Midday
Some of these drinks are caffeinated, some are sweet and creamy, some are bubbly and refreshing. All of them have a bright, sunny quality that places them—cheerfully!—in the morning or the middle of the day.
Billows & Thieves
Mike Di Tota — The Bonnie, Queens, New York
Former Bonnie bar director Mike Di Tota’s wife, Chelsea, doesn’t drink, and this was her favorite cocktail on his menu. When I met her at the bar to try it out, I was skeptical: iced coffee and grapefruit juice? In a word: YES. Mike tried all the other citrus fruits in combination with coffee, but the bitter-on-bitter of grapefruit juice just worked. Make sure you shake hard to get that creamy froth on top.
Commitment LEVEL 
Serves 1
3 ounces freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
½ ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 ounce cold-brew concentrate, such as Grady’s
½ ounce Black Cardamom–Cinnamon Syrup (recipe follows)
Small pinch of smoked sea salt
Freshly grated nutmeg, for garnish
Combine the juices, cold-brew concentrate, syrup, and salt in a cocktail shaker. Fill with ice, seal the shaker, and shake vigorously for 20 seconds, until the shaker is ice cold. Double-strain into a coupe and finish with a grating of fresh nutmeg.
Black Cardamom–Cinnamon Syrup
Makes about 1¼ cups, enough for 20 drinks
2 cinnamon sticks, cracked
3 black cardamom pods, cracked
½ cup water
1 cup maple syrup
In a small saucepan over medium heat, toast the cinnamon sticks, occasionally shaking the pan back and forth, until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the cardamom, water, and maple syrup and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool completely. Fine-strain and discard the solids. Store the syrup in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Note Some additional and über scientific research I engaged in shows that leftover syrup can be used in your morning coffee.
Staycation
Daniel Miller — Vedge, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Yuzu kosho is a Japanese fermented paste made with fresh chiles, salt, and yuzu citrus fruit. For this drink—and it really makes this drink—you want the green, not the red, variety. I love the heat it brings, so I increased the amount of yuzu kosho from Daniel’s original recipe, but if you’re not down with that, pull back on it a little. The condiment has grown in popularity in the States, so it may be sold at your local grocery store. If not, it’s definitely at Japanese markets.
Commitment LEVEL 
Serves 1
1 ounce fresh pineapple juice
1 ounce freshly squeezed lime juice
1 ounce Pandan-Coconut Syrup (recipe follows)
½ teaspoon yuzu kosho
3–4 ounces soda water
1 cocktail umbrella, for garnish (optional)
Combine the juices, syrup, and yuzu kosho in a cocktail shaker. Fill with ice, seal the shaker, and shake for 10 to 15 seconds, until well chilled. Double-strain into a collins glass filled with ice and top with soda water. Garnish with a cocktail umbrella, if using, and serve.
Pandan-Coconut Syrup
Makes 1½ cups, enough for 12 drinks
½ cup canned pandan leaves extract, such as Singing Bird
½ cup coconut milk
1 cup sugar
Combine the pandan extract, coconut milk, and sugar in a blender and blend on high for 1 minute. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
If making ahead and chilling, let the syrup stand at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes, then shake to combine, if needed, before using.
Note Pandan is a tropical plant, its fragrant leaves often used in Southeast Asian cooking. Pandan extract is sold three ways: canned, as a paste, or as a concentrated extract. You want the milky stuff that comes in a can, called pandan leaves extract, for this recipe. While I can find it at most Thai grocers in New York City, some friends who live elsewhere (and who I let have early access to some of these recipes) had trouble finding it. If that’s the case for you, Grocery Thai (grocerythai.com) sells it online. If you can’t find it or don’t want to mail-order, I also tested the Pandan-Coconut Syrup recipe with 1 full cup of coconut milk. It’s a different drink—less vegetal, more like a spicy piña colada—but still delicious.
Jardín Verde
Bryan Dayton — Corrida, Boulder, Colorado
A former competitive trail runner who won two national championships, Bryan Dayton has offered nonalcoholic drinks at Oak at Fourteenth since the day he opened the Boulder restaurant more than ten years ago. My favorite, though, is this one from his fourth spot, Corrida. There are other recipes in this book that use Seedlip, but I think its best expression is like this, simply with tonic. The bubbles breathe life into all of those botanicals, and the sweet and bitter notes complement their flavors.
