Cactus Juice Cocktail Recipe “Nothing’s Quenchier”
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As a lifelong fan of Avatar The Last Airbender (ATLA), I couldn’t be more excited about the FIRST ever live-action adaptation of this beloved classic. Surely the creators of this adaptation wouldn’t have the audacity to blatantly ignore the source material and sh*t all over a show that means so much to an entire generation who grew up on Nickelodeon. I mean who would do that…
…In celebration of this momentous event I thought I’d whip up a rendition of the most memorable beverage in cartoon history…Cactus Juice. No cartoon/anime has ever made me want to drink an animated, and entirely made up, beverage nearly as much as the quenchiest drink known to the ATLA gang. After all, it’ll quench ya! How could you possibly watch Momo and Sokka tripping balls around the desert and not wanna try some cactus juice of your own?
There is no shortage of Cactus Juice cocktails available online, however most are just a play on a margarita. Now while I understand why they end up there …desert …cactus …tequila …margarita, it makes sense. However, that doesn’t really sit quite right with me given that ATLA is an unapologetically Asian inspired cartoon.
They’re fighting for their lives against the tyranny of the fire nation not chilling on a beach in Cancun. Which is why I wanted to attempt a more Asian inspired take on cactus juice.
In addition to that, cactus juice, as shown in ATLA, has always resembled coconut milk to me, another thing often missed in the margarita-esque takes, that I wanted to capture here in my take.
This led me down a path to the sweet Japanese beverage of Yakult, basically drinking yogurt, which is also obviously white and could pass visibly as coconut milk. It has also become quite trendy as of late, on the interwebs, to mix yakult with Soju (an extremely popular Korean spirit, often fruit infused). And just like that we have our base.
From there I wanted to go two different ways with the drink which is why we have two separate recipes here. The first I wanted to be approachable, easy drinking, and refreshing. The second I wanted to be easy drinking, refreshing, and hopefully approachable while adding the “hallucinogenic” notes of cactus juice shown in the show.
What better way to do that than to incorporate absinthe? The spirit believed to be so ridiculously hallucinogenic it was literally banned in the U.S. until 2007. One year before the 2008 Housing Crisis…Coincidence? I think not! Jokes aside, there is nothing hallucinogenic about absinthe. This drink runs no actual risk of making you “trip” (unless you drink too many), but the myth/lore around it was good enough for me.
This brings us to the last major component, the syrup. This bit was tricky. I really wanted to stay true to the “spirit” of the show and make the syrup with prickly pears or nopales, i.e. cactus paddles, as used on the How to Drink episode on ATLA but both of those went against my goal of approachability.
So, after wandering my local Meijer I landed on star fruit. Asian in origin, mildly sweet, flavor notes comparing it to a tart/sour apple or pear. Upon tasting I thought it resembled a pear more so than an apple which was perfect as my original intention, as already mentioned, was to use prickly pears.
All in all I’m very happy with how these drinks came together and I hope you’ll give them a go while we collectively binge Avatar the Last Airbender when it drops on Netflix. Hopefully it doesn’t bomb…but if it does we’ll just go back to collectively believing that there has never been a live-action adaptation.
“Drink cactus juice. It’ll quench ya!”
Cactus Juice Cocktail Recipe
Standard Ingredients
2 oz Soju (personal preference West 32)
2 oz Yakult (Japanese Sweetened “Yogurt” Beverage)
2 oz Coconut Water*
½ oz Star Fruit Simple Syrup
Absinthe Variant Ingredients
2 oz West 32 Aged Soju*
2 oz Yakult
2 oz Coconut Water**
½ oz Star Fruit Simple Syrup
¼ oz Absinthe ***
¼ oz Lemon Juice
Star Fruit Simple Syrup
1 cup Sugar, White
¾ cup Water
1 Star Fruit, cut into small chunks (can use pears as a substitute)
*I’m not sure how widely available West 32 Soju is, let alone the aged version which is getting harder to find in my area, so any unflavored soju will work just as well. The aged soju simply adds a little more nuance and layers of flavor.
*In case of coconut allergies this drink is equally tasty with tonic water or Sprite. If using sprite you may want to reduce the simple syrup ratio.
***Use a quality absinthe if you’re going to try this recipe. Bad absinthe is BAD…basically only has anise as a flavor note. Good absinthe has a lot more layers to build complexity. Plus absinthe is hardly used in any cocktails so if you’re investing in a bottle it’s gonna be around for a while.
Cactus Juice Cocktail Directions
Standard
- Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass. Add more ice than liquid, stir for about 30 rotations.
- Strain into your glass of choice. Though I recommend either a coupe glass (8oz) or a hollowed out cactus.
Variant
- Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker, add a couple handfuls of ice, seal your shaker and shake for about 15 seconds.
- Double strain into your glass of choice. Again recommending either a coupe or cactus.
Star Fruit Simple Syrup
- Combine everything in a small saucepan.
- Bring it to a boil over medium heat then reduce to the lowest possible simmer, stirring frequently.
- Allow to simmer for 20-30 minutes
- From here either puree and strain through a fine mesh strainer for a thicker more potent syrup or strain the syrup as is straight from the stove.
- Allow to fully cool before use.
Cactus Juice
Try our rendition of Cactus Juice from the show Avatar The Last Airbender. “Nothing’s Quenchier” then our take on this Cactus Juice Cocktail!
Ingredients
- Standard Ingredients:
- 2 oz Soju (personal preference West 32)
- 2 oz Yakult (Japanese Sweetened “Yogurt” Beverage)
- 2 oz Coconut Water*
- ½ oz Star Fruit Simple Syrup
- Absinthe Variant Ingredients:
- 2 oz West 32 Aged Soju*
- 2 oz Yakult
- 2 oz Coconut Water**
- ½ oz Star Fruit Simple Syrup
- ¼ oz Absinthe***
- ¼ oz Lemon Juice
- Star Fruit Simple Syrup:
- 1 cup Sugar, White
- ¾ cup Water
- 1 Star Fruit, cut into small chunks (can use pears as a substitute)
Instructions
Standard:
- Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass. Add more ice than liquid, stir for about 30 rotations.
- Strain into your glass of choice. Though I recommend either a coupe glass (8oz) or a hollowed out cactus.
Variant:
- Combine all ingredients in a cocktail shaker, add a couple handfuls of ice, seal your shaker and shake for about 15 seconds.
- Double strain into your glass of choice. Again recommending either a coupe or cactus.
Star Fruit Simple Syrup:
- Combine everything in a small saucepan.
- Bring it to a boil over medium heat then reduce to the lowest possible simmer, stirring frequently.
- Allow to simmer for 20-30 minutes
- From here either puree and strain through a fine mesh strainer for a thicker more potent syrup or strain the syrup as is straight from the stove.
- Allow to fully cool before use.
Notes
*In case of coconut allergies this drink is equally tasty with tonic water or Sprite. If using sprite you may want to reduce the simple syrup ratio.
*I’m not sure how widely available West 32 Soju is, let alone the aged version which is getting harder to find in my area, so any unflavored soju will work just as well. The aged soju simply adds a little more nuance and layers of flavor.
***Use a quality absinthe if you’re going to try this recipe. Bad absinthe is BAD…basically only has anise as a flavor note. Good absinthe has a lot more layers to build complexity. Plus absinthe is hardly used in any cocktails so if you’re investing in a bottle it’s gonna be around for a while.
