Yuzu is the fourth flavor this shop is built on, after matcha, hojicha and black sesame, and the only one we have never written about. Six drinks on the menu carry its name. Only one of them is mostly yuzu.
Yuzu juice arrives in two pressings, and they are not two grades of the same thing. The first press comes off under light pressure: high, floral, closer to the peel than the pulp. The second press takes more out of the fruit and lands rounder and less bright.
The house yuzu concentrate is built on the second press. It runs 65 grams of second press to 15 grams of first, plus 67 grams of turbinado sugar, 129 grams of hot water, 3 grams of honey and 0.6 grams of salt. The second press carries the body, the 15 grams of first press does the whole job of smelling like yuzu, and the salt keeps the sugar from flattening the acid.
That concentrate feeds exactly one drink. The Kyōyo Yuzu Ade takes 30 grams of it and adds nothing else with a flavor in it: soda, ice, one round of lemon. It is the only place on the menu where yuzu is the subject rather than the frame.
The other five run on a different batch. The citrus base is 230 grams of bottled lemon juice, 150 grams of turbinado, 100 grams of hot water, 10 grams of honey, 10 grams of second-press yuzu and 1 gram of salt, and each cup takes 20 grams of it.
Both bases carry honey: 3 grams in the yuzu concentrate, 10 in the citrus base. That is why the ades are labelled vegetarian and not vegan. The menu said vegan until this week.
Look at where the yuzu sits in that citrus base. Ten grams in a batch of a little over 500, so at 20 grams a cup a Guava Yuzu Ade carries four tenths of a gram. Not enough to taste, and not meant to be. It keeps the lemon from reading as lemonade.
The fruit does the naming. Guava Yuzu is 15 grams of guava syrup. Passionfruit Yuzu is 40 grams of pulp and 10 of concentrate. Mango Yuzu is 40 grams of frozen chunks and 10 of compound. Strawberry Yuzu is eight slices and 15 grams of syrup. Lychee Yuzu is 12.5 grams of syrup and 10 grams of fruit. The base underneath is identical in all five, so the fruit only has to be fruit.
If you have never had yuzu on its own, order the Kyōyo Yuzu Ade first. The other five are fruit drinks with a citrus floor under them, which is a good thing to drink and a poor way to learn what yuzu tastes like.