Commitment Level
Serves 1
1 cucumber ribbon for garnish
1½ ounces Seedlip Garden 108 (see this page)
4 ounces Fever-Tree Mediterranean Tonic
1 sprig of fresh basil, for garnish
Line a wine or spritz glass with the cucumber ribbon and fill with 2 or 3 ice cubes. Add the Seedlip Garden 108 and tonic water. Garnish with the basil.
Batch for 6 Line 6 wine glasses each with 1 cucumber ribbon and set aside. (Or don’t go to the trouble if you don’t want to. It’s beautiful, but, honestly, the drink is good either way!) Fill a pitcher with ice, then add 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons Seedlip Garden 108 and 3 cups Fever-Tree Mediterranean Tonic. Gently stir, then divide among the wine glasses. Garnish each with a basil sprig (again, only if you want to!).
Note You could use a regular tonic water, but Bryan likes Fever-Tree’s Mediterranean Tonic because it’s lighter on quinine and flavored with rosemary and lemon thyme. I’m with him.
Dollar Slice
Aaron Polsky — Listen Bar, New York, New York
Lorelei Bandrovschi is one of a few nightlife entrepreneurs providing New Yorkers with alcohol-free gathering spaces, and she tapped some of the best bartenders around the country to create drinks for Listen Bar, a pop-up series she launched in 2018. This riff on a Bloody Mary comes from Aaron Polsky, who’s based in Los Angeles. He makes a next-level salt rim, bringing earthy and umami flavors from mushroom powder into the mix, but you could use a standard salt rim or Tajín Clásico chile-lime seasoning instead.
Commitment Level 
Serves 1
Spiced Mushroom Salt (recipe follows)
1 lime wedge
2 ounces Seedlip Spice 94 (see this page)
4 ounces fresh tomato juice
1 teaspoon Tabasco Sriracha or other hot sauce
Small pinch of kosher salt
½ ounce freshly squeezed lime juice
1 sprig of oregano, for garnish
1 peperoncino, for garnish (optional)
Pour the mushroom salt into a small, shallow bowl. Rub the lime wedge around the rim of a large footed glass or collins glass. Dip the rim into the salt and set the glass aside.
Combine the Seedlip Spice 94, tomato juice, Sriracha, salt, and lime juice in one half of a cocktail shaker and fill it halfway with ice. Dump the mixture into the other half of the shaker, then dump it back. Roll the drink this way two more times, so that it chills and aerates slightly without breaking ice or over-diluting. Pour it into the prepared glass and garnish with the oregano and the peperoncino, if using.
Note I know I made a big fuss about using fresh tomato juice in the ingredients section (see this page), but you can use store-bought if you really want to. If you go fresh, pureeing the tomatoes and fine-straining will get you the best results.
Spiced Mushroom Salt
Makes ¾ cup, enough for A heck of a lot of drinks
One 1-ounce packet dried shiitake mushrooms
3 tablespoons store-bought pizza seasoning
2 tablespoons hickory-smoked salt
In a spice grinder, blend the shiitakes in three batches until a powder forms. Transfer to a bowl. Add the pizza seasoning and salt to the grinder, then blend until combined. Add to the mushroom powder and stir to combine. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 months.
Batch for 6 Pour the mushroom salt into a small, shallow bowl. Rub a lime wedge around each rim of 6 footed glasses. Dip the rim of each glass into the salt and set aside. Combine 1½ cups Seedlip Spice 94, 3 cups chilled tomato juice, 2 tablespoons hot sauce, 1 tablespoon kosher salt, and 3 ounces lime juice in a pitcher with ice. Stir until thoroughly combined, 10 to 15 seconds. Divide among the six prepared glasses, and garnish each with an oregano sprig and a peperoncino, if using.
Chicha Morada Agua Fresca
Enrique Sanchez — School Night, San Francisco, California
When he was growing up in Lima, Peru, Enrique Sanchez’s family sold fruit and whenever a pineapple was about to go bad, into a pot of chicha morada it would go. “A batch of it was always sitting around,” he says. The traditional Peruvian drink gets its color and texture from purple corn (Enrique likes the Inca’s brand, which you can find at zocalofoods.com or amigofoods.com), and now Enrique serves it at School Night, where he’s the beverage director. Here is his grandmother’s recipe.
