Month: January 2021

mocktail

Green Tea Moscow Mule | A Refreshing Cocktail or Mocktail Recipe Made with Green Tea

/

This Green Tea Moscow Mule is a refreshing and unique take on the original. If you go the mocktail recipe route, you won’t even miss the alcohol thanks to the flavorful ginger, lime, and green tea juice concentrate.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. If you buy a product via my affiliate link, I will receive a commission. This is at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I actually like! 

The Moscow Mule is one of the most classic–and popular– cocktails out there, and for good reason. It’s crisp, refreshing, and a breeze to make. There are a lot of Moscow Mule riffs out there. I’ve shared a few on the blog in the past. You can check them out here:

The original Moscow Mule recipe calls for 3 simple ingredients: vodka, lime juice, and ginger beer. They require no cocktail shaker or special tools and are really cost-effective to make at home since none of the ingredients are expensive or obscure.

This Green Tea Moscow Mule is just as easy and requires only one more ingredient: green tea concentrate. The one I used, which you can see in the picture below, was actually a Ginger Lime Moscow Mule tea concentrate and is part of their Mixology line. (This post is not sponsored by the way– I wish it was! hi Tazo, hmu). On the label, it says it has green tea, ginger, lime juice, and mint and it recommends serving it with seltzer. But I mean, how can you see a Moscow Mule-flavored tea and not make a Moscow Mule with it?

I bought it at Walmart but if you’re looking to order something from Amazon, I bet their green tea matcha latte concentrate would be pretty good in this recipe, too. Then you can muddle some fresh ginger and mint in it to give it all the flavors that the Moscow Mule tea has.

I made one cocktail version and one mocktail version. They were both amazing. In fact, I could hardly taste the difference between the two! But perhaps that’s because vodka typically doesn’t have a very overt flavor.

If you can find the Tazo Moscow Mule green tea concentrate at your store, buy it. And then make this Green Tea Moscow Mule recipe. I’m quite confident you’ll enjoy it.

Ingredients for a Green Tea Moscow Mule Recipe (and Mocktail Recipe Option)

  • 1 1/2 oz vodka (optional– leave out for a flavorful mocktail)
  • 2 oz Tazo Moscow Mule green tea concentrate*
  • 3/4 oz fresh lime juice
  • 3 + oz ginger beer
  • Garnish: fresh mint & lime wheel

*if you can’t find Tazo’s Moscow Mule green tea concentrate that’s part of their Mixology line, use a green tea concentrate instead and muddle a couple of slices of fresh ginger and mint before adding the ice and ginger beer to your glass.

How to Make a Green Tea Moscow Mule Recipe

Fill a copper mug with crushed ice. Add fresh lime juice, green tea concentrate, & vodka (optional). Top off the rest of the mug with ginger beer. Stir to incorporate. Garnish with fresh mint and a lime wheel.

Green Tea Moscow Mule

This Green Tea Moscow Mule is a refreshing and flavorful take on the original recipe with earthy green tea, zesty ginger, bright lime juice, and fresh mint.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 2 mins
Course Drinks
Servings 1

Ingredients
  

  • 1½ oz vodka (optional– leave out for a flavorful mocktail)
  • 2 oz Tazo Moscow Mule green tea concentrate*
  • ¾ oz fresh lime juice
  • 3+ oz ginger beer

Instructions
 

  • Fill a copper mug with crushed ice.
  • Add fresh lime juice, green tea concentrate, & vodka (optional).
  • Top off the rest of the mug with ginger beer.
  • Stir to incorporate.
  • Garnish with fresh mint and a lime wheel.

