Healthier Drinks Don’t Have to cost the Earth
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle, particularly through beverage choices, doesn’t have to be expensive. With a little creativity and some everyday ingredients, you can enjoy delicious and nutritious healthier drinks without breaking the bank. Regular products purchased from the supermarket such as tea, coffee, juices, tonic and soda water are the mixing staples used to create tasty healthy and cost-effective beverages.
Affordable Ingredients for Healthier Drinks
Many healthier drinks can be made using inexpensive, readily available ingredients. For example, tap or bottled water infused with fruits like lemon, cucumber, or mint can be both refreshing and nutritious. These simple infusions offer a burst of flavour without the added sugars and calories found in many commercial beverages.
The Benefits of Homemade Beverages
Preparing drinks at home is a great way to customize your flavours while saving money. Homemade smoothies, juices, and herbal teas made with seasonal fruits and vegetables are often cheaper and fresher than store-bought options.
Drink for Everyone
There are plenty of healthier drink options that cater to all tastes and budgets. Simple ingredients like water, tea, and common fruits can be transformed into nutritious and delicious beverages. Adding Botanikos syrups and shrubs to sparkling water provides just the right touch of natural sweetness.
Sparkling Water v Sugary Sodas
Sparkling water, often referred to as carbonated water, is a fantastic alternative to sugary sodas. Infused with carbon dioxide gas under pressure, sparkling water creates delightful bubbles and offers several types to choose from:
- Natural Sparkling Water: Sourced from mineral springs like Mount Franklin or Three Bays is naturally carbonated and enhanced with minerals that can enhance flavour.
- Soda Water: Water that has been artificially carbonated is commonly used in cocktails like a Mojito or a Tom Collins. Any mixed drink with “Fizz” in the name will require soda.
- Tonic Water: A unique type of carbonated water features added flavours, sweeteners, and quinine for a distinctive taste. Brands like Schweppes, Capi, Fever tree, Strangelove and Antipodes are great options for mixing drinks with or without gin.
Flavoured Sparkling Water
Sparkling water is often seen as a healthier alternative to sugary sodas. It aids digestion, keeps you hydrated. Flavoured sparkling water can also be enjoyed on its own or as a mixer in cocktails and mocktails. Many brands also offer flavoured sparkling waters with natural or artificial flavours so its important to read the label if you want to drink healthy.
Cost-Effective Sodas
Investing in tools like soda makers can further reduce the cost of enjoying flavoured drinks over time. By making drinks at home, consumers can enjoy the same benefits as expensive store-bought options at a fraction of the price, leading to improved health and overall well-being.
All-Natural Botanical Drink Mixers
To elevate your sparkling water game, consider incorporating all-natural botanically infused simple syrups and shrubs. These flavourful drink mixers can transform your beverages into simply delicious sodas and cocktails.
Simple Syrups: These are sweetened liquids made by dissolving sugar in water, often infused with herbs, spices, or fruits. They provide a concentrated burst of flavour.
Shrubs: A shrub is a vinegar-based syrup that combines fruit, sugar, and vinegar. The acidity of the vinegar adds a refreshing tang, making it an excellent mixer for cocktails and sodas.
Botanically Infused Flavours for Sparkling Water
Infusing sparkling water with simple syrups and shrubs allows you to create a variety of refreshing flavour combinations:
- Lavender Simple Syrup: Infuse your sparkling water with the delicate aroma of lavender for a calming drink. Perfect for summer evenings!
- Ginger Shrub: Add a zesty kick to your beverages with a ginger shrub. Mix it with sparkling water for a spicy, invigorating drink.
- Passion fruit Shrub: Made with fresh passion fruit and finger limes is a zesty tropical treat
- Blueberry Shrub: Made with Blueberries and Anise Myrtle brings a beautiful colour and liquorice flavour to sparkling water for a refreshing soda.
- Rosemary Syrup: Citrus flavours combine with rosemary or thyme to create a bright and aromatic beverage, ideal for any time of day.