Commitment LEVEL
Serves 1
5 ounces Chicha Morada (recipe follows)
¾ ounce freshly squeezed lime juice
¾ ounce Simple Syrup (this page)
1 Granny Smith apple slice, for garnish
Combine the chicha morada, lime juice, and syrup in a tumbler filled with ice and stir. Garnish with the apple slice.
Chicha Morada
Makes a scant 3 quarts, enough for 18 drinks
1 pineapple, washed and dried
1 pound whole dried purple corn (5 to 6 cobs)
1 Granny Smith apple, quartered
3 whole cloves
1 cinnamon stick
5 quarts plus ¾ cup water
Remove the top of the pineapple and discard. Cut the skin from the fruit, then core it, reserving the meat for another use (such as eating, maybe even as you prepare this drink!).
In a large stockpot, combine the pineapple skins and core with the corn, apple, cloves, cinnamon, and water. On the stovetop over high heat, bring the mixture to a boil. Decrease the heat to low and simmer for 2 hours, or until the liquid has reduced by an inch or two from the top and some kernels of the corn have split open slightly. Strain, discarding the solids, and let the liquid cool to room temperature, then refrigerate to chill. Store the chicha morada in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Batch for 6 Combine 3¾ cups Chicha Morada, a brimming ½ cup freshly squeezed lime juice, and ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon simple syrup in a pitcher. Stir, then divide among 6 tumblers filled with ice. Garnish each with an apple slice.
The Bicycle Gang
Nicholas Matio — C3, Bloomington, Indiana
I thought I’d do the bulk of my Indiana research in its capital, but it turns out that Bloomington, a little over an hour south of Indianapolis, is where it’s really at for good drinking. (Even Cardinal Spirits—a distillery!—serves cold brew with mint syrup and chocolate bitters, or Golden Assam tea with passion fruit and club soda. ) At C3, bar manager Nicholas Matio’s riff on an Orange Julius is surprisingly simple with just four ingredients and two good shakes. It’s a great brunch drink, if I do say so.
Commitment Level
Serves 1
3 ounces freshly squeezed orange juice
1 ounce heavy whipping cream
½ ounce Simple Syrup (this page)
4–6 ounces soda water
1 orange twist, for garnish
Combine the juice, cream, and syrup in a cocktail shaker. Seal and shake vigorously for 10 seconds, until the cream has fluffed up and thickened. Open the shaker, fill with ice, then seal and shake for 5 to 8 seconds more, until well chilled. Strain into a large footed glass and top with soda water. Garnish with the orange twist.
Batch for 4 Most blenders can comfortably fit enough liquid for 4 servings. If your crowd is bigger than that, you can easily do two back-to-black blender rounds, no cleaning or fussing with the machine in between. Combine 1½ cups freshly squeezed orange juice, ½ cup heavy whipping cream, and ¼ cup simple syrup in a blender. Pulse 2 to 4 times, or until just combined. Add 2 to 3 ice cubes and blend just until the ice sounds broken up, 15 to 20 seconds. Divide between four footed glasses and top each with soda water. Garnish each with an orange twist.
Note Be patient when adding the soda water: Once the liquid gets close to the top of the glass, stop and wait for 20 seconds before pouring in the rest. The foam it creates should rise just above the rim.
Shiso Spritz
Victor Gainor — Vicia, St. Louis, Missouri
Shiso is in the mint family, so its season is mid–late summer. This drink’s vaguely menthol, vaguely citrus flavor comes from a mixture of green and red (sometimes labeled as purple) shiso, both of which you should be able to find fresh at your local Asian grocers—but the recipe will work with just red shiso, too. At Vicia, the bar team mixes a syrup made from melon rinds into this drink, but the tonic adds enough sweetness for me. Use plain tonic water and a small squeeze of lemon juice (about ¼ teaspoon) if you can’t find citrus tonic. The shiso tea is a light pinkish-brown before you add the citric acid and then, like magic, it becomes full-on magenta.
