Artificial Food Coloring Free Peppermint Cocoa Lemonade

Total time40 min

Prep time10 min

Cook time10 min

Artificial Food Coloring Free Peppermint Cocoa Lemonade

This drink sounds like it shouldn't work — chocolate, peppermint, and lemon in the same glass — but somehow it absolutely does, landing somewhere between a cooling summer refresher and a moody dessert cocktail. The secret is a homemade peppermint cocoa syrup built from maple syrup, unsweetened cocoa powder, and a touch of peppermint extract, which means every drop of color and flavor comes from real, recognizable ingredients rather than synthetic dyes. Store-bought flavored syrups and bottled lemonades are notorious for sneaking in artificial colorings, so making both components from scratch here is a genuine win. Fresh lemon juice brings bright acidity that cuts right through the richness of the cocoa, and the sparkling water keeps everything light and lively. The technique of stirring just enough to leave the drink lightly streaked is a small but brilliant detail — you get a gorgeous swirl effect without any added color at all. Garnished with a fresh mint sprig and a lemon slice, it looks like something from a fancy café menu, and nobody has to know how straightforward it was to pull together.

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Ingredients

4 servings

For the peppermint cocoa syrup

½ cup water
½ cup maple syrup
Coombs Orgnic Maple Syrup - 32 Fl. Oz.Shady Maple Farm Pure Organic Maple Syrup, 12.7 fl oz Maple Grove Farms 100% Pure Maple Syrup Cary's Maple Syrup Macdonald's Pure Maple Syrup
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2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ tsp peppermint extract
1 pinch fine salt

For the lemonade

½ cup fresh lemon juice (from about 4 lemons)
3 cups sparkling water, chilled
2 cups ice

For serving

4 fresh mint sprigs (optional)
4 lemon slices (optional)

Instructions

1
Combine the water, maple syrup, and cocoa powder in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk constantly until the cocoa is fully dissolved and the mixture comes to a gentle simmer, about 3–4 minutes.
2
Remove the saucepan from the heat and whisk in the peppermint extract and salt. Pour the syrup through a fine-mesh strainer into a heatproof container to remove any undissolved cocoa solids.

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