Summer Sipper | A Fresh Green Tea Cocktail with Cucumber-Infused Vodka

This Summer Sipper is the perfect cocktail to cap off the summer. It’s got all the refreshing flavors of the season: mint, citrus, cucumber, and iced green tea.

So many people out in this God-blessed country are celebrating FALL and even HALLOWEEN already. My season-honoring, calendar-following heart just can’t take it. The Autumn Equinox is September 21st. That’s three weeks away. I just can’t do it. Despite the fact that #summer2020 has been the longest summer in existence, I wanna relish these next few weeks.

Plus here in Texas, summer weather lasts well into October November sometimes. It’s hard to get in the cozy recipe mood when going to check my mail gives me immediate face sweat.

I was talking with some friends this morning about how crazy the weather can be here in Texas. Sometimes it’s freezing cold and snowing in April and sometimes wait… What am I doing? Have I devolved into talking about the WEATHER on a cocktail blog? Slap me the next time I do that.

I still have soo many summer-y cocktails I want to post though before the season ends so I need to get a move on. But I’m currently limiting myself to 2 recipe posts per week because running a blog is a lot of work. Creating the recipes, testing them, photographing the drink, writing the blog post, promoting it on social media is a lot of work. I don’t know if people realize it, but it is a lot of work. Have I mentioned how much work it is? Okay, I’ll stop. It is though. Fun work that I enjoy doing but it does prevent me from feeling like I can explore evverryyy cocktail idea that enters my mind.

Today though I’m bringing you a cocktail idea that entered into my Insta friend Casey’s mind. You can see Casey’s original Instagram post here. It really is the perfect way to cap off the end of summer. This is actually the second cocktail of Casey’s that I’ve made. I also mixed up her Mezcal in Maui and loved it! Several of you really enjoyed it, too. If you’re into smoky drinks and tropical vibes, I highly recommend it.

I actually made this drink at my friend’s house, as you may notice from the different setup. Our toddlers are becoming little friends & it’s adorable. We both also really enjoy a good cocktail. She suggested we enjoy “a good summer’s last hurrah cocktail” and the Summer Sipper is definitely that.

We ended up tweaking the recipe a bit (Casey’s calls for club soda but we used tonic water) and we also ran out of room for the rest of the green tea so we adjusted the amount. It turned out soo well! Perfectly bright and refreshing. Not too tart either, despite the fact that there is no sweetener in the drink. I think the earthiness of the green tea really grounded the whole drink. Well done, Casey! Thanks for sharing your cocktail with the Instagram and now blog world!

One interesting note. The recipe also calls for cucumber-infused vodka, which we made. But my friend also bought some *real* cucumber vodka so we could do a side-by-side comparison. Y’all. We both preferred the homemade cucumber-infused vodka! It tasted fresher and smoother— can you believe it? I’d say they both had the same level of cucumberiness (made that up). And while the Effen bottle is absolutely gorgeous, you can’t beat a cheapo bottle of Smirnoff.

In addition to the fact that the homemade cucumber-infused vodka was smooth as silk, using it in the Summer Sipper recipe made it taste like gin. Which I luurrve so wins all around.

If you want to invest in a bottle of cucumber vodka, go for it. Just know that homemade tastes equally as good (if not better) and is cheaper.

Here’s the recipe:

Homemade Cucumber-Infused Vodka

• 1 bottle of cheap vodka (750mL)
• 1 large cucumber

Peel the cucumber. If the cucumber is especially seed-y, try removing a lot of them. The seeds and the peel can add bitterness to the vodka that you might not want. Chop the cucumber into smaller pieces. The more surface area of cucumber that comes into contact with the vodka, the faster it’ll infuse.

Add the vodka and chopped cucumber to a large bottle or huge lidded Tupperware container. (You can also divide it into smaller containers or halve the recipe if you want.)

Allow the vodka to steep 24-48 hours. We actually enjoyed ours at 22 hours and it was great.

Strain the cucumber pieces out and pour the vodka back into its original bottle so that you know it’ll have a tight seal. No need to refrigerate and it will keep for several, several months.

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Alright, now we can get to the Summer Sipper recipe. If you make this one, be sure to tag both me (@girlandtonic_) and Casey (@citygalcocktails) on Instagram!

If you like the idea of a green tea cocktail, you can check out my Matcha Simple Syrup– it’s the easiest way to add the lovely earthiness of green tea to any cocktail.

Ingredients for a Summer Sipper

• 1 1/2 oz cucumber-infused vodka
• 2 oz cold green tea, unsweetened
• 1/2 oz freshly-squeezed lemon juice
• 10 mint leaves
• tonic water (or club soda)
• cucumber slice, to garnish

How to Make a Summer Sipper – A Green Tea Cocktail with Cucumber-Infused Vodka

Add the mint leaves and the cucumber-infused vodka to a cocktail shaker. Gently muddle the leaves; don’t smash them to smithereens or they’ll turn bitter. Add ice, green tea, and lemon juice. Shake well. Strain into a lowball glass filled with ice. Top off the rest of the glass with tonic water. Garnish with a cucumber slice and additional mint.