Yoshi Matcha Liqueur

The liqueur aisle has remained largely unchanged for decades, anchored by aesthetics that lean heavily on nostalgia. Meanwhile, matcha has transformed from a niche wellness ingredient into a billion-dollar cultural phenomenon, embraced by coffee shops, bakeries and restaurants worldwide. Yoshi arrives at the intersection of these two realities as the first premium matcha liqueur, creating an entirely new category that merges centuries-old Japanese tea ceremony with contemporary nightlife culture.

Saint-Urbain developed the complete brand world for the New York-based start-up, handling strategy, identity, packaging, copywriting and motion. The challenge was substantial: honour Japanese heritage and matcha’s ceremonial origins while positioning the product firmly in modern bar culture, all without falling into the visual clichés that plague cross-cultural branding. The strategic foundation rests on a specific cultural exchange. Americans have fully embraced matcha as a daily ritual, while Japan has maintained a deep relationship with jazz since the postwar era. This mutual admiration became the conceptual starting point. “We started with the cultural overlap between the US and Japan,” Creative Director Alex Ostroff explains. “That exchange felt like the right starting point: two cultures admiring each other for different reasons.”

Beyond geographic bridges, the team identified structural parallels between matcha preparation and jazz performance. Both practices balance discipline with expression, creating experiences that feel simultaneously controlled and spontaneous. Matcha ceremony demands precise, repeated movements – the circular whisking motion, the steady rhythm, the intentional pause. Jazz relies on musical structure and timing while producing improvised, expressive performances. “Matcha is calm, ritualistic and intentional, but it also brings a bright, focused energy,” notes Ostroff. “Jazz has discipline and rhythm. That push and pull: calm and energy, control and looseness became the backbone of the brand.”

This conceptual framework directly informed the visual system. The identity centres on two primary marks: a hand-drawn wordmark with soft, irregular letterforms that bring approachability to the premium spirits category, and a ceremonial spiral symbol derived from the chasen whisk’s circular motion. Saint-Urbain crafted both elements to feel intentional but relaxed, structured yet human. The spiral appears throughout the system as a recurring motif, reinforcing the ritualistic preparation while suggesting the kinetic energy of nightlife.

The packaging architecture makes a deliberate departure from liqueur category conventions. Rather than ornate bottles, heavy illustration or dark colour palettes, Saint-Urbain specified an opaque green bottle that allows the matcha liquid to dominate visually. An oversized white label interrupts the bottle’s silhouette with confidence. “We wanted something that felt modern and fashion-driven,” says Ostroff. “The clear bottle allows the green liquid to take the lead, and the oversized white label acts almost like a canvas: clean, graphic and confident. It stands out because it’s simple, not loud.”

The typographic system pairs PP Nikkei by Pangram Pangram with HAL Repost Mono by HAL Foundry. Additional typefaces include VTC Carrie and VTC Marsha by Vocal Type, plus Gothic 725 by Günter Gerhard Lange. This combination provides the tonal range needed to express both craft precision and contemporary attitude. Monospaced secondary type references the technical rigour of traditional matcha preparation, while the fashion-forward primary faces give the system its modern energy.

Cultural sensitivity guided every design decision throughout the project. Rather than surface-level Japanese symbols, the team focused on behaviour and ritual. “Rather than using cherry blossoms or kanji, we looked at the actual motions of preparing matcha — the circular whisking, the steady rhythm, the pause it creates,” Ostroff notes. “Those became the foundation for the spiral symbol and the calm/energetic balance in the layout.”

The development process explored multiple directions before landing on the final approach. One early concept leaned heavily into expressive, musical forms that wrapped dynamically around the bottle. Another pulled from Tokyo lanterns with vertical typography and atmospheric shapes that emphasised ceremonial qualities. A third featured a full wraparound wordmark that transformed the entire bottle into a graphic object. “Each approach had something strong, but they tended to land too far on one side: either too expressive for a craft-driven product or too traditional for a nightlife-leaning audience,” Ostroff reveals. “The final direction — a handmade wordmark paired with a clean, modern layout — hit the right balance. It carries the ritual and intention of matcha but has the confidence and attitude needed for a contemporary spirits brand.”

The product itself required technical innovation to bring matcha into spirits format. Each bottle suspends approximately five grams of ceremonial-grade organic matcha from Uji, Japan – the historic birthplace of matcha – in a dairy-free oat milk base with 17% ABV neutral grain spirit. The formulation maintains shelf stability while delivering the creamy texture and earthy undertones expected from quality matcha, creating what the brand describes as a smooth finish suitable for cocktails.

Motion design activates the spiral and jazz references across digital platforms. Typography bends, orbits and resolves as if being whisked. “It reinforces the ‘new ritual’ idea by taking familiar, ritualistic motions and expressing them in a modern, digital way,” Ostroff notes. Saint-Urbain developed spiralling patterns to work across social media and web applications, giving the brand rhythm while maintaining its crafted, intentional character.

The photography direction reinforces the nightlife positioning through specific technical choices. Direct flash, real hands executing real pours, and the unmistakable vibrancy of matcha’s green create imagery that feels premium yet accessible. The art direction avoids staged perfection in favour of authentic moments that bridge the intimacy of tea ceremony with the pulse of contemporary bar culture.

Copywriting plays a crucial role in repositioning matcha from wellness ritual to evening experience. Lines like “Your new nightly ritual,” “From Kyoto to New York,” and “Crafted for the bold” move matcha firmly into nighttime territory while acknowledging its cultural origins. Longer phrases such as “From whisk to bottle, we blend Japanese craftsmanship with the energy of New York nightlife” bridge both worlds within single statements, giving the product permission to exist behind bars as something smooth, vibrant and energising rather than a daytime drink attempting evening relevance.

By building a visual and verbal world rooted in actual behaviours rather than borrowed symbols, Saint-Urbain has created a spirits brand that respects tradition while defining new territory. Yoshi introduces premium matcha to nightlife as something both familiar and entirely unprecedented – a liqueur that transforms a centuries-old practice into a contemporary ritual, proving category innovation emerges not just from nostalgia but from reimagining what ritual can mean in modern contexts.

All images © of their respective owners.
Content taken from Saint-Urbain