Gelatin Free Garden Mint Citrus Cooler
Fresh citrus and garden mint come together in a sparkling drink that feels like summer in a glass. The mint simple syrup is made by steeping bruised fresh leaves in warm maple syrup, which pulls out every bit of that cool, herbal fragrance before you ever add a drop of juice. Once you combine it with freshly squeezed orange and lime juice, the balance of sweet, tart, and bright is genuinely hard to beat. Many store-bought flavored drinks and cocktail mixers sneak in gelatin-based clarifying agents or other additives, so making your own from scratch means you know exactly what's going in the pitcher. Chilled sparkling water gets stirred in gently at the end to keep the bubbles lively, and the whole thing comes together without any special equipment beyond a saucepan and a strainer. Serve it over ice with a lime wedge and a sprig of mint and it looks like something you'd order at a nice brunch spot — except you made it yourself in about twenty minutes.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
For the mint simple syrup
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup maple syrup
- ½ cup fresh mint leaves, loosely packed, plus more for garnish
For the cooler
- 1 cup fresh orange juice (from about 3 medium oranges)
- ⅓ cup fresh lime juice (from about 3 limes)
- 3 cups sparkling water, chilled
- 2 cups ice cubes
For serving
- 4 lime wedges (optional)
- 4 small fresh mint sprigs (optional)
Instructions
- 1
Combine the water and maple syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the maple syrup fully dissolves, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.
- 2
Add the mint leaves to the warm syrup and press them gently with a muddler or the back of a wooden spoon until fragrant and slightly bruised. Let the mint steep for 15 minutes, then strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a pitcher, pressing the leaves to extract as much syrup as possible. Discard the spent mint.
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