Recipe: Lychee Soda Cooler

Lychee is now in season and we accidentally bought too much at the market. Here’s a great refreshing party drink that you can make using fresh lychees and some light, sweet spices. You can add more or less of the sparkling / tonic water to suit your tastes. Our ratio keeps it sweet, but not sickly sweet. Some people may like their drink even more diluted than this. In case you don’t want to serve it all up immediately, freeze the lychee juice before adding in the sparkling water. You can mix in the tonic water and serve as needed over the course of a week!

Recipe: Lychee Cooler

Servings: Makes about 20 Glasses

Ingredients:

• 1 pound lychees, peeled and destoned
• 500ml water
• 250g sugar
• 2 Cinnamon sticks
• 1 Star Anise
• 2 litres of sparkling water / tonic water
• Lots of ice cubes
• Fresh Mint leaves (Optional)
• Handful of dried rose buds (Optional, but give a wonderful aroma)

Cooking Method:

1. Blend the lychees into a smooth mix.
2. Boil the water, add sugar, cinnamon sticks, star anise, rose petals and boil till reduced to half.
3. Remove from gas and cool.
4. Strain into a jar.
5. Add ice and sparkling water before serving into individual glasses.
6. Garnish with a few mint leaves before serving (Optional).
7. Leave a jug outside and watch it get drunk, and needing a refill in minutes