Lime Botanical Rickey mocktail recipe
Lemon verbena tea, lime and soda for a dry Rickey that keeps the herb in the aroma.
Method: Build · Glass: Highball glass · Time: 6 minutes plus chilling · Difficulty: Beginner
Ingredients
- 2 oz strong chilled lemon verbena tea
- ¾ oz fresh lime juice
- ¼ oz agave syrup
- 2 dashes alcohol-free aromatic bitters
- 3 oz well-chilled club soda
- to fill large ice cubes
How to make it
- Brew the lemon verbena tea strong, then chill it completely.
- Fill a chilled highball with large ice and add the tea, lime juice, agave and bitters.
- Top with cold club soda and lift once from the bottom with a bar spoon.
- Set the lime wheel against the glass, add the verbena sprig and serve immediately.
Garnish
One lime wheel and a small lemon verbena sprig
Why this balance works
This should finish crisp and herb-scented, not taste like sweetened limeade. Lemon verbena is gentle, so the tea needs to be brewed a little stronger than a drinking cup. If it tastes thin, use colder soda and more ice before adding more syrup.
Technique to keep
Treat the herb as a tea and a garnish instead of muddling it into the glass. That gives the drink a clean botanical line while the sprig supplies aroma on the first sip. Carbonation goes in last and gets only one lift.
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