Notes

*if you can’t find Tazo’s Moscow Mule green tea concentrate that’s part of their Mixology line, use a green tea concentrate instead and muddle a couple of slices of fresh ginger and mint before adding the ice and ginger beer to your glass.
Keyword cucumber-infused vodka, ginger beer, green tea, green tea concentrate, green tea moscow mule, lime juice, moscow mule

If you love the taste of a Moscow Mule, try out its rum cousin, the Dark & Stormy. And if you already know you love Dark & Stormy’s check out one of my all-time favorite cocktails: the Sea Monster.

mocktail

Blood Orange and Kombucha Mocktail Recipe | A Healthy Alcohol-Free Drink That’s Full of Flavor

/
This Blood Orange and Kombucha Mocktail is a delicious mocktail recipe that packs a lot of flavor and health benefits. If alcohol-free cocktails aren't your thing, easily make this boozy by adding tequila, vodka, gin, or white rum.

This Blood Orange and Kombucha Mocktail recipe is a delicious mocktail recipe that packs a lot of flavor and health benefits. If alcohol-free cocktails aren’t your thing, easily make this boozy by adding tequila, vodka, gin, or white rum.

Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. If you buy a product via my affiliate link, I will receive a commission. This is at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I actually like! 

I mentioned in this month’s Booze News newsletter that I’m participating in Dry January. For those of you who didn’t read it and don’t know what Dry January is, I’ll explain.

Dry January started as a public health campaign in Europe several years back. Its purpose was to urge people to forgo alcohol consumption for a month. Now, people choose to participate in Dry January for a variety of reasons. Some do it as a way to detox from excessive drinking over the holidays, some do it to save money, some do it to jumpstart their health goals for the year. I’m participating for a few reasons but one of them is to challenge my creativity. Coming up with fun (i.e. not bland or basic) mocktail recipes is hard! I’ve been wanting to create more mocktail recipe options that my non-imbibing friends can enjoy. 

Unfortunately, a lot of mocktail recipes can be a little dull. It can be difficult to create recipes that pack a punch without the robust flavor of a spirit. That’s why I love using kombucha in mocktails. Kombucha definitely provides some zing and while drinking it alone is perhaps more of an acquired taste, I feel confident to say that more people would easily enjoy it mixed into a mocktail recipe.

This Blood Orange and Kombucha Mocktail is a delicious mocktail recipe that packs a lot of flavor and health benefits. If alcohol-free cocktails aren't your thing, easily make this boozy by adding tequila, vodka, gin, or white rum.

For this particular kombucha mocktail recipe, I used a hibiscus, blood orange, and rose kombucha. I actually went to the store to grab my trusty ginger-flavored kombucha but when I saw one that already had blood orange and hibiscus in it, I knew I had to give it a go. And wow. It is SO good. It’s definitely my new favorite kombucha flavor. It’s amazing on its own but it really sings in this mocktail recipe.

Blood oranges are in season right now, but if you can’t find any at your store, you might be able to find cold-pressed or pasteurized blood orange juice. I used cold-pressed blood orange juice since my grocery store still doesn’t have any blood oranges in stock. But, they did have Cara Cara oranges which are pink on the inside so I used one of those as a garnish.

If you’re looking for more mocktail recipe ideas, you can browse the mocktail category on my site. My last post can easily be turned into a mocktail recipe and I’ve got a few other alcohol-free recipes that are delicious– like the Mother’s Garden and the Grapefruit Rosemary Spritzer. Several others can easily be made to be mocktail recipes by leaving out the alcohol.

If you make this Blood Orange and Kombucha Mocktail, be sure to tag me on Instagram and comment below! Seeing you create and even come up with different versions of my recipes makes my day!

This Blood Orange and Kombucha Mocktail is a delicious mocktail recipe that packs a lot of flavor and health benefits. If alcohol-free cocktails aren't your thing, easily make this boozy by adding tequila, vodka, gin, or white rum.

Ingredients for a Blood Orange and Kombucha Mocktail Recipe

  • 1 oz blood orange juice
  • 1/2 oz hibiscus syrup (check out this hibiscus & rose syrup)
  • 1/2 oz fresh lemon juice
  • 2 + oz kombucha*

*I used a blood orange, hibiscus, and rose kombucha, but any citrus, berry, or ginger flavor would also work well.

