Summer drinks (159/365)

[white_hart]

It is hot enough that when I got in just now, after a 40-minute walk and then a 15-minute drive in a car whose air conditioning always takes a good 20 minutes to kick in properly, I thought I'd rather have a cold drink than a cup of tea.

At which point I discovered that my stock of cold drinks consisted of about an inch of rather old elderflower cordial and a similar quantity of similar vintage Rose's lime juice cordial. And, while elderflower and lime mixed is definitely refreshing, I should probably replenish my stock a bit.

So, DW. What are your favourite non-alcoholic summer drinks?

Comments

[angelofthenorth]

Monin do a jasmine syrup which friends are raving about.

[white_hart]

Oh, that sounds interesting!

[lilysea]

A Venezuelan restaurant in Australia introduced me to the DELICIOUS Papelon = Organic sugar cane juice and lemon

Wiki says

"Papelón con limón (Regional Spanish for: Panela with lemon) is a refreshing Venezuelan beverage made with rapadura (raw hardened sugar cane juice), water and lemon or lime juice.

It is usually served during the hottest hours of the day, and commonly offered with traditional Venezuelan food, such as arepas, cachapas or hervidos (rich chicken or beef stew)."

[white_hart]

Mmmmm. Like a traditional lemonade, but with a different sugar? It sounds lovely.

[hilarita]

I quite like ginger cordial. Can also be mixed with lemon.
I am also a fan of elderflower cordial.

[white_hart]

Oh yes, I think I've had that before. It ended up like non-fizzy ginger beer, which was a very nice thing.

[danieldwilliam]

I like ginger beer, I've been making my own. Tasty but explosive.

Lime and soda over ice.

Cucumber and mint.

And I like elderflower and tonic.

[white_hart]

I have spent so much time nursing lime and sodas in pubs which didn't have any more interesting non-alcoholic options that I have gone off it rather, which is a shame as it is actually a nice drink.

[lexin]

I like blood orange juice. It has a taste not quite as harsh as ordinary orange juice.

[legionseagle]

Russ had the San Pellegrino blood orange drink today at lunch. As drinks to get in restaurants go, it's not a bad one (like buying Orangina on French trains.)

[serriadh]

I really like the Teapigs lychee cold tea infusion.

[white_hart]

That sounds delicious!

[(Anonymous)]

Greece and Turkey both do excellent sour cherry juice, which is wonderful mixed with fizzy water, but British equivalents are depressingly sweet. Proper cranberry juice, also with fizzy water, ice and a slice of lime is the best I've been able to manage here, though we had a lovely ginger beer in the park after dog walking on Saturday.

[legionseagle]

Sorry, that was me. Had apparently been logged out.

[caulkhead]

Hibiscus 'tea', made strong and then chilled, is great if you like sour things. Probably quite good sweetened and/or mixed in to lemonade too, but I haven't tried it.

[white_hart]

That does sound nice. I sometimes make cold-brewed iced tea with Whittards flavoured teabags which is lovely and refreshing.

[mrs_redboots]

Robinson's Crushed Lime and Mint is very good, if rather sweet. I do rather love Lidl's Deluxe Raspberry Lemonade. But in the summer we usually our own lemon squash (or lemon with mint, or lemon with elderflower). I also love my home-made lemon barley water; these days I use my instant pot to cook the barley. I used to make it for whenever I visited my father during his last illness, as he loved it, and always kept a sneaky glass or two back for my own consumption!

[white_hart]

I suspect I don't really have the time to make my own, but so many of the shop ones are incredibly sugary.

[joyeuce]

Homemade lemonade, with or without mint. Blood orange juice - Waitrose does a good one. Cawston Press rhubarb and apple. San Pellegrino orangeade; I recently found a can which I think was described as "Italian style" or similar, which had more orange in than the usual version and was nicer. Any of Cornish Orchards' juices or fizzy drinks, though I don't know how available they are outside Cornwall.

[white_hart]

Oh yes, I have had the Cawston apple and rhubarb before and it's lovely.

[anna_wing]

Soda water and freshly squeezed lime/lemon juice with ice. Sugar syrup to taste.

Iced tea (without sugar), with a slice of lemon.

[white_hart]

I do sometimes make cold-brewed tea with flavoured teabags, which is rather nice but does need a bit of planning. (Not much, but it's not something you can just come home and pour a glass of.)

[jinty]

We have pomegranate and elderflower cordial here, or ginger cordial. But mostly I just like plain water, always have!

Guarana as a soft drink is also good but then that’s a taste of my childhood and will not apply to all.

[white_hart]

I do mostly drink plain water but sometimes I want something that feels like "a drink" and not just something to quench my thirst with, if that makes any sense? Pomegranate and elderflower sounds lovely!

[clanwilliam]

Ginger ale and lime cordial, topped up with soda water.

I'm drinking a lot of bitter lemon at the moment, but I'm mixing it with whatever fizzy wine I pick up in the supermarket, but you could try something suitable as a blend?

Also, I have heard a friend speak quite well of some non-alcoholic gins, if you wanted something more down the juniper and botanicals line - which makes sense, really, as gin is just flavoured spirit. So have the flavour and not the spirit!

[serriadh]

Several of the Fentiman's flavoured tonics work better without the gin, in my opinion. They'd be a good try for a non-sweet flavour.

[girlyswot]

No 1 Botanicals rosemary water is really lovely and not sweet, though it is an expensive treat. I also like Cawston Press fizzy rhubarb.

[white_hart]

I haven't tried the rosemary water but the Cawston rhubarb is lovely.

[alithea]

Elderflower cordial or lightly fizzy presse, chilled hibiscus or rosehip tea (stains your teeth though), blood orange or lemon San Pellegrino if you can get the Italian recipe one with sugar rather than sweetener (new recipe tastes vile sadly), or M&S do some really nice cordials and lightly fizzy drinks. I bought a can of peach and mango lightly fizzy spring water in the social supermarket yesterday which I'm hoping is nice!

Must remember to make some ice cubes!

[white_hart]

Oh, the peach and mango fizzy water sounds lovely!

[antisoppist]

I find a lot of them too sweet or too sort of thick-tasting but I like Cawston's fizzy rhubarb. I am on a quest for ginger beer that isn't too sickly sweet.

My landlord's apple juice is excellent and we also have a local apple pressing cooperative and this year my friends up the road and their neighbours in the brass band combined forces and their gardens to create apple and pear juice, which is lovely, but a bit too local for you.

[serriadh]

Ginger beer sold as a mixer (e.g. Schweppes) tends to be much less sweet - might be worth a try.

[cmcmck]

I'm a fan of ginger beer!

[white_hart]

I am too - maybe I should just get some small bottles in.

[mrs_redboots]

In my last job, my boss and I used to take it in turns to buy Copella apple juice whenever it was on special offer in Waitrose - we both loved it, but were both too mean to buy it when it wasn't on special offer.

When I'm out I'll drink Fentiman's, especially their Seville orange one, or San Pellegrino, or just ordinary fizzy water. At church it's often Shloer or sometimes a Jamaican sorrel drink which is lovely (and which you can apparently get in Sainsbury's, although I've not seen it there). But, apart from sparkling water, I'd not buy those to keep at home, I don't think.

[perennialanna]

Fevertree don't put sweeteners into any of their drinks, so they're my go-to. Currently rotating between lime soda, Sicilian lemonade and blood orange soda from them.