Szechuan Buzz Buttons (aka buzz buttons, Sichuan buttons, acmella oleracea) can be used as an exciting garnish, salad ingredient, or in frozen desserts, but they excel as a cocktail mixer, adding another layer of meaning to the term “being buzzed.”

Rather than imparting an interesting flavor (they taste grassy), what makes Szechuan buttons the bees knees is their ability to make your mouth tingle for several minutes. (How long depends on how much you’ve eaten.) The effect has been compared to eating pop rocks, drinking a carbonated beverage or testing a 9-volt battery on your tongue.

Mixologists most often pinch or cut off the tiny yellow/brown petals to mix, steep or infuse them into the alcohol or mixers. They also add a delicious dimension to coconut water (either store bought or from fresh coconuts), sparkling water, and citrus drinks like lemonade.

(NOTE: The compendium of ultra-unusual cocktail mixers also includes Dulce buttons & leaves. Even smaller than Szechuan buttons, the tiny flowers have an anise/mint/thyme flavor and are 500-1,500 times sweeter than sugar. We prefer the dulce leaves to the buttons, because they’re less sweet and you can better appreciate their complex herbal flavor. Other ingredients you can use to jazz up your cocktails include Wild Huckleberries, Pepquinos, Shiso Leaves and Fresh Herbs.