Ube Alles: A Shochu Highball with Ube, Calamansi and Jasmine
- Aug 30
- 6 min read
A pale violet highball, fine bubbles, a deep white foam and a surface divided between clean white and ube purple. Ube Alles looks minimal, but the structure behind it is deliberately layered.
At its centre is Japanese rice shochu, supported by ube, jasmine and calamansi. Coconut and vanilla stay in the foam rather than filling the entire drink, while carbonation keeps the highball bright and refreshing.
The idea is not to recreate an ube dessert in liquid form. Ube Alles is built around contrast: earthy and floral, creamy and sparkling, visually simple but aromatically complex.
It also provides an accessible way to explore shochu, one of Japan's most distinctive spirit categories, through a modern cocktail rather than a traditional serve.
Ube Alles at a glance
Base spirit: Japanese rice shochu
Main flavour: Ube
Acidity: Calamansi
Aromatic component: Jasmine
Texture: Coconut Vanilla Cloud
Style: Sparkling highball
Profile: Floral, lightly earthy, citrus-driven and refreshing
Glassware: Ultra-thin highball
The important part is not the number of ingredients. Each component has a specific role.
Why rice shochu?
Shochu is a Japanese distilled spirit that can be produced from ingredients including rice, barley and sweet potato. Koji plays an important role in converting starches into sugars that can then ferment before distillation.
Unlike sake, which is brewed, shochu is distilled.
Different raw materials create noticeably different styles. Rice shochu, known as kome shochu, can provide a relatively clean and delicate profile. Barley shochu may move towards cereal and toasted notes, while sweet potato shochu can be considerably more expressive and earthy.
Ube Alles uses rice shochu because the objective is not to dominate the other ingredients.
The spirit gives the cocktail structure and a subtle fermented cereal character while leaving enough space for ube, jasmine and calamansi.
That makes shochu more than a neutral alcoholic base. It becomes the quiet foundation around which the rest of the cocktail is built.
Ube: colour, flavour and texture
Ube is the Filipino purple yam, botanically known as Dioscorea alata.
Its violet colour gives Ube Alles its immediate visual identity, but ube also contributes mild earthy sweetness, body and a soft, rounded character.
Its flavour is much more delicate than its colour suggests.
That creates an important challenge. Too little ube and the drink may simply look purple. Too much purée or another dense ube preparation can make a sparkling highball thick and heavy.
For Ube Alles, the ingredient therefore sits inside an Ube and Jasmine Cordial, where flavour, sweetness and texture can be controlled before the cocktail is assembled.
Jasmine and calamansi: aroma and contrast
Jasmine and calamansi work in opposite directions around the ube.
Jasmine adds a light floral aroma without significantly increasing richness. It lifts the earthy centre of the drink and helps the cocktail smell more complex than it tastes.
Calamansi provides brightness.
Its role is not simply to make the cocktail sour. The citrus sharpens the ube and introduces a fragrant character that sits naturally between the floral jasmine and the clean rice shochu.
Lime can be used as a more accessible alternative, but calamansi gives Ube Alles a more distinctive Southeast Asian direction.
Both ingredients should remain controlled. Too much jasmine turns the drink into tea. Too much calamansi hides the softer ube character.
Why coconut stays in the foam
Ube and coconut are a natural combination, but putting coconut throughout the entire cocktail would move Ube Alles towards a richer dessert profile.
Instead, coconut and vanilla are concentrated in a light foam.
This creates two textures in the same sip. The sparkling liquid remains relatively lean underneath, while the foam provides aroma, softness and richness at the surface.
As the drink is consumed, the two layers gradually integrate.
For a deeper explanation of this technique, see How Do You Make Foam for Cocktails?.
Why carbonation matters
Carbonation is a structural part of Ube Alles, not decoration.
Ube naturally brings body, so bubbles help prevent the drink from feeling dense. They also increase aromatic lift and create the fresh finish expected from a highball.
Keep every component cold, add the sparkling element near the end and minimise stirring afterwards.
For more on the technique, see Cocktail Carbonation: How to Add Bubbles Like a Pro.
Build cocktail concepts with a clearer structure
Complexity does not come from adding more ingredients. It comes from understanding what each ingredient contributes.
The Cocktail Design Masterclass explores ingredient roles, sensory targets and structured prototyping for developing more coherent original cocktails.
