Cardamom Citrus Coffee Spritzer | A Unique 4-Ingredient Sparkling Iced Coffee Drink for Craft Cocktail Lovers

Name: Cardamom Citrus Coffee Spritzer
Prep time: 3 min
Ingredients: 4 oz coldbrew coffee; ¼-½ oz freshly-squeezed lemon juice; 1 oz cardamom simple syrup*; sparkling water or club soda

by corrie.pennington / September 10, 2021

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Revamp your afternoon pick-me-up with this Cardamom Citrus Coffee Spritzer, a delicious & refreshing sparkling iced coffee drink with a layer of complexity and warmth thanks to the cardamom simple syrup.

This Cardamom Citrus Coffee Spritzer recipe from Recipe Fiction is dang good. I was on the fence about all the sparkling iced coffee drinks I’ve been seeing but when Recipe Fiction’s recipe showed up in my Pinterest feed, I knew I had to give it a shot.

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I’ve seen recipes* that claim to be “the cocktail for coffee lovers!” but this, my friends, is the sparkling iced coffee drink for cocktail lovers. It’s the perfect bridge to carry you from your morning coffee to your evening cocktail.

*It’s me. I’ve claimed it. Check out these coffee cocktails: the White Russian & the Colorado Bulldog.

This Cardamom Citrus Coffee Spritzer has got the elements of a well-crafted cocktail– the citrus, the flavored simple syrup, the bubbles– plus the caffeine kick of java. It’s the best of both worlds. Well, it doesn’t have alcohol and I’m sure some folks would definitely include that in the category of “best”. That can easily be remedied by adding in some vodka and/or coffee liqueur.

For a lower ABV drink, just add 3/4 oz of coffee liqueur. If you want it ~actually~ boozy, add in an ounce of vodka in addition to the coffee liqueur.

You could use this same recipe as an outline for other coffee spritzer variations but personally, I love this one. Cardamom is one of my favorite flavors and I’ve long loved it paired with coffee. I lived with a Mexican-American family in a Tibetan village (long story) for a time and one of my favorite memories is enjoying freshly roasted coffee with a few crushed cardamom pods tossed in. If you’ve never had cardamom before, it’s got a beautiful warm complexity to it. I’d describe it as a little fennel-y, a little clove-y, and even a little fruity. If you’ve ever had chai tea before, you’ve had cardamom. You can read more about this unique spice in this short post.

Purchasing pre-made cardamom simple syrup is an option, but if you’ve got the patience to wait for an Amazon Prime package, 5 spare minutes, and enjoy saving a few bucks, I highly recommend you make your own.

If you’re not into cardamom, you can still try making a delish coffee spritzer by using demerara simple syrup, honey simple syrup, or even lavender simple syrup instead.

Have you had a coffee spritzer? What flavors have you tried? If you try out this Cardamom Citrus Coffee Spritzer, be sure to let me know in a comment or by tagging me on Instagram!

Ingredients for a Cardamom Citrus Coffee Spritzer

4 oz cold brew coffee
1/4 – 1/2 oz freshly-squeezed lemon juice
1 oz cardamom simple syrup
sparkling water or club soda

How to Make a Cardamom Citrus Coffee Spritzer

Add ice to a highball glass. Pour in the cold brew coffee, lemon juice, and cardamom syrup. Top off the rest of the glass with sparkling water. Stir gently to combine. Garnish with a fresh or dehydrated lemon wheel.