Unfortunately I haven't been experimenting that much with homemade tonics since the first batch, but oh boy is it worth giving some more testing!
For my birthday I was so lucky to get a SodaStreamer so now I always have bubbles by my hand. And that is needed when you are making your own tonic. Of course you can just buy carbonated water but it takes to the next level when you also make the bubbles yourself.
To make the tonic you need to boil a syrup which you afterwards mix with carbonated water and then with gin. The big plus about making your own tonic is that you can add the flavours you prefer and you can turn the amount of quinine up and down to your liking.
I boiled a huge batch and I will recommend that you scale the portion down if you want to do some experimenting with the flavours.
Heres my recipe:
- 1 liter of water
- 500 grams of sugar
- zest and juice of 1 orange
- zest and juice of 1 grapefruit
- zest and juice of 1 lime
- 1 table spoon of crushed cinchona bark
- 2 stalks lemongrass, chopped
- 4 whole allspice
- 1 star anise
- 1 green cardamom capsule
- 1 clove
- 2,5 tea spoons of citric acid
Combine all the ingredients in a pot and bring it to a boil. Once the mixture starts to boil, reduce the heat and let it simmer for about 20 min without cover.
Remove the mixture from the heat and strain out all solids with a fine strainer. Afterwards let the mixture strain through a coffee filter to get a somewhat clear liquid. Let the mixture cool down and then you have syrup that is ready to be mixed with carbonated water.
This is the amounts I used for a gin and tonic:
- 2 cl tonic syrup
- 8 cl carbonated water
- 6 cl gin
- Lots of ice
