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Drinks · ☀️ Summer

Cold, bright and worth the ice

A five-minute citrus cooler that tastes like the last fortnight of summer.

5 minutes · £ · 2 min read

A tall glass of cloudy citrus cooler over crushed ice with a mint sprig

Most summer drinks fail on ice. Too little and it's warm by the second sip; too much of the wrong kind and it's water by the third.

This one is built for crushed ice, which dilutes fast — so it starts deliberately sharp and lands exactly right about a minute in.

You'll need (makes 2)

  • 2 lemons, juiced (about 80ml)
  • 40ml basil or mint syrup — see below
  • 300ml cold sparkling water
  • A handful of basil leaves
  • Crushed ice, plenty

Method

  1. Syrup: 100g sugar, 100ml water and a big handful of basil in a pan. Warm until dissolved, take off the heat, leave 20 minutes, strain. Keeps a fortnight in the fridge.
  2. Fill two tall glasses to the top with crushed ice.
  3. Pour over the lemon juice and syrup, then top with sparkling water.
  4. Slap a basil sprig between your palms to wake it up, and drop it in.

Three ways with it

  • Spritz: replace half the sparkling water with a dry white or a bitter aperitif.
  • Alcohol-free and grown-up: add a dash of non-alcoholic bitters and a strip of grapefruit peel.
  • For a crowd: mix everything but the sparkling water in a jug an hour ahead, top up at the table.

My SZN editorial inspiration — our own seasonal idea, not a listing for a verified external event.

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