How to Make A Blood Orange and Kombucha Mocktail Recipe

Add the blood orange juice, lemon juice, and hibiscus syrup to a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well. Strain into a lowball glass filled with ice. Top off the rest of the glass with the kombucha. Garnish with a slice of blood orange.

Blood Orange & Kombucha Mocktail

An alcohol-free cocktail recipe made with blood orange juice, kombucha, lemon juice, and sweet hibiscus syrup.
Print Recipe
Prep Time 3 mins
Course Drinks
Servings 1

Equipment

  • cocktail shaker

Ingredients
  

  • 1 oz blood orange juice
  • ½ oz lemon juice
  • ½ oz hibiscus syrup*
  • 2+ oz kombucha**

Instructions
 

  • Add the blood orange juice, lemon juice, and hibiscus syrup to a cocktail shaker filled with ice.
  • Shake well. Strain into a lowball glass filled with ice.
  • Top off the rest of the glass with the kombucha.
  • Garnish with a slice of blood orange.

Notes

*If you can’t find hibiscus syrup, this is a good option from Amazon.
**I used a blood orange, hibiscus, and rose kombucha but any berry, citrus, or ginger kombucha would work well.
Keyword blood orange, blood orange juice, hibiscus syrup, kombucha, lemon, lemon juice
This Blood Orange and Kombucha Mocktail is a delicious mocktail recipe that packs a lot of flavor and health benefits. If alcohol-free cocktails aren't your thing, easily make this boozy by adding tequila, vodka, gin, or white rum.
mocktail

Ocean Water Cocktail & Mocktail Recipe | A Healthy 4 or 5-Ingredient Drink Made with Spira Electric Sky Natural Blue Pigment

/
This Ocean Water cocktail and mocktail recipe are based on Sonic's famous beverage with the same name.And this one is naturally-colored thanks to Spira's Electric Sky pigment. It's well-balanced between tart and sweet and is healthier than the original version. Keep reading to find out how to make Sonic's famous blue coconut-flavored drink at home.

This Ocean Water cocktail and mocktail recipe are based on Sonic’s famous beverage with the same name. And this one is naturally-colored thanks to the Spira Electric Sky pigment. It’s well-balanced between tart and sweet and is healthier than the original version. Keep reading to find out how to make Sonic’s famous blue coconut-flavored drink at home.

Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. All opinions of Spira are my own. Some of the links below are affiliate links. If you buy a product via my affiliate link, I will receive a commission. This is at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products I actually like! 

If you’ve ever been to Sonic, you’ve heard of (& most likely tried) their famous Ocean Water. It’s super refreshing. A little tart, a little sweet. A perfect touch of tropical coconut. But there’s one problem I have with it. It’s blue.

When I was real young– I’m talking 5 or 6– blue-colored things didn’t bother me. I wouldn’t think twice before swiping a sour blue raspberry gel while waiting in line at Blockbuster to rent the latest Mary Kate and Ashley movie. But it didn’t take me too long to realize that the vibrant blue used in various foods and beverages is NOT natural. Raspberries aren’t blue. Neither are coconuts.

Now, I know that most red dye is not natural either. But my brain can make allowances because red foods like strawberries are pretty dang red. But blue stuff? No. I just can’t. Even blueberries and blackberries don’t make stuff that color blue.

It’s an unfortunate thing that Sonic uses blue coconut in their famous drink because I love the flavor of Ocean Water. In the past, I’ve ordered it and closed my eyes while I drank it. But eventually, I stopped that because I couldn’t abide that much artificial coloring. It’s the same reason I renounce all the tropical blue cocktail drinks.

