3 “Garden Variety” Mocktails: Recipes From Your Herb Garden

Parties are fun -- unless you throw them yourself, that is. Then they become something stressful that you have to plan for just right so your guests will have a good time (and would actually want to come back). However, planning parties should be a piece of cake with one important thing: preparation.

There are a lot of things you can prepare ahead of the party, like decorations, the menu, or the music playlist. Some things, however, need to be done on the same day, or even mere hours before your guests arrive. To make things less stressful, you can lessen the things you need to do on the day of your party itself.

One thing you can do ahead of time? Preparing the drinks. You can still serve fresh, great-tasting drinks even if you make them days before the party. With the help of UV glass bottles, you can make the freshness and quality of these drinks last up to the very day that you need them.

Herbal Mocktails

Mocktails are a great addition to any party. They’re largely harmless, and can be good for both adults and children. You can also put a little pizzazz into the same old kinds of drinks by using fresh herbs that will likely be available to you if you have your own herb garden.

These mocktail recipes can easily be convertible to cocktails by substituting alcohol for certain ingredients. However, as they are, these recipes are non-alcoholic.

Rosemary Pear Mocktail

This recipe actually has two parts, since you’ll need to make one of the ingredients from scratch. Even so, this is relatively simple and easy to make, and the payoff is certainly wonderful. The first thing you’ll have to make is rosemary simple syrup, which is a great way to use a common garden herb to transform a common ingredient.

How to Make Rosemary Simple Syrup

Here are the ingredients you’ll need:

8 sprigs of rosemary
1 cup water
1 cup sugar

Take a saucepan and add in the water and sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil, then add the sprigs of rosemary. Keep stirring until the water and sugar have combined. Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes so the flavors will incorporate. Once the 30 minutes are up, strain the syrup into a non-plastic container. Keep it covered and set it aside.

Mocktail Ingredients

These are what you’ll need to make the mocktail:

¾ cup rosemary simple syrup
4 cups pear juice
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Seltzer
Rosemary sprigs (garnish)

Instructions

Take a large pitcher, preferably one with a narrow spout, and pour in the rosemary simple syrup, the pear juice, and the lemon juice. Stir the mixture together. Next, take a funnel and fit it into the mouth of this UV glass bottle. Pour the mixture through the funnel and into the bottle; this way, you won’t be making a mess.

Keep this bottle in the refrigerator until you need it. When you do, fill glasses with crushed ice, then pour the mocktail mixture over the ice until the glass is halfway full. Next, pour in the seltzer and put rosemary sprigs in the glass as garnish.

Basil Watermelon Mocktail

This drink is great for hot days, barbecues, and garden parties. It’s basically like an iced tea, except it doesn’t come from a powdered mix and it’s far more fancy. You’ll actually be using tea, as well as fruits and their natural juices.

Here are the ingredients you’ll need:

½ cup fresh basil leaves, chopped
½ cup sugar
½ cup water for mixing

Take a saucepan and add in the water and sugar. Bring the mixture to a boil, then add the chopped basil leaves. Keep stirring until the water and sugar have combined. Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes so the flavors will incorporate. Once the 30 minutes are up, strain the syrup into a non-plastic container. Keep it covered and set it aside.

Mocktail Ingredients

These are what you’ll need to make the mocktail:

6 bags Tetley Black Tea and Green Tea Blend (or equivalent)
1 small seedless watermelon
6 cups water for boiling
The juice of three limes

Mix the ½ cup water and sugar together in a small pot. Bring this mixture to a simmer over a stove and maintain the temperature until the sugar has dissolved into the water. After this, turn off the heat and add in the chopped basil leaves. Transfer to a heat-proof container, cover, and set aside until cool.

Instructions

Take the 6 cups of water and bring it all to a simmer over the stove. Then, turn of the heat. Steep the tea bags for 5 to 10 minutes, though this is based on your preference regarding the strength of your tea. Remove the tea bags after steeping, then let the tea cool down. Once it’s room temperature, cover it up and put it in the fridge. Let it chill for about an hour.

Meanwhile, you can scoop out the flesh of the watermelon and blend it in a food processor until it has a smooth consistency. Strain the watermelon into a large pitcher, after which you can throw away the pulp or seeds that may have been left behind. Cover the watermelon juice up and chill it in the fridge as well.

At this point, pour 3 cups of watermelon juice into the tea. You don’t have to add all of the basil simple syrup; you can use only as much as you want. Pour in the freshly-squeezed lime juice then stir all the ingredients together.

Store the mixture in this bottle. When it’s time to serve the mocktail, you can garnish them with basil leaves and lime slices.

Ginger Lemon Mocktail with Fresh Lavender

This recipe is reminiscent of a hot toddy, though it doesn’t have to be something you only make when you’re feeling a bit under the weather. Of course, you can make this beverage whenever you’d like to have it. It’s also great for dinner parties in the fall or the winter.

Ingredients

These are what you’ll need to make the mocktail:

2 bags green tea
2 cups water
1 teaspoon ginger
1 to 2 cloves or garlic, crushed
Juice from 1 lemon
1 to 2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons lavender buds

Instructions

Making this is actually quite simple. First, take a saucepan and heat the water, ginger, garlic, lemon juice, honey, and lavender buds. Put the teabags in as well, then bring the whole thing to a boil. Once the mixture has boiled, turn off the heat then leave the tea bag in to steep for about 5 minutes.

Cover the saucepan up and let the mixture cool down a little before straining it. Strain it by placing a funnel into the mouth of this bottle, then straining the mixture right into funnel so it goes through to the bottle. You can store the bottle of the mocktail in the fridge until you need it, and you can also serve it cold with a sprig of lavender as a garnish. However, you can also heat the mocktail up again if you want something to warm you up.

Herbal Mocktails and Infinity Jars

Something that you enjoy and that you spent time on making deserves the best containers. Infinity Jars can provide you with a wide variety of jars and bottles that are made of powerful ultraviolet glass. UV glass, unlike clear or amber glass, can prevent visible light rays from coming through. However, it can allow ultraviolet light rays to penetrate.

Visible light rays can promote organic decay, but UV light can promote and preserve the quality of organic and all-natural ingredients. Learn more about how UV glass works here.