convenience stores, karaoke or gastronomy, one thing is clear — Japan is able to render sublime whatever cultural tenet it appropriates. It is certainly true of KI NO TEA, a gin made from juniper berries.

This luxury gin is the fruit of the collaboration between a distillery in Kyoto that launched KI NO TEA in 2015, and the tea maker Hori-Shichimeien whose tea plantation is the most famous in the Uji region. The tea leaves used for the product — Tencha and Gykuro — originate from a portion of the land that has been in use for over seven hundred years.

The process then alternates between steeping and distilling. It would be easy to ramble on with a story that is both poetic and meticulous, but to keep things brief, the gin is now available in a collector edition. Try it for yourself.