Creating Sparkling Cocktails
These syrups and shrubs also make fantastic cocktail mixers. Simply add a splash of your favourite spirit, mix with one of our flavoured syrups or shrubs. Add sparkling water, and garnish with fresh herbs or fruit slices for an elevated drink experience.
Drinks made with natural ingredients are low in sugar and high in taste. Choosing all-natural sodas made at home is a far healthier and tastier option compared to commercially purchased sugary sodas. But if you need convincing here’s a comparison of the two and reasons to mix your drinks at home:
Comparing Sodas
1.Natural v Artificial
All-Natural Sodas: These sodas contain no artificial flavours, colours, or preservatives. They use natural sweeteners like cane sugar, honey or agave. Flavoured with fruits, herbs and spices allows for better control over sugar content.
Sugary Store-Bought Sodas: These typically contain high fructose corn syrup or other refined sugars, artificial sweeteners, and a host of preservatives and additives that can be detrimental to health. Many contain little to no actual fruit or nutritional value and the use of artificial sweetener’s has been linked to migraines and chronic health conditions.
2. Low v High Sugar Content
All-Natural Sodas: By controlling the ingredients, you can significantly reduce the sugar content. You can sweeten your healthier drinks to taste, using less sugar or natural alternatives, which is beneficial for overall health.
Sugary Store-Bought Sodas: Often loaded with sugar, a single can contain up to 40 grams or more, leading to weight gain, increased risk of diabetes, and other health issues.
3. Health Benefits
All-Natural Sodas: These drinks can provide vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants from the fruits and herbs used. They also tend to be lower in calories and can aid in hydration.
Sugary Store-Bought Sodas: Regular consumption is linked to numerous health problems, including obesity, heart disease, and dental issues. They offer no nutritional benefits and can contribute to a cycle of sugar cravings.
4. Environmental Impact
All-Natural Sodas: When made at home, you can use locally sourced ingredients, reducing your carbon footprint and often utilizing less packaging which is a far more sustainable option.
Sugary Store-Bought Sodas: These often come in single-use plastic bottles and cans, contributing to environmental waste and pollution.
Drink Sustainably
Sustainability Matters so make sure to buy sparkling water brands that focus on eco-friendly packaging and sourcing practices, making it a more sustainable choice compared to sugary beverages sold in plastic bottles and cans. If you do purchase these products make sure to recycle.
Finally, before we get to our favourite non-alcoholic summer soda recipes a quick explanation of the difference between the terms “lemonade soda” and lemonade fizz” which can be confusing!
A lemonade soda refers to a carbonated drink that combines traditional lemonade (made with lemon juice, water, and sugar) with sparkling water or soda. It maintains the classic lemon flavour but adds fizz through carbonation. While a Soda Fizz is a mixed drink in more of the classic cocktail style.
Summer Soda Recipes
- Blueberry Rosemary Soda- add a splash of rosemary syrup to a glass of chilled soda water. Garnish with a handful of blueberries, lemon slices & rosemary sprigs.
- Pineapple Rosemary Fizz- 2/3 fill a tall glass with crushed ice and top with 60ml pineapple juice 30ml rosemary syrup and chilled soda water
- Lavender Lemonade- measure out 60 ml of flavour and mix with 120ml soda. For the lemonade flavour use equal quantities of lemon juice and lavender syrup. Add ice & garnish.
- Sour Cherry Soda- Add 45ml sour cherry shrub and 15ml of hibiscus syrup. Add a cup of crushed ice top with soda water. Drink with a straw. Garnish with a single cherry.
- Blackberry Ginger Fizz- Muddle 4-6 blackberries in the bottom of a rocks glass. Add a shot of ginger shrub ice cubes and dash of orange bitters. Top with chilled soda water and stir to mix. Garnish with orange slices and 2 blackberries on a pick.
- Kiwi Crush Soda- muddle kiwi fruit in the bottom of a glass. Add a shot of lime syrup and top with chilled soda water. Stir to mix. Add a straw to drink.
We hope you enjoy our Summer Sodas and healthier drinks.