Comments on: What is your favourite non-alcoholic refreshment?

Question: What is your favourite non-alcoholic refreshment?

KathyK — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 07:33:28 -0800

Help me rock the office potluck lunch! What's an awesome non-alcoholic refreshment?

We're having a potluck lunch at the office next week and I decided to sign up for refreshments. There's always been juice and pop at previous potlucks which I find uninspired. I'm looking for tried-and-true, non-alcoholic and creative refreshments for about 30 people.

Thanks!

By: squasha

squasha — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 07:43:49 -0800

Grape juice sangria is always a winner with my clean and sober friends (sub grape juice for wine, same citrus fruits you would normally use, and add a cup or two of ginger ale for fizzy kick...covers for the lack of brandy.) Pitchers of mock-mojitos are a close second and while we're talking mint leaves, iced orange pekoe tea with mint leaves is also good.

By: thirteenkiller

thirteenkiller — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 07:44:15 -0800

My favorite summer picnic drink thingie is based on Starbucks Passion Tea Lemonade.

Buy a box of Tazo Passion Tea bags and one of orange pekoe iced tea bags. Brew a strong mix of passion tea and orange pekoe - I use maybe four passion tea bags and six or seven orange pekoe (because the orange pekoe bags are smaller) in one regular tea kettle. Mix that half and half with lemonade, add some honey, and stick it in the fridge so it all gets nice and cold.

By: AwkwardPause

AwkwardPause — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 07:46:36 -0800

Elderflower cordial, sparkling water, ice, and a little lime juice -- yummy and refreshing. Maybe add some fruit as well.

By: jmd82

jmd82 — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 07:50:27 -0800

Fruit "margaritas" without the tequila/vodka (basically makes them a smoothie). They still taste helluva good without the alcohol. When I was a bartender, I had a number of people order margaritas on the rocks without the alcohol, so it'd be just lime sour or lime sour & orange or cranberry juice.

By: unixrat

unixrat — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 07:58:03 -0800

I enjoy "Arnold Palmers" or half Kool-Aid and half Ginger Ale/7up.

By: leesh

leesh — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 07:58:08 -0800

Tropical smoothies . . . blend together 1 cup of pineapple juice, 1/2 cup orange juice, 1 frozen banana, and 1/2 cup of ice. Yum!

Of course this assumes you have a punchbowl or some other serving device.

By: plinth

plinth — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 07:58:47 -0800

Horchata

By: cerebus19

cerebus19 — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 08:00:57 -0800

One of my favorite summer drinks is made by pureeing watermelon and mint. All you do is: Get a seedless watermelon; scoop out the flesh from half of it into a blender; add 10 fresh mint leaves; puree until smooth; strain into a pitcher; taste and add sugar if necessary; add some ice cubes and chill.

It's easy, healthful, and incredibly refreshing.

By: methylsalicylate

methylsalicylate — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 08:02:53 -0800

Hibiscus iced tea!

By: infinityjinx

infinityjinx — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 08:05:32 -0800

Thai iced tea is delicious.

By: mckenney

mckenney — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 08:25:19 -0800

We used to drink what we called "Saudi champagne" when we lived over there, and it is apple juice and carbonated water, usually with nice little cubes of fresh apple cut in, maybe even some mint. Oh, here's a recipe for it.

It's really refreshing and nice.

By: rmless

rmless — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 08:25:34 -0800

Basil Lemonade is very refreshing and more adult-tasting than juice, in my opinion.

By: wallaby

wallaby — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 08:32:44 -0800

Fresh pineapple juice with mint. Heaven in a glass.

I love watermelon juice, though I've never had it with mint (as cerebus19 suggested).

By: Lyn Never

Lyn Never — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 08:34:50 -0800

There are a million punches out there made with varying proportions of ginger ale, juice, and sorbet or sorbets (or sherbet, but that is too too sweet). Raspberry-lemon is a great combination.

I make lemonade iced tea at home all the time and it would port nicely to a large gathering, plus if you leave the components separate you can offer iced tea, lemonade, or lemonade iced tea.

By: handful of rain

handful of rain — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 08:40:49 -0800

Second lemonade-ice tea mix, and also my favorite fancy punch:

1 can limeade
1 bottle fizzy water
1 bottle cranberry juice

I also freeze water and slices of lime in a jello mold and float the frozen block in the punch bowl - makes a pretty way to keep it cool.

By: LoriFLA

LoriFLA — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 08:43:14 -0800

Coffee punch. I recently had coffee punch at a swanky brunch and it was delicious.

By: grateful

grateful — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 08:47:32 -0800

Flavored ice cubes add a cool twist. Freeze lemonade (or any other juice) in ice cube trays and add them to tea, ginger ale, other juices, etc.

