Cherry blossom season is pretty much done by mid-April in Washington, D.C., and even here in Southern California, but that doesn’t mean I won’t continue to celebrate spring with more bloom-inspired cocktails!

Japan’s Hanami season follows a similar window, and festivals from Vancouver to Macon, Georgia mark it the same way: get outside, enjoy the start of spring, and sip or bite everything and anything with a cherry blossom theme.

Lychee and cherry blossom are both soft and floral, and they work together without one pushing the other out. Lychee juice brings a tropical sweetness with a faintly musky, rose-like edge.

Real cherry blossom syrup that I made from preserved sakura blossoms, not cherry brandy or pink food coloring, sits somewhere between almond and rose water.

It adds fragrance and rounds out the lychee without competing or overwhelming that lychee flavor I love (and my neighbor with a baby and toddler apparently does too because she just asked if I could make her another this weekend on my weekly drop off of test cocktails. Ha!)

Vodka, lychee juice, cherry blossom syrup, shaken cold and strained into a coupe. It’s a simple drink that tastes like the season.

What cherry blossom syrup actually tastes like

If you haven’t used it before: it does not taste like cherries.

The flavor is floral and lightly sweet, with a faint almond note and a fragrance closer to rose water than anything fruity. In this cocktail, it provides the sweetness and adds fragrance without taking over the lychee.

The cherry blossom syrup recipe I like to use includes salt-preserved sakura blossoms, but I have three ways you can try. The hibiscus version gives the syrup a pale blush color that is pretty in a coupe glass.

It’s one of the simple syrups that’s hard to find in a reliable premade form, as it tends to go SUPER floral and way too sweet for a cocktail (in my not-so-humble opinion).

The lychee juice

Canned lychee in syrup is easy to find, and the juice from the can works fine here. Surprisingly, I don’t grow my own lychees, nor do I intend to, so canned is what I will always use unless I happen to find some fresh at the market.

If you want something a little cleaner, look for lychee juice rather than lychee nectar. Nectar tends to be thicker and sweeter, which can push the whole drink way to into the “only lychee” flavor direction.

Use Vodka (not gin)

Unlike the Sakura Drift Martini, which gives you a choice between vodka and gin, this one needs vodka. The lychee juice is already the dominant flavor, and you really wouldn’t taste the botanicals of the gin, which is one of the main points of drinking great gins.

Use something neutral and clean. A vodka with its own sweetness or flavor added will muddy what’s already a delicate drink.

Add a rose water twist

This is optional, but it’s worth trying at least once.

A tiny amount of rose water (between 1/8 and 1/4 teaspoon) deepens the floral quality and makes the drink smell even better before you take a sip. Rose water is potent, though. A few drops too many, and it crosses into perfume or soap real quick.

Start small, taste it, and stop before you think you’re done.

If you’re curious about working with roses more broadly, check out my guide to roses in cocktails, which covers rose water, rose syrup, petal garnishes, and how to use them without ruining a drink.

Garnish

A single lychee fruit on a cocktail pick is really all you need, and since you have a can of lychee for the syrup, you have your garnish already built in.

If you want to add something more, a dried cherry blossom or edible flower floated on top works well without overcomplicating things. The cocktail garnishes section has more ideas if you want to go further.

Don’t skip the double-strain. I use a Boston shaker and hold a fine-mesh strainer over the coupe as I pour. It takes a few extra seconds and keeps the drink clear (er), with no ice chips or cloudiness.

The glass

Use a coupe, chilled for about 10 minutes in the freezer before you pour.

A V-shaped martini glass lets the aromatics go too quickly, which is the last thing you want in a drink built around two delicate floral ingredients. The wide, shallow bowl of a coupe keeps the drink cold and holds the fragrance a bit longer.

If you’re looking to add coupes to your bar, these everyday coupe glasses are one of my favorite picks. These others are what I pull out when the occasion calls for something that looks a little nicer.

Both are in my Amazon shop, along with everything else I actually use (or want to use) at home.

Mocktail Version

Lychee juice, cherry blossom syrup, and soda water.

Shake the lychee juice and syrup with ice, double strain into a chilled coupe, and top with a splash of sparkling water. Add a drop or two of rose water if you’re using it in the cocktail version. Garnish the same way.

The lychee and cherry blossom are flavorful enough that you don’t really miss the vodka.

Other cherry blossom cocktails in this series

• Cherry Blossom Bee’s Knees
• Cherry Blossom Quiet Old Fashioned
• Falling Petals Gimlet
• Herbal Sakura Garden
• Pear Sakura Collins
• Petal & Stone Sour
• Sakura Drift Martini
• Strawberry Sakura Smash
• Cherry Blossom Green Tea Spritz
• Lychee Blossom Spritz
• Lychee Sakura Martini
• Pink Grapefruit Sakura Sour
• Cherry Blossom French 75 — gin, cherry blossom syrup, lemon juice, topped with Champagne
• Sakura Spritz — cherry blossom syrup, prosecco, splash of soda, over ice

Also worth making while the season lasts: the Pear Lychee Martini uses lychee syrup and elderflower for a similar register. And the Citrus Bloom with orange blossom syrup is a good spring follow-up once the cherry blossom window closes.

Lychee Sakura Martini Recipe

Glass: Coupe (chilled) Yield: 1 cocktail

Ingredients

• 2 oz vodka
• 1 oz lychee juice
• 0.5 oz cherry blossom simple syrup
• Optional: 1/8 to 1/4 tsp rose water
• Garnish: 1 lychee fruit

Instructions

1. Add vodka, lychee juice, cherry blossom syrup, and rose water (if using) to a cocktail shaker.
2. Add ice and shake hard for 15 to 20 seconds until thoroughly chilled.
3. Double strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a chilled coupe glass.
4. Garnish with a lychee fruit on a cocktail pick.

Mocktail: Shake lychee juice and cherry blossom syrup with ice, double strain into a chilled coupe, and top with soda water. Garnish the same way.