Tokyo Tea Shot

Vodka, gin, rum, tequila, and Midori — the 1972 Long Island formula with Suntory's 1978 Midori replacing cola, turning the drink from amber to vivid green.

The Tokyo Tea Shot is a variation on the Long Island Iced Tea, one of the most recognizable American cocktails of the modern era. The Long Island Iced Tea was created in 1972 by Robert Rosebud Butt at the Oak Beach Inn on Long Island, New York, as an entry in a cocktail competition requiring the use of triple sec. The drink's mixture of vodka, gin, rum, tequila, and triple sec with a cola float created a cocktail that mimicked iced tea's amber appearance while concealing substantial alcoholic strength. The Tokyo Tea variation substitutes cola for Midori, the Japanese honeydew melon liqueur introduced to the American market in 1978, transforming the drink's color from amber to vivid green and adding a distinctly Japanese character through Midori's sweet melon profile. Shot versions of Long Island-style cocktails became popular in the 2000s as bars created compressed single-serve versions of their most popular cocktails.