Ube Alles recipe
This is an R&D concept rather than a fully service-tested specification. The proportions are intended as a practical starting point for experimentation.
Yield: 1 cocktail
Technique: Short shake, fine strain, sparkling finish
Glassware: Very thin chilled highball
Serving temperature: Very cold
Ingredients
45 ml (1.5 oz) Japanese rice shochu
25 ml (0.85 oz) Ube and Jasmine Cordial
10 ml (0.33 oz) fresh calamansi juice
2 drops 20% saline solution
50 ml (1.7 oz) chilled Jasmine Soda
Coconut Vanilla Cloud, to finish
Fine ube powder
Method
Add the rice shochu, Ube and Jasmine Cordial, calamansi and saline solution to a shaker with ice.
Shake briefly, only long enough to chill and integrate.
Fine strain into a very cold highball.
Slowly add the chilled Jasmine Soda.
Give the drink one gentle lift with a bar spoon.
Add a generous layer of Coconut Vanilla Cloud.
Cover half of the surface and lightly dust the exposed half with fine ube powder.
The target is a pale violet, lightly opaque and visibly sparkling highball, with floral aroma, restrained sweetness and a clean citrus finish.
Ube and Jasmine Cordial
For a small experimental batch:
100 g cooked ube purée
150 ml strong jasmine tea
100 g white sugar
1 g fine salt
Dissolve the sugar and salt in the warm jasmine tea. Allow it to cool slightly, blend with the ube until completely smooth, then fine strain and chill.
The finished cordial should remain fluid. If it behaves more like a thick purée, reduce its concentration before increasing the quantity used in the drink.
Jasmine Soda
For an accessible version:
25 ml concentrated chilled jasmine tea
25 ml highly carbonated soda water
Combine immediately before service.
A more advanced approach can use filtered jasmine tea carbonated separately in suitable pressure-rated equipment.
The jasmine should remain delicate. It is an aromatic layer, not the main flavour.
Coconut Vanilla Cloud
A simple experimental starting formula:
80 ml aquafaba
80 ml coconut water
20 ml vanilla syrup
0.4 g xanthan gum
Blend until completely smooth and aerate using an appropriate foaming method.
The goal is a soft, fine-bubbled white foam, not a stiff whipped topping.
The final ube powder is applied only to half of the foam, creating the visual contrast that defines the drink.
Could another shochu work?
Yes.
Changing the shochu could move Ube Alles in a completely different direction.
A lighter barley shochu could introduce more cereal and toasted notes. A more expressive sweet potato shochu could strengthen the earthy relationship with ube, but it could also compete more strongly with jasmine and calamansi.
The original concept uses rice shochu because it creates the most space for the other elements.
The wider lesson is that shochu should not be treated as one flavour.
Just as changing the style of rum can transform a Daiquiri, changing the raw material and production style of shochu can significantly alter a highball.
Common mistakes with Ube Alles
The drink feels too heavy
Reduce the concentration of the ube component before simply adding more soda.
More carbonation cannot fully compensate for an excessively dense base.
The ube disappears
Simplify the surrounding flavours.
If jasmine, vanilla or calamansi become too intense, adding more ube may only make the drink thicker without making its flavour clearer.
Jasmine or calamansi dominates
Reduce the intensity gradually.
Jasmine should provide aroma rather than turn the drink into iced tea, while calamansi should bring freshness without converting the structure into a conventional sour.
The carbonation or foam fails
Work as cold as possible, add the sparkling component last and minimise agitation.
For the foam, check the complete formulation rather than simply increasing the thickener. Temperature, particles and fat can all affect stability.
From concept to signature drink
For a venue or brand that needs an original cocktail developed around a particular spirit, ingredient or visual direction, the Starter Package for one cocktail provides professional development of a single signature serve.
Final thought
Ube Alles may attract attention because of its violet colour, but the more interesting story sits underneath.
Rice shochu provides a quiet Japanese backbone. Ube gives the drink identity and texture. Jasmine and calamansi create aroma and contrast, while carbonation and coconut foam allow freshness and richness to exist in the same glass.
It is also a useful reminder that shochu should not be treated simply as a neutral Asian spirit. Different raw materials and production choices give bartenders a much broader palette to explore.
Ube Alles uses only one expression of that palette, but that is exactly where the possibilities begin.
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Written by: Riccardo Grechi | Beverage Manager, Bar Consultant & Trainer
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