Toronto has no shortage of sleek late-night cocktail bars, but it’s not every day one hides inside a matcha café. This after-dark transformation reflects a bigger shift in the city’s drinks scene, where tea-based mixology is moving from a niche health trend to a staple of high-end nightlife.
Enter Matcha Matcha, the minimalist Church Street spot known for its daytime matcha drinks. On weekends, it gets a second life with M2 Cocktail Bar, a tea-enhanced cocktail program that pops up every Friday and Saturday night from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.
M2 M2 Cocktail Bar’s menu is kind of like a choose-your-own-adventure map that organizes drinks by light vs. complex and sweet vs. savoury. From there, you essentially choose your lane: fizzy highballs, layered lowballs, shooters or dessert!
If you want something bright and fizzy, opt for M2 Cocktail Bar’s “Highball” drink, like the Pineapple Bun ($17, 7% ABV): toasted coconut-infused rum with pineapple and wintermelon, genmai, coconut, lime, and whey, or the Palo Santo ($18, 8% ABV): lemongrass-and-lime-infused Lillet with pandan, musk melon, lime leaf distillate, palo santo, whey, and CO₂.
If you want richer, deeper flavours, “Lowball” cocktails are stronger and more layered. Try the Wasabi Bento ($18, 18% ABV): wasabi-distilled gin with yogurt, Lillet, sake, seaweed, genmai milk, cucumber, and whey, or the boozy Butter Daddy ($22, 32% ABV): butter-washed Dewar’s whisky and aged rum blend with Korean miso, coffee, shiitake and maple.
If you want a quick shot, down a shooter (it makes for a perfect round with friends!) The Pear & Cassis ($9, 22% ABV) is filled with barley shochu, black currant, English pear, and milk oolong, while Shiso Plum ($9, 33% ABV) is a shiso-infused tequila with Japanese plum and clarified yuzu.
Or skip the drinks altogether and head straight for a dessert. The Strawberry Shortcake is made for two, and topped with Hokkaido fresh cream, raspberry jelly and white chocolate. Or indulge in the Matcha Parfait! This is a ceremonial grade matcha soft serve with crispy corn, red bean and delicious Japanese mochi castella.
M2 Cocktail Bar by Matcha Matcha is located inside Matcha Matcha at 407 Church St.
