This Coffee Cocktail Is A Naka Knock-Out

Hey Pete Licata, there’s a cocktail in Seattle with your name on it.

Here now, Nik Virrey—who alongside friend Brandon Paul Weaver makes up half of Seattle’s best known professional coffee-slash-booze duo—shares a new coffee cocktail dubbed thePeat Licata.

The name, a nod to the 2013 American World Barista Championship winner and whiskey from the peat-forward Scottish island of Islay, is now being shaken and served at Naka on Capitol Hill. The kaiseki restaurant from chef/owner Shota Nakajima opened its doors last June to positive early reviews, with Virrey helming the bar.


Mixed drinks (or as Virrey calls them “plated cocktails”) match the beautifully presented multi-courses coming out of the kitchen at Naka and arrive with plenty of eye candy: one drink is served in a glass resting on crushed ice that’s strewn with fresh greens and berries, another is served shot-style inside of a carved out cucumber that looks like a flower. Plated, indeed.

This sort of elevated drinking might not work for everyone on every night, but if you want to try something for a special occasion, you’d be smart to start with Naka’s just-sweet-enough Peat Licata, served on a wood tray alongside an origami crane resting on moss, fragrant burning cedar chips, and coffee displayed in whole bean, ground, and brewed states.


Weaver created the concept, named the drink, and roasted the coffee; Virrey executed it. Naka serves the cocktail —an infusion of amaro to celebrate bitterness, Scotch whiskey for smoke, homemade nutty syrup, more bitters, and exceptionally strong brewed ice coffee—starting at 5 p.m. every day except Tuesday, when the space rests.

Check out the recipe below (origami is optional but recommended):

Peat Licata

-Meletti, 1.25 ounces

-Ardbeg, .5 ounces

-Smoked Pecan Syrup, to taste

-Scrappy’s Aromatic Bitters, to taste

-Kenya Kirinyaga Kiangoi AA (1:6 coffee to water ratio; hot-brewed ice coffee)
Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake like mad, strain, and serve up.

Make the delicious cocktail

The bottles: Owl’s Brew mixers, $10 for 8-ounce bottle, or $17 for 32-ounce bottle

The back story: We love our tea. And we love our booze. So, why not combine the two in a cocktail?

That’s the premise behind Owl’s Brew, a two-year-old line of tea-based mixers that can be combined with a wide variety of spirits (vodka, whiskey, tequila, etc.). It’s a concept that has found a strong market in relatively little time. Sales of the mixers are projected to hit $1.7 million this year — more than four times the total in 2014, according to the company — and the product is showing up everywhere from the shelves of Whole Foods to the bars in Loews Hotels. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that tea itself is so popular (wholesale tea sales climbed 10.7% to $10.84 billion over the last two years, according to Statista.)

The mixer line is the brainchild of Jennie Ripps and Maria Littlefield, marketing pros with a passion for (what else?) tea. The team admits their idea wasn’t a slam-dunk when they first floated it. “Historically, mixologists have been working with tea for a long time, but the person at home didn’t think tea could stand up to spirits,” says Ripps. Then again, Ripps and Littlefield weren’t looking to craft plain-Jane mixers—tea is the key ingredient, but it’s hardly the only one in the four varieties Owl’s Brew has released to date. They range from “The Classic” (English Breakfast tea with lemon and lime) to the newly launched “White and Vine” (white tea with pomegranate, lemon peel and watermelon). Tea is versatile enough to invite such combinations, Ripps adds, and that’s even before booze is added to the equation.

As for the brand’s name, it’s intended to promote the idea that tea is “wise” drinking, especially because of the high concentration of antioxidants in the beverage. Plus, the brand says that it uses only organic ingredients. Says Ripps: “Even if you’re drinking cocktails, you should know what you’re putting in your body.”

What we think about them: It’s hard to believe that it’s taken someone so long to come up with the concept of tea-based mixers, because it’s a pure winner. The mixers play up tea’s naturally refreshing quality, but they take that refreshment in different directions — whether it’s the lemon-y appeal of “The Classic” or the more exotic, tropical qualities of “Coco-Lada” (black tea with coconut, chai spices and pineapple). Moreover, the resulting cocktails change a great deal depending on the spirit that’s added to the mixer — and part of the “fun” of Owl’s Brew is seeing these differences in the combinations.

How to enjoy them: As mixers go, Owl’s Brew has what might be called an “open platform” approach — that is, you’re really not confined to any category of spirit. For that matter, you’re not even confined to spirits: The brand says you can combine the mixers with wine or beer in some instances (for example, “White and Vine” blends well with wheat beer, Ripps says). Or, if you prefer to go the non-alcoholic route, just add some seltzer. Cheers!


Super-easy, super-tasty and summer-tastic. Per serving:

2 lemon wedges

50ml gin

15ml elderflower cordial

Limonata (a proper one, like San Pellegrino)

1 lemon slice and 1 mint sprig, to garnish


Squeeze the lemon wedges into a highball glass, then discard the spent wedges. Add a decent handful of ice cubes, pour in the gin and cordial, and top with limonata. Garnish and serve.