Grapefruit
Reviver Royale
- Prep time 12 hours 15 minutes
- makes 1 drink (multiply all ingredients by 5 if you want to make this as a pitcher for a group)
Author Notes
For as long as there has been alcohol, there have been attempts to limit or reduce its consumption. The blockbuster failure in that effort is of course Prohibition, but since then more modest attempts at dialing back have popped up. One of the most successful and widespread of them is Dry January, and for obvious reasons: The month following December, a time of indulgence and celebration, is a great time to reflect and renew, and ditching alcohol for 31 days is one way to encourage that mindset.
Dry January might seem like a recently developed and convenient marketing opportunity for all the fabulous nonalcoholic drink brands on the market, but its history can actually be traced back to Finland in the 1940s, when it was devised as part of the government’s wartime propaganda effort encouraging national well-being. Dry January really took off in the past decade: first in the U.K. around 2013, then more recently in the U.S., reaching a near fever pitch amid the stresses of the ongoing pandemic.
Whether or not Dry January is your cup of tea should not prevent you from enjoying some of the many delicious experiences alcohol-free cocktails have to offer. Take this elegant and ethereal riff on a Champagne cocktail. The key to crafting an excellent booze-free beverage is to layer multiple flavors, delivering the same level of complexity that you'd find in traditional cocktails. Here that’s done with a grapefruit, jasmine, and green tea syrup that requires a bit of prep and planning but is well worth the effort. The jasmine tea provides an angelic floral quality and is available online. But if it’s not accessible, the drink will still be delicious without it. —John deBary
Ingredients
- Reviver Royale
-
4 ounces
nonalcoholic sparkling wine, such as Thomson & Scott Noughty (or seltzer, in a pinch)
-
1 ounce
Grapefruit, Jasmine & Green Tea Syrup (below)
-
1/2 ounce
freshly squeezed lime juice
- Grapefruit, Jasmine & Green Tea Syrup
-
2
medium grapefruits
-
1/2 cup
granulated sugar
-
1
green tea bag
-
1
“blooming” jasmine tea ball
-
1 cup
chilled filtered water
Directions
- Reviver Royale
- Build in a white-wine glass or large cocktail coupe. Add the sparkling wine first, then the remaining ingredients. Swirl the drink gently to combine.
- Grapefruit, Jasmine & Green Tea Syrup
- Wash the grapefruits thoroughly with soap, water, and a scrubby sponge. Towel dry. Use a vegetable peeler to peel the grapefruit zest into strips. Combine the peels and sugar in a resealable plastic or silicone bag. Compress the air out and let sit for 12 to 16 hours at room temperature, massaging the mixture every few hours to extract the oils from the peels. You’ll know it’s ready when the peels are translucent and the sugar is gooey.
- Meanwhile, combine the tea, jasmine ball, and water in a small container and let sit for 12 hours in the refrigerator. After 12 hours remove the solids and let the infusion reach room temperature.
- Stir together the tea infusion and the grapefruit sugar mixture, then strain through a fine-mesh filter or sieve. This syrup will keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, or 4 weeks if frozen.
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