Commitment Level
Serves 1
2½ ounces chilled Shiso Tea (recipe follows)
2½ ounces citrus tonic, such as Fever-Tree
Shiso leaf, for garnish (optional)
Place 2 or 3 ice cubes in a wine glass. Add the tea, then the tonic water. Garnish with a shiso leaf, if using.
Shiso Tea
Makes about 1¾ cups, enough for just over 4 drinks
1⅓ cups packed fresh red shiso leaves
⅔ cup packed fresh green shiso leaves
4 large fresh basil leaves
10 fresh mint leaves
Pour 2 cups water into a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the red and green shiso leaves, the basil leaves, and the mint leaves, stir to submerge the herbs, decrease the heat, and gently simmer for 5 minutes. Strain the tea, pressing on the solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard the solids. Let the tea cool to room temperature, then chill thoroughly. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Batch for 4 Fill a pitcher with ice. Add 1¼ cups tea and 1¼ cups tonic. Gently stir, then divide among 4 wine glasses filled with 2 or 3 ice cubes each. Garnish each with a shiso leaf, if using.
Honeydew-Avocado Agua Fresca
Megan Sanchez — Güero, Portland, Oregon
Güero is, basically, a torta shop that also has a full cocktail bar featuring a selection of mezcals and tequilas. You’ll find nonalcoholic beverages that are typical to Mexican restaurants—horchata, agua de jamaica, and Jarritos sodas—but co-owner Megan Sanchez takes extra care with her seasonal aguas frescas. Honeydew juice alone would have been fine in this drink, with some soda water and lime, but Megan adds avocado, turning it silky smooth.
Commitment LEVEL
Serves 1
¾ ounce freshly squeezed lime juice
Pinch of kosher salt
3–4 ounces soda water, preferably Topo Chico
3 ounces Honeydew-Avocado Puree (recipe follows)
Tajín Clásico or other chile-lime seasoning powder, for garnish
Fill a collins glass with ice, then add the lime juice and salt. Add soda water, then top with the fruit puree. Gently stir to combine. Finish with a pinch of Tajín.
Note If you can’t find Tajín, make your own chile-lime seasoning by mixing equal parts kosher salt, chile powder, and lime zest.
Honeydew-Avocado Puree
Makes about 2½ cups, enough for just over 6 drinks
½ avocado, cubed
4 cups cubed honeydew
Combine the avocado, melon, and ¾ cup water in a blender and blend on high until smooth, about 1 minute. Fine-strain and discard the pulp. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
I’ve Been Drinking
Espresso and Tonic with Lime
Food editor Rick Martinez on the drink that makes him feel like he’s on vacation—even when he’s at work in Bon Appétit’s offices.
It seemed very suspicious to me—I couldn’t imagine drinking tonic in the morning—but a friend of mine who owns a café in Harlem called Shuteye fixed me one, and the only polite thing to do was to drink it. My mind was blown. It’s transformative! The tonic turns a shot of espresso into something completely different, almost unrecognizable.
Normally, you see this drink with lemon, but because that’s sharper, you have to be more judicious with it. Lime has tropical notes and a sweetness that I like. So I pull a long shot or, if I’m buying it, I order a double shot. I throw that into a pint glass filled with ice, top it with about 8 ounces of good-quality tonic, and squeeze a lime wedge into it. It’s so balanced: The warm espresso melts the ice, which waters the coffee down a bit, and the tonic’s sweetness with that bitter edge pulls out the tannins and the herbaceousness of the coffee, depending on what you’re drinking. A dark roast will clash with the tonic, so you want something lighter, with berry or stone fruit notes.
As much as I love a morning mug full of coffee, there’s also a bit of monotony and drudgery associated with it for me, because it’s usually the beginning of the workday. This feels like something that I should be enjoying on the beach.
Midnight Magic
Rick may like his espresso and tonic in the morning, but at Mission and Market, Eduardo Guzman pairs his version with dessert—preferably something rich and chocolaty. The Buckhead restaurant opened after my time in Atlanta—I was the food editor of Atlanta magazine for two very fun (and busy!) years—but I love the addition of bitters, which, with just one dash, usher this drink into the night.
Serves 1
7 ounces tonic water
1 ounce espresso
1 dash walnut bitters
1 lemon twist for garnish
Fill a collins glass with ice and pour in the tonic water. Top with the espresso and bitters.Garnish with the lemon twist.
