Lupin Free Garden Mint Citrus Cooler
Fresh citrus and garden mint come together in a sparkling cooler that feels like summer in a glass. The base is a homemade maple mint simple syrup — steeped just long enough to pull out every bit of fragrance from the leaves before being strained into a pitcher with freshly squeezed orange and lime juice. That combination of sweet, tart, and herbal is genuinely hard to beat, and the sparkling water lifts the whole thing into something that feels a little fancy without any real effort. Lupin, which can quietly show up in flavored syrups, packaged drink mixes, and even some bottled juices as a filler or thickener, is a complete non-issue here since every ingredient is whole and made from scratch. There's no label-reading anxiety, just real fruit, real mint, and a sweetener you can trust. Serve it over ice with a lime wedge and a sprig of fresh mint for a drink that looks as good as it tastes.
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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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