If you've looked over our summer menu, you may have noticed something a little unexpected: an Iced Yuzu Latte.
That usually leads to the obvious question:
What exactly is yuzu?
If you've never tried it before, you're not alone. While yuzu has been a staple of East Asian cooking for centuries, it's only recently begun appearing on café and restaurant menus throughout the United States.
What Is Yuzu?
Yuzu is a small citrus fruit native to East Asia. It likely originated in China before making its way to Japan more than 1,300 years ago, where it became an important part of Japanese cuisine.
About the size of a tangerine, yuzu has thick, bumpy skin that ranges from green to bright yellow as it ripens. It produces much less juice than a lemon or orange, but what it lacks in quantity it more than makes up for in aroma.
In fact, chefs often prize the zest even more than the juice because the peel is packed with intensely fragrant essential oils.
One of the things we love most about coffee is how often it introduces us to ingredients, cultures, and traditions from around the world.
Yuzu is a perfect example.
What Does Yuzu Taste Like?
This is where yuzu really stands apart.
Most people describe it as tasting somewhere between lemon, grapefruit, and mandarin orange—bright like lemon, gently bittersweet like grapefruit, and finished with the sweet floral aroma of mandarin.
The result is a citrus that's vibrant, fragrant, and surprisingly complex. It adds brightness without overwhelming the other flavors around it, which is exactly why chefs and bartenders have embraced it.
Why Is Yuzu Suddenly Everywhere?
Although yuzu has been part of Japanese cuisine for centuries, it's become one of the fastest-growing citrus flavors on American menus in recent years. Food & Wine notes that restaurants and cafés are increasingly featuring it because it offers something familiar yet entirely unique.
Today you'll find yuzu in everything from ponzu sauce and ramen broths to cheesecakes, sparkling teas, cocktails, and specialty coffee drinks.
Why We Added It to Our Summer Menu
One of our favorite parts of creating a seasonal menu is introducing people to ingredients they may not have tried before.
Our Iced Yuzu Latte combines espresso, milk, and yuzu into something that's bright, refreshing, and just a little unexpected.
Rather than tasting like lemonade or orange juice, yuzu adds a delicate citrus brightness that complements the natural fruit notes already present in many coffees. It brightens the drink without competing with the espresso.
One Fruit, Centuries of Tradition
Sometimes discovering a new favorite flavor doesn't require traveling halfway around the world.
Sometimes it just starts with ordering something a little different.
If yuzu is new to you, we hope you'll give it a try.
Sources: Bokksu, "What Is Yuzu? Discover the Unique Flavor of Japan's Beloved Citrus"; Food & Wine, "What Is Yuzu?" (2025).
