Non-Alcoholic Drinks
113 recipes found
Tepache (Fizzy Fermented Pineapple Drink)
Refreshing, earthy and lightly sweetened, tepache is a popular fermented drink from Mexico. Traditionally, the main ingredients are piloncillo (a Mexican variety of raw cane sugar), pineapple peels (and sometimes the core) and water. For best results, use a very ripe pineapple. You can also add spices like cinnamon, cloves or fresh ginger. Fermentation time depends on the environment: In warm weather (75 to 85 degrees), it could be ready in 2 to 3 days; in cooler weather, it can take 5 to 7 days. Taste the tepache regularly; when ready, it will be frothy on the surface and slightly fizzy on the tongue, and will taste and smell pleasantly fermented. (Be mindful that if the tepache ferments for too long, it will turn into vinegar.) You can serve tepache on ice as is, or dilute and sweeten it to taste by adding water and sugar.
Pickle Lemonade
The tart, tangy flavor of pickles can be found across the food spectrum — from pickle-brined chicken to pickle soup and even pickle brine margaritas, it seems nearly everything is better with brine. It’s no surprise, then, that simple lemonade is improved with the addition of salty pickle brine, too. Balancing out the sweetness of lemonade’s sugar, it lifts the drink and makes it a bit more complex, with an unexpected yet familiar flavor profile. You might not immediately guess the secret ingredient, but it’s a pleasant surprise once revealed. Depending on what brand of pickles is used, adjust the flavors and add more pickle brine as you like; the level of lip-smacking tartness is up to you.
Coffee Tonic
A simple variation on the espresso tonic (that first appeared in 2007 at Koppi Roasters in Helsingborg, Sweden), the coffee tonic relies on a smooth pour of cold brew coffee for its caffeinated topper. Choose a quality dry tonic and, for the prettiest float, add the ice and tonic water to the glass first before gently pouring the brew overtop. If your coffee palate leans sweet, add a splash of simple syrup or maple syrup. If you don’t have limes in the house, no need to run out. Simply swap for a slice or peel of another citrus, such as orange, lemon or grapefruit.
Agua Fresca
Sipping on an agua fresca is like doing a cannonball into a crisp, cold lake on the hottest of summer days. Cooling, thirst-quenching and uplifting, the drink is widely consumed in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. In the United States, the invigorating beverage is found on the menus of many Mexican restaurants, but it’s also sold by street vendors. Meaning fresh water in Spanish, refreshing aguas frescas are a blend of water, sugar and often lime juice with a variety of ripe fruits, dried flowers or nuts and grains. How much sugar you add depends on the sweetness of the fruit. Agave syrup may also be used as a sweetener. The mixture is typically strained to remove pulp, but you can skip straining if you prefer. The fruit suggestions below — melons, pineapple, strawberry, cucumber and mango — work great, but you can try any variety of fruit, like oranges, peaches, bananas or tamarind. Serve agua fresca on ice, or cover and chill in the refrigerator before serving.
Pink Lemonade
Preparing a syrup naturally dyed pink from your favorite fruits is a glorious starting place for homemade pink lemonade. You can stir the syrup into a pitcher of lemon juice and water to enjoy right away, or keep the syrup in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, pulling from it like a sugar bowl for individual glasses of lemonade, cocktails or other drinks. You also can keep a chilled pitcher of the vibrant pink lemonade in your refrigerator as an act of kindness (and a jolt of vitamin C) for future you throughout the week. This hydrating lemonade is a little lighter in flavor than others, so you can drink lots and lots of it.
Strawberry-Ginger Limeade
Red drinks are central to Juneteenth, as the color red represents the blood shed by enslaved people. Strawberry soda is commonly served, but this punch builds on that tradition, adding honey for its sweet distinct flavor, lime juice and mint for freshness, and ginger for a fiery warmth. And it’s a great way to use up slightly overripe strawberries. (It’s better to use overripe berries, since underripe ones can have bitter notes.) Serve over ice with a twist of lime for an extra burst of flavor.
Strawberry Soda
This festive beverage uses real fruit for a bright flavor and gorgeous dark pink hue that store-bought soda could never match. Strawberries impart a refreshing taste that’s accented by a hint of lime. The lime juice also serves to balance out the sweetness of the syrup without overpowering the delicate strawberry. Much like bottled soda, this one is craveably sweet; feel free to adjust to your liking — add more syrup if you want it sweeter, or more lime juice or club soda for a lighter beverage (the melting ice will also dilute the soda). When cooking the strawberry purée, decrease the heat if it starts to foam up, to prevent it from boiling over. Club soda or seltzer will yield a fizzier homemade soda, but sparkling water works great too. For maximum carbonation, prepare the batch à la minute.