This Ocean Water cocktail and mocktail recipe are based on Sonic's famous beverage with the same name.And this one is naturally-colored thanks to Spira's Electric Sky pigment. It's well-balanced between tart and sweet and is healthier than the original version. Keep reading to find out how to make Sonic's famous blue coconut-flavored drink at home.
Photo courtesy of Spira and Sasha Fishman

But then…. then I learned that there actually IS a naturally-derived electric blue pigment. What?! A natural blue? That I can put in foods and drinks? Turns out Spira discovered how to turn spirulina algae into a bright blue. They sent me a sample of their Electric Sky pigment and I am forever grateful. Now I’ll not only have a way to make fun blue cocktails, but I can use it to safely dye my kid’s cupcakes, play doughs, homemade bath fizzies, and anything else I want!

Y’all. Spira’s Electric Sky could replace Blue Dye #1 one day. How awesome would that be? No more fake dyes in our foods. No more synthetic dye sensitivities or allergies. This stuff could revolutionize the industry. Beyond the fact that it’s free of the fake stuff, it’s also plant-based, vegan, is sustainably-produced with no petroleum-based ingredients (🙌), and even has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits. Yep. It looks cool and it’s good for you, too. Can’t get much better than that.

Seeing as how this is a cocktail blog, I figured I would make a boozy version of my old childhood go-to. This Ocean Water cocktail is sure to refresh you and remind you of warmer days. And if you want to keep things real refreshing, just leave out the booze. I actually made it without alcohol the first time and it was amazing.

Like I mentioned, this Ocean Water cocktail (or mocktail) is healthier than it’s namesake (I mean… minus the alcohol). Instead of using coconut flavoring, I used real coconut water. I did try making this with lime sparkling water instead of Sprite and it was alright– I definitely preferred the Sprite version. But you can use sparkling water if you want it to be healthier. And the star of the show, the Electric Sky pigment, kept me from having to use artificial blue dye #1 to get the original blue look.

This Ocean Water cocktail and mocktail recipe are based on Sonic's famous beverage with the same name.And this one is naturally-colored thanks to Spira's Electric Sky pigment. It's well-balanced between tart and sweet and is healthier than the original version. Keep reading to find out how to make Sonic's famous blue coconut-flavored drink at home.

To order your own natural blue pigment, head here to Spira’s website.

Ingredients for an Ocean Water Cocktail or Mocktail

  • 1 1/2 oz white rum or vodka (optional)
  • 2 1/2 oz sweetened coconut water
  • 3 oz Sprite or lemon-lime soda
  • juice from 1/2 a lime
  • 1/8 teaspoon Spira Electric Sky (natural blue pigment)

How to Make an Ocean Water Cocktail or Mocktail

Add all ingredients to a highball glass without ice. Stir well until the Spira Electric Sky pigment is dissolved. Slowly add ice to fill the glass. Garnish with a lime twist and a paper straw.

Ocean Water Cocktail or Mocktail

A healthier version of Sonic's famous Ocean Water drink made with Spira's Electric Sky all-natural blue pigment. Make it boozy by adding alcohol or enjoy it without.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 2 mins
Course Drinks
Servings 1

Ingredients
  

  • 1½ oz white rum or vodka (optional)
  • 2½ oz coconut water, sweetened
  • 3 oz Sprite or lemon-lime soda
  • ⅛ teaspoon 1/8 teaspoon Spira Electric Sky (powdered natural blue dye)

Instructions
 

  • Add all ingredients to a highball glass without ice.
  • Stir well until the Spira Electric Sky pigment is dissolved.
  • Slowly add ice to fill the glass.
  • Garnish with a lime twist and a paper straw.
Keyword lemon-lime soda, lime, lime juice, natural blue dye, natural blue pigment, ocean water, ocean water cocktail, sparkling coconut water, Spira, Spira Electric Blue, Sprite
This Ocean Water cocktail and mocktail recipe are based on Sonic's famous beverage with the same name.And this one is naturally-colored thanks to Spira's Electric Sky pigment. It's well-balanced between tart and sweet and is healthier than the original version. Keep reading to find out how to make Sonic's famous blue coconut-flavored drink at home.

If you’re looking for another easy mocktail recipe, check out my Grapefruit Rosemary Spritzer.