By: alona

alona — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 08:53:00 -0800

Iced Chai Latte! Definitely a tasty, refreshing drink. You need to buy a box of Chai tea bags. Boil some (about half a glass) and pour it into a large jug. Put something like 8 teabags in the jug, and sugar/honey/sweetener to taste, fill with cold water about two-thirds of the way up, and leave enough room for milk and ice cubes!

By: jamesonandwater

jamesonandwater — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 09:26:12 -0800

Mango lassi ... you will need a blender though. We add ice and rose water to the recipe.

By: kables

kables — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 09:46:27 -0800

Virgin mojitos

By: cuddles.mcsnuggy

cuddles.mcsnuggy — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 10:05:44 -0800

Best office potluck punch I ever had (& it's simple):
1 - large can pineapple juice (the big one, like 1/2 gallon size)
2 - 2-liter bottles of 7-up or Sprite (diet works well)
2 - tubs Crystal Light drink mix: the tropical flavors are best like strawberry/orange/banana (but any will work)

-Mix all together. Serve. Increase quantities as needed. People love it.

By: dpx.mfx

dpx.mfx — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 10:35:53 -0800

Grandma's Punch:

Equal parts Hawaiian Punch, Pineapple Juice, and 7-Up. Use orange jucie to make ice cubes. Modify flavors as you see fit (I like extra Hawaiian punch, myself). Yum.

By: puddleglum

puddleglum — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 10:47:26 -0800

Dry Soda is pretty awesome, if it's available in your area (it's a Seattle-based company) - but may be out of your budget.

By: solongxenon

solongxenon — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 10:52:31 -0800

Kombucha tea. Sounds strange, but really refreshing.

By: amtho

amtho — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 11:33:15 -0800

Fresh limeade. Just limes, sugar, and water.

I usually put a little hot water in the jar, add ~ 1/2 cup sugar, then the juice and pulp (not seeds) from maybe 6 freshly squeezed limes, then enough cold water to make 1/2 gallon.

It's great, very refreshing on a hot day, simple, and just a little different.

By: amtho

amtho — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 11:34:47 -0800

For fancy, you can add fizzy water (mineral water, club soda) to somewhat concentrated (maybe double strength) limeade.

You can also combine fizzy water with grapefruit juice cocktail.

These are extra refreshing.

By: misha

misha — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 11:48:21 -0800

Thanks for posting this thread, because I don't have a picnic to go to, but I'm trying out some of these recipes for a summer pool party!

Seconding any of the recipes with Hisbiscus, like Tazo's passion tea and Hibiscus iced tea recipe.

By: jockc

jockc — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 11:52:23 -0800

sort of like coffee punch, I guess:

1. get a toddy coffee brewer (it's a cold brew thing)
2. brew some coffee concentrate (takes 12 hours). Use good quality coffee.

3. mix 1 cup of the concentrate with 1 cup of milk (evaporated milk = even better) and about 6 cups of water. Add sugar or other sweetener, maybe 2/3 cup. You could even try condensed sweetened milk instead of milk and sweetener. All of these measurements are adjustable. To make more just multiply everything.

result: best iced coffee EVAR

I use decaf coffee, xylitol powder, and 1% milk or fat free evaporated milk -- the iced coffee is delicious and almost guilt free.

I have tried making iced coffee with normal brewed coffee and it just doesn't work very well.

By: MsMolly

MsMolly — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 11:58:39 -0800

Italian soda: sparkling water with flavored syrup. Peppermint is incredibly refreshing.

By: happyturtle

happyturtle — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 13:57:38 -0800

Root beer floats! Put a scoop of ice cream in a glass, and pour the root beer over it. Yum!

By: The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew

The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:44:26 -0800

Agua de Jamaica (aka Hibiscus tea, aka Roselle tea)

Also, one of the most delicious things ever:
Brew good jasmine tea in apple juice.
Add crushed mint to taste.
(this becomes much better with a few days in the fridge.)

By: divabat

divabat — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:52:06 -0800

Air Bandung:

1 part rose cordial/rose syrup
1 part condensed milk
9 parts ice cream soda/water

ok, by parts I mean this: put only as much cordial and condensed milk as you need to cover the bottom of the glass. You kinda need to guess and experiment with the proportions. YUMMY though.

By: orange swan

orange swan — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 17:34:48 -0800

Cold Banana Bisque

1 can of evaporated milk
2 bananas
2 tblsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Whirl in blender, chill and serve. Very yummy.

This recipe makes four servings - obviously you'll have to adjust the ingredients for the crowd you want to serve.

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 23:04:35 -0800

Lavender Lemonade! (because pink lemonade is so done.)

By: KathyK

KathyK — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 06:05:28 -0800

Wow, thanks for all the great responses! For the potluck I'm leaning towards a twist on lemonade and iced tea, though, I'm definitely into trying some of the more creative stuff at home.

Thanks again!