Champurrado
This creamy and rich atole, or corn-based drink, is made with Mexican chocolate, cinnamon and raw cane sugar, then thickened with toasted masa harina for a soothing hot drink that is often served in cooler months and for holidays like Día De Los Muertos and Las Posadas. Piloncillo, a cone-shaped raw cane sugar, is usually added for sweetness, but you can use brown sugar in a pinch. If you’d like to experiment, add warm, whole spices, such as cloves and star anise, or orange peel to the simmering pot. Traditionally, champurrado is prepared in a clay pot and mixed with a molinillo, a wooden whisk, to make the drink frothy, but for a similar effect, continually whisk the champurrado, or use an immersion blender to froth it up right before serving. Champurrado is often served with hot, crispy churros alongside.
Bubble Tea
Featuring chewy tapioca pearls in a creamy and sweet milk tea, bubble tea, or boba as it’s also called, has many charms. The beverage’s exact origin, while often debated, can likely be traced to 1980s Taiwan, but the drink has become incredibly popular in the United States thanks to the rise of bubble tea shops. This classic version features black tea, Tawainese black sugar, milk and, of course, tapioca pearls, but more modern versions include powdered flavorings, such as strawberry, ube and mango; coffee or matcha for a jolt of caffeine; and toppers like whipped cream or cheese foam. Cooking and soaking dry tapioca pearls takes a little patience, but the results are pleasantly chewy when properly prepared. (As a shortcut, you can use precooked tapioca pearls, but the texture won't be quite the same.) Using Taiwanese black sugar is recommended here — its deep flavor is more molasses-y than other sugars — but dark brown sugar can be swapped in a pinch.
Arnold Palmer
Named for the eponymous professional golfer who was known to request a drink combining iced tea and lemonade after a day on the course, the Arnold Palmer has become a hugely popular American drink. While Mr. Palmer preferred a ratio that favored tea over lemonade, the drink has become more commonly known as a “half-and-half” — half tea, half lemonade. This recipe uses equal parts homemade lemonade and unsweetened black tea for a nicely balanced flavor, but feel free to adjust the ratio to your liking, using a bit more lemonade for a sweeter drink, or more tea for a slightly bitter one, Palmer-style.
Lemonade
A cold glass of lemonade on a hot summer day is one of life’s great simple pleasures, and it certainly doesn’t get any simpler than this basic recipe. Made with only three ingredients — water, freshly squeezed lemon juice and sugar — it comes together quickly and multiplies well, for big groups and lemonade stands alike. This lemonade packs a tart-sweet punch to account for some dilution as the drink sits on ice, but to avoid watery lemonade, add ice to individual glasses rather than the pitcher. Enjoy as is, or mix it with brewed iced tea for a classic Arnold Palmer.
Fruity Ice Cream Sodas
Using homemade berry or cherry syrup adds a colorful, fruity take on the usual chocolate or vanilla ice cream soda. Feel free to play with the different combinations of syrup and ice cream. Some great ones include chocolate ice cream or fudge ripple ice cream with cherry syrup; salted caramel ice cream with blackberry syrup; and vanilla or strawberry ice cream with raspberry syrup. A froth of whipped cream on top makes them even more ethereal.
Strawberry Matcha Latte
This colorful, easy-to-make drink — popularized by various bubble-tea chains and trending on TikTok in the spring of 2023 — combines matcha, a powdered green tea traditionally consumed in parts of East Asia, with strawberries, a beloved summer fruit. Served over ice, with distinct layering, the delightful balance of macerated fresh strawberries on the bottom, your choice of milk in the center and earthy matcha on the top creates a vibrant and harmonious flavor combination.
Limonada (Brazilian Lemonade)
Creamy, frosty and tart, this popular Brazilian drink is a fantastic refreshment for a hot day. In Brazil, it’s also known as limonada Suíça, which translates to Swiss lemonade, because it typically includes sweetened condensed milk, which was marketed by the Swiss company Nestlé in Brazil in the 1940s. Sweetened condensed milk is essential to Brazilian sweets, including desserts like brigadeiros. A shelf-stable dairy product that doesn’t curdle in the presence of acid, it gets blended here with limes, sugar, ice and water to make this tangy beverage creamy. Limonada Suíça always includes condensed milk, but limonada sometimes leaves it out. And even though it’s called lemonade, it often uses limes since the word limão is often used interchangeably for lemons and limes in Portuguese. Pulsing the entire lime into this drink adds an extra layer of brightness and depth from the rind. This drink takes only minutes to blend and is best served immediately.
