If you’ve seen my Facebook profile, you might have noticed that in the main image I’m smelling two elongated leaves. That, friends, is pandan, probably the trendiest ingredient coming out of Southeast Asia at the moment.
Sometimes called pandanus, or screw pine, or bai toei in Thai (that last syllable rhymes with the French word feuille, in case that helps), pandan is unlike many Southeast Asian ingredients in that it’s subtle. It’s slightly floral, kind of nutty or grainy, and is sometimes compared to coconut and vanilla. It’s traditionally pulverized and used in desserts, such as the jiggly things you might find in your boba tea, and in Thailand it’s used to make its version of chicken nuggets — marinated bite-sized pieces of (usually) thigh meat wrapped in pandan, deep-fried, and served with a sweet chile sauce (hot honey would work if you have that handy).
It’s also used as an aromatic addition to curries and other stews, but removed after cooking rather than eaten because it’s unpalatably fibrous, kind of like bay leaves.
The desserts tend to be photogenically vibrant green, and unlike matcha, they don’t taste like, well, matcha.
I would argue that pandan is more accessible than grassy, bitter matcha to the mainstream American palate, and given its increasingly widespread use, it seems like a growing number of bartenders and pastry chefs agree.
The attractive color is no doubt part of its appeal, as is its approachable exoticness — it’s just an herb, after all, it’s easy to pronounce, and its flavor is generally agreeable and certainly inoffensive.
I recently had a cocktail at Ma’s Kitchen in Denver made of reposado tequila, cold brew coffee, Demerara sugar and Kota Pandan Liqueur, and the last ingredient definitely gave an herbaceous lift to what was basically an Espresso Martini.
I haven’t had the Salted Almond Old Fashioned at Atilon, here in New York City, but Jeraldo Pearson adds Kota to a maple bacon fat washed bourbon, along with agave syrup and bitters, to give the drink what he calls a “subtle tropical note.”
Coconut-pandan extract is an ingredient in the Don’t be Doutish, a cocktail at Andrew Black’s newest Oklahoma City restaurant, Dougla Kitchen. That drink is complex; it also has the Italian liqueur Strega, yogurt, the Japanese rice spirit Yokka koji Awamori, simple syrup, lime, curry powder, and thyme.
Pandan made it onto a chain restaurant in April of this year, when Black Sheep Coffee offered a pandan lemonade and also mixed it with matcha in a latte.
Black Sheep Coffee's Pandan Matcha Latte
Pandan coconut iced matcha is also available at DD Mau Vietnamese Eatery in St. Louis. Owner Julie Shih incorporates pandan into a coconut foam for the drink, which she first developed to add to boba tea.
Mr. Espresso in Oakland is currently offering a Pandan Coco Egg Creme, for which the herb is blended with sweetened coconut and oat milk, a shot of espresso, and iced seltzer.
Coffee Project in New York also offers a Pandan Foam Latte, for which house-made pandan syrup is added to espresso and then topped with a salted coconut foam.
The coffee retailer’s cofounder and director of education, Kaleena Teoh, said in an email, “I think pandan has a beautiful and sweet aroma similar to vanilla. It doesn’t overpower the coffee flavor while still being able to hold its ground. So it is a great pairing with coffee.”
Ouyatte, chef Hasung Lee’s first fine-dining restaurant, which opened in New York City last month, has pandan marshmallows among its mignardises (miniature sweets) and Wayan, Cedric Vongerichten’s New York restaurant, has pandan custard on its dessert menu, accompanied by passion fruit.
Pandan’s photogenic color, approachable flavor, and slight exoticness invite experimentation, and although the fresh leaves can be hard to come by, they’re available dried, frozen, powdered, and as an extract.
Update June 3, 2026: This story has been changed to correct the name of the restaurant where the Pandan coconut iced matcha is being served.