How many of you out there are having a ‘Dry January’? No, I’m not talking about the state of the local weather, but going through January without any alcohol!
As is customary, December was a very merry affair for me with parties most weekends and some midweek too. With alcohol involved in all of them, I’ve come into January feeling like I need a break and to reclaim my Sundays hangover-free! So, along with a few friends, I’m giving up alcohol for January up until the 26th to prove that I can do it and also give my liver a chance to recover.
Having lost 4st in weight over the last 2 years, I know that the best way for me to cut out something is not to just hope I have the willpower to do it but to replace it with something else new and exciting instead. With food, I just replaced my takeaways and bad meals with exciting healthy ones. For alcohol, I’m doing exactly the same and the desire to do this has led to my creation of this alcohol-free cocktail. I know it’s fashionable to call these ‘mocktails’ these days but I can’t help but think that makes them sound like they’re imitating something; a good alcohol-free cocktail should be an excellent drink in its own right and not just one where the alcohol is missing!
The biggest challenge with alcohol-free cocktails is that they all seem to be very sweet. That’s fine if you like a lot of sweet drinks but I’m not too keen myself, so I set about using a key component of my favourite drink; tonic water! Without a doubt, the best tonic water I’ve ever tasted is Fever-Tree’s Elderflower Tonic Water so I’ve combined that with the sweet and slightly bitter flavour of a green tea syrup to make this cocktail. I used Pukka Clean Green tea for my syrup, which has a few additions including a hint of lemon. I really enjoy this as a hot drink and it’s lovely in this cold drink too, but you can use whichever green tea you like.
Elderflower and Green Tea Breeze
An alcohol-free cocktail that’s sure to have you putting the gin to the back of the cupboard.
Ingredients
-
For the green tea syrup:
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 green tea bags For the cocktail:
- 50ml green tea syrup
- Elderflower tonic water To garnish:
- 1 glass crushed ice
- 1 wedge of lime
Instructions
1. Put the water and sugar into a saucepan and simmer until all sugar is dissolved. Add the green tea bags immediately and leave to cool, agitating every now and then. If you poke too much (like I did!) you’ll split the tea bags and need to strain when cold, before using.
2. Once the syrup is cold, add the crushed ice into the serving glass then pour over the syrup and top up with elderflower tonic water.
3. Stir well and garnish with a wedge of lime.
4. Enjoy! Any leftover syrup can be stored in a sealed bottle in the fridge for a couple of weeks.
Details
Prep time: Cook time: Total time: Yield: One cocktail
Note: Nutrition information is indicative only and will vary depending on exactly which ingredients you use.
Check out more alcohol-free cocktails from my blogging friends:
- Pineapple and Ginger Sparkler from Tinned Tomatoes
- Tropical Fizz Mocktail from The Foodie Couple Blog
- Pineapple and Coconut Smoothie (Just like a Piña Colada!) from Fab Food 4 All
If you make this drink and enjoy it or you want to ask a question, feel free to leave a comment below.
P.S. If you’re not doing ‘Dry January’, I bet this will be delicious with a shot or two of gin! I won’t tell if you don’t…
I like the idea of cutting out but replacing with something else – i think going cold turkey never really works! This drink sounds lovely and refreshing.
I don't like tea, but I may be persuaded to try this. It looks glorious! Thanks for linking to me.
Gorgeous looking and sounding drink Kevin, love the pale shade of green and bubbles:-) Thanks for linking to my smoothie!
this sounds so great – I love Elderflower it is so refreshing and mixing it with green tea and tonic water makes for a lovely healthy treat.
This looks like a lovely refreshing cocktail Kevin!
I will be doing dry january for the second half of the month and I will give this a try 🙂
I could REALLY do with one of these now! Love it!
This looks lovely – and like you, I LOVE the Fevertree Elderflower tonic water.
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