Watermelon Ginger Beer
The recipe for this batch drink, from Nicole Taylor’s book, “Watermelon and Red Birds,” includes the juice from a red-fleshed watermelon, ideally from one with seeds. (They can be hard to find; seedless melons work too.) If you own a juicer, proceed with the seeds and all and don’t worry about straining. Watermelon is over 90 percent water and is a nutrient-dense food. This drink can serve as an everyday accompaniment at breakfast, lunch, dinner or with a snack.
Watermelon Lemonade
A surefire way to make lemonade even more refreshing is to pour it over watermelon ice cubes. This recipe takes some time — the watermelon cubes have to freeze — but almost no effort. If necessary, seed the watermelon before you cut it into chunks and put it in the blender. Cut it lengthwise into quarters, slice off the “heart” of each quarter to expose the row of seeds and remove them with the tines of a fork.
Bartenders' Simple Syrup
Chai Masala
Sweetened, spiced hot tea is sold all over India by chai wallahs, or tea sellers. Chai masala refers to the spice blend used to make masala chai, the spiced beverage. This version, which is adapted from “Street Food of India” by Sephi Bergerson, is made with black tea, fresh ginger, green cardamom pods, milk and sugar. Make it your own by adding cinnamon, cloves, pepper, fennel or star anise.
Cucumber Agua Fresca With Mint and Ginger
Light and refreshing with a slight bite from fresh ginger, this cooling cucumber drink is perfect on days when the warmth of the sun bakes everything in its path. A simple syrup of bruised mint and sugar adds sweetness. Agua fresca, a chilled nonalcoholic drink popular in Mexico and Central America, is most often made by blending fruit or soaked grains or by steeping plant blossoms in water. The mix is then strained, sweetened and served chilled. Enjoy this cucumber version as is, or add a splash of gin to turn it into a light aperitif or a delightful afternoon cocktail.
Peach Tea
Sweetened with peaches, freshly puréed or from store-bought juice, this beverage tastes extra refreshing in warm weather. The fruit complements strongly brewed tea, and a little lemon juice further accentuates the peach flavor and helps balance the natural sweetness, which you can bolster with sugar if you’d like.
Roasted Mango or Banana Lassi
Like other South Floridians, the chef Niven Patel of Ghee Indian Kitchen in Miami has access to fresh, locally grown, exceptionally flavorful varieties of bananas and mangoes he can ripen to perfection. Elsewhere in the country, that’s not the case: In fact, Mr. Patel said, most Indian restaurants use a canned ripe Indian mango purée to remedy that problem. But by roasting the mangoes or bananas first with sugar and warm spices, you can get good flavor from fruit of any quality or ripeness. Mr. Patel makes his own yogurt, which gives this lassi a complex tartness that balances the sweet spiced fruit, but a very good-quality regular plain yogurt (as in not strained or Greek) is a fine stand-in. The mango yields a slightly thicker lassi than the banana; if you'd like, add a little extra milk to thin it out, tasting as you go to make sure you don't dilute the flavor.
Nonalcoholic Smoky Citrus Punch
Historically, punch is an alcoholic drink, made with a spirit, sugar, citrus and spice, but this variation drops the spirit and doubles down on its other central components. Opting for smoky Lapsang souchong adds distinctive depth and character to the punch, though another black tea, such as Earl Grey or Darjeeling or a more robust green tea, can also be used. Likewise, the oranges in the lemon-orange oleo-saccharum (a muddled sugar and citrus mixture) can be swapped out for seasonal citrus, such as satsuma, mandarin or blood oranges. Bear in mind you need to start this punch the day before serving: While some of the tea is brewed hot before being added to the lemon-orange oleo-saccharum, cold-brewing the remainder of the tea ensures that the final punch is deeply flavored, smooth drinking and more nuanced than astringent. A mix of tonic and soda water to finish imbues the punch with a bubbly, quinine bitterness and helps to balance the tannins of the tea.
Espresso Fizz
Like any conscientious bartender, Ryan Clur, who created this drink at the restaurant Maialino in New York, is particular about the ingredients he uses: Hologram espresso from Counter Culture Coffee, Fever-Tree tonic water and Regan’s Orange Bitters No. 6. For the best results, use these same brands. If you use other brands, you will change the flavor of the drink (though not necessarily in a bad way). Mr. Clur pulls the shot of espresso into a stainless steel steam pitcher so that the coffee is easier to pour over the back of the bar spoon in a classic bartender’s float, and because the metal will absorb some of the heat of the espresso and drop the temperature of the drink. The result: a drink that feels like an iced coffee even though there is no ice.
