Green Tea Hugo Spritz Recipe

The Green Tea Hugo Spritz is a lightly sweet, floral spritz cocktail made with elderflower liqueur, brewed green tea, and sparkling wine. This drink is riff on a classic Hugo Spritz, a popular aperitif cocktail that was invented in northern Italy. 

Elderflower liqueur is a lightly sweet, floral, and fruity ingredient best known through St-Germain, a French liqueur whose production starts with the wildflower harvest that kicks off in May and lasts six weeks. Once the flowers are harvested, they are processed with a technique called dynamic maceration where the blossoms are submerged in warm water that is constantly moving to slowly infuse their flavors and aromas.

The elderflower extract is then blended with a mix of sugar, grain alcohol, and French brandy, which gives the liqueur depth and a silky mouthfeel. Its golden hue comes from the pollen present on the flowers, naturally dying the extract. The result is a complex liqueur with notes that go beyond the aromas of the elderflower itself, recalling passionfruit, mango, white grape, melon, and pear with a floral freshness.

Why the Green Tea Hugo Spritz works 

Katie Renshaw, lead bartender at Hawksmoor, a British steakhouse in Chicago, developed this recipe to highlight how the flavors present in elderflower liqueur blend seamlessly with green tea’s clean, grassy flavor profile and subtle earthiness. It’s made with equal parts iced green tea and Prosecco with a base of the elderflower liqueur, yielding a low-ABV drink that is perfect for aperitivo hour. 

The notes present in the drink are reinforced by the fresh garnishes: the vegetal quality of the green tea is echoed by fresh mint, and the citrusy notes in the Prosecco enhanced by a fresh lemon wheel.

This recipe was developed by Katie Renshaw; the text was written by Lucy Simon.