Pimm’s Crown
Rob Brouse — Acadia, Chicago, Illinois
No one really knows exactly what Pimm’s No. 1 is made of. The recipe for the gin-based liquor was developed centuries ago, and it’s still a secret. What we do know is that it’s delicious and worthy of replication. Rob Brouse’s nonalcoholic version takes some work, but the pleasantly bitter, refreshing product is everything that’s good about a Pimm’s Cup. You could use all rooibos or all black tea, but I like the combination. The nonnegotiable: Whatever tea you use, it must be loose-leaf. A powder or the finer leaves in a sachet will make your drink too bitter.
Commitment LEVEL 
Serves 1
3 ounces “Pimm’s” (recipe follows)
¼ ounce freshly squeezed lime juice
3 dashes of rhubarb bitters, such as Fee Brothers
3 ounces good-quality ginger ale, such as Goslings
1 sprig of mint, for garnish
Combine the “Pimm’s,” lime juice, and bitters in a cocktail shaker. Fill with ice, seal the shaker, and shake for 10 to 15 seconds, until well chilled. Double-strain into a footed glass and top with ginger ale. Garnish with the mint sprig.
“Pimm’s”
Makes 3 cups, enough for 8 drinks
2 oranges
2 lemons
2 limes
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup loose-leaf rooibos tea
⅓ cup loose-leaf black tea, such as Assam or English Breakfast
4 dried juniper berries
1 teaspoon gentian root
1¼ ounces raspberry vinegar
5 dashes of orange bitters
2 pinches of sea salt
Remove the peels from the oranges, lemons, and limes, leaving the white pith behind. Reserve the meat of the fruit for another use.
In a medium pot, combine the citrus peels with the sugar, teas, juniper berries, gentian root, vinegar, bitters, salt, and 3 cups water. Bring the mixture just to a simmer over medium-high heat. Remove the pot from the heat and let the ingredients steep for 1 hour. Transfer the mixture to an airtight container and chill in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours, or up to 24.
The next day, fine-strain the mixture and discard the solids. Store the “Pimm’s” in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Note Purchase gentian root at mountainroseherbs.com.
Yu the Great
Samantha Azarow — Departure, Portland, Oregon
Former beverage director Samantha Azarow leaned on coconut milk in order to keep Departure’s menu dairy-free, and it works to marry two seemingly incompatible ingredients in this drink: basil and matcha. I tested the recipe with Italian basil, out of curiosity, and it didn’t work. You really want Thai basil, which is less sweet, more herbal and licorice-like—spicy, even. It’s grown domestically these days, and if it’s not at your local supermarket, you can find it at Southeast Asian stores or order it online at importfood.com. Find matcha powder at most major grocery stores or at kettl.co. And feel free to bump up the lime juice to one ounce if you want more acidity.
Commitment LEVEL
Serves 1
1 ounce Basil-Matcha Syrup (recipe follows)
¾ ounce freshly squeezed lime juice
1 ounce full-fat coconut milk, well shaken
3 ounces soda water
Matcha powder, for garnish
Combine the syrup, lime juice, and coconut milk in a cocktail shaker. Fill with ice, seal the shaker, and shake just to combine, about 3 seconds. Double-strain into a tumbler filled with ice and top with soda water. (This will produce foam, so pour slowly and carefully.) To garnish, sift matcha powder on top of the foam.
Basil-Matcha Syrup
Makes 1¼ cups, enough for 10 drinks
1½ teaspoons matcha powder
1 cup loosely packed fresh Thai basil leaves
1 cup sugar
Combine the matcha powder, basil, sugar, and ¾ cup water in a blender and blend on high until smooth and bright green and the sugar is dissolved, about 2 minutes. Strain through a cheesecloth-lined strainer, discard the solids, and let the syrup cool to room temperature. The syrup will keep for 1 week in the refrigerator.
Batch for 6 Combine ¾ cup syrup, ½ cup plus 2 teaspoons lime juice, ¾ cup coconut milk, and 2 cups ice in a blender and pulse once or twice, just to combine. Divide among 6 tumblers and top each with soda water. Garnish each with a dusting of matcha powder.