BHA & BHT Free Cucumber Mint Sparkling Cooler
This sparkling cooler is the kind of drink that looks like it came from a fancy café but comes together entirely from whole, recognizable ingredients you can feel good about. BHA and BHT are synthetic preservatives that sneak into a surprising number of bottled beverages, flavored syrups, and even some sparkling water brands — so making your own from scratch is the cleanest way to sidestep them entirely. Here, a homemade mint simple syrup built with maple syrup and fresh leaves replaces anything store-bought, and the cucumber base is just blended English cucumber, cold water, and fresh lime juice. Every single component is as close to its natural source as possible. The result is bracingly refreshing — cool, lightly sweet, herby, and bright with citrus — finished with a gentle pour of sparkling water so the bubbles stay lively right up until the first sip. It's gorgeous over ice with a few mint sprigs and a lime wheel, and genuinely impressive enough to serve at a summer gathering without anyone suspecting how simple it was to pull off.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
For the mint simple syrup
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup water
- ½ cup fresh mint leaves, loosely packed, plus more for garnish
For the cucumber base
- 1 medium english cucumber (about 12 oz), peeled and roughly chopped
- 3 tbsp fresh lime juice (from about 2 limes)
- 1 cup cold water
To finish
- 2 cups sparkling water, chilled
For serving
- ice cubes, for serving
- lime slices, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Combine the maple syrup and 1/4 cup water in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the syrup dissolves, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, add the mint leaves, and stir to submerge. Let steep for 20 minutes, then strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a small bowl, pressing the leaves to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the spent mint. Let the syrup cool to room temperature.
- 2
Add the chopped cucumber and 1 cup cold water to a blender. Blend on high until completely smooth, about 30 seconds. Pour through the fine-mesh strainer into a pitcher, pressing the solids with the back of a spoon to extract all the liquid. Discard the solids.
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