Capsaicin Free Cucumber-Basil Salty Mint Lemonade Soda
This sparkling drink is the kind of thing you'd order at a fancy café and then immediately wish you could make at home — and now you can. Fresh cucumber is muddled and strained for a clean, cooling juice, while basil and mint steep in a warm honey syrup that smells absolutely incredible. A squeeze of lemon and a pinch of sea salt pull everything together, giving it that perfectly balanced sweet-tart-savory thing that makes a drink genuinely refreshing rather than just sweet. Every single ingredient here is naturally free of capsaicin, so there's no label-checking or substitution stress — just bright, herby, fizzy goodness in a glass. The honey syrup technique is a small extra step that pays off enormously, infusing the drink with floral herb flavor that you simply can't get from dried or powdered anything. Top it with sparkling water right before serving and you get that satisfying fizz without any of the heat that can sneak into store-bought flavored sodas or cocktail mixers. It's elegant enough for a dinner party but easy enough for a Tuesday afternoon.
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Learn more →Ingredients
2 servings
For the honey syrup
- 3 tbsp honey
- 3 tbsp water
- ¼ cup fresh basil leaves, loosely packed
- ¼ cup fresh mint leaves, loosely packed
For the drink
- ½ cup cucumber, peeled and roughly chopped
- 3 tbsp fresh lemon juice (from about 1 ½ lemons)
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
- 2 cups sparkling water, chilled
- 1 cup ice cubes
For serving
- 2 thin cucumber slices, for garnish (optional)
- 2 small fresh basil or mint sprigs, for garnish (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Combine the honey and water in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring until the honey fully dissolves, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the basil and mint leaves, and stir to submerge them.
- 2
Let the herb syrup steep off the heat for 10 minutes, until fragrant and lightly tinted green.
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