Homemade Tonic Water

130 Comments

1. 
   Thanks for posting the recipe and the photos. I just made this; my friends were very impressed. It didn’t especially taste like tonic, although it was very good. I used powdered cinchona, and the infusion got quite brown. But it didn’t have that nice bitter quinine flavor.

   It was very, verytangy. I would try halving the citric acid.

   I also (luckily) didn’t add all the simple syrup at once. I ended up using only half and it was plenty sweet for me.

   BTW, it’s also great just in iced water or soda without the gin.

   1. 
      i agree, adding too much of what i ended up with to the drink made a mountain dew. enough was proably a 1/4 teaspoon if not an eitght. i used the original syrup recipe with more water but still became cloying.

      i subbed ~equivalent grams of pasted lemongrass as there was no stalks. one problem i had was that straining was exceedingly difficult. it ran through a cloth, used for beer and cheese(i forgot the fabric name) but it wouldn budge in a coffee filter, i left it for an hour and a few spoons made it through. sitting in the fridge it developed clouds of sediment perhaps lemongrass particles. im going try to gin up some traditional tonic water with a flavored simple syrup. i only used cardomom but have had a great cardomom g&t in a bar that was crystal clear vs dew yellow.

      but thanks for the recipe, author

2. Thank you for the recipe – sounds very interesting and I will definately try it very soon. I was wondering if you had gotten around to converting the amounts into weight? That would eb an awesome help, especially for us Europeans 🙂

   Thanks in advance,

   Peter from Denmark

3. Have you ever used a SodaStream maker to make a full liter of tonic, If so, how much syrup would you add to make a liter bottle of tonic??

   1. I haven’t, but that’s a great idea! Let’s do the math:

      1 drink has 1 tablespoon tonic syrup (1 fluid ounce) and 2 ounces of sparkling water – so about 3 ounces of liquid per drink.
      1 liter is ~34 fluid ounces or just over 4 cups. With the ratio above, I would go with 2 2/3 cups of water and 1 1/3 cups of tonic syrup.

      If you try it out, please come back and let me know how it goes! Cheers!

      1. 
         we tried the mix with Soda Stream and it was fine,but lost fizz before we could use bottle up…admit only 1 G&T daily.
         The other thing I tried was pouring 165F water into zest mixture….no burn and seemed like better extraction.No matter,way better than store stuff.Thanks for recipe!

      2. 
         I’m still a bit confused by the recipe. The ingredients list says 3 cups natural cane sugar (21 ounces / 600 grams) and 1½ cups water (355 ml) but the instructions say 2 cups sugar in 1 cup water. Which are you using for this particular recipe? Thanks, Andrea

         1. Oops, my mistake. When I updated the ingredient list, I missed the numbers in the instructions. It should be 3 cups sugar to 1 1/2 cups water. Cheers!

4. 
   I just made this last week and it turned out perfect! I used a bit less simple syrup than called for (that much sugar freaks me out a little), it turned out tart and wonderful. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe!

   1. That’s fantastic, Abbey! Cheers!

5. One thing that kills any drink that needs ice is using the milky junk that most refrigerator ice makers produce. That milky look? Air bubbles. Where does that air come from? Inside your refrigerator… bits of compost in the bottom of the vegetable drawer… cheese mold… any container of leftovers way in the back with a layer of fuzz on it. It’s all in the air of your refrigerator. A bag of ice at 7-11 costs… what… 1.69? It’ll probably last 2 weeks and will be the best thing you ever did for your mixologizing, AND it’s crystal clear! Taste and looks! Win-win!

   1. Er, the air is dissolved in the water before it is frozen. On cooling it comes OUT of solution and forms bubbles in the ice. If you want bubble free (and pretty much taste free) ice, boil it first to drive off all that nasty air. Your water supplier also adds a few things which will alter the taste. If you really want nice water, come back to the Scottish highlands and use fresh free running water from the burn. Nothing tastes better in Whisky!

6. 
   This is an excellent recipe for tonic. I have made it over a dozen times now. I have made some minor tweaks and one major one… I’m afraid the general public, myself included, don’t have the same refined palate as you! Most of the commentary about too sour and too acid is because it needs about half again as much simple syrup. I have been using Domino Demerara sugar at your concentration to make just shy of a liter of finished syrup. This makes a nice color and brings out all the spices to the more plebeian palate. I have recently finished a fairly accurate weight oriented recipe as opposed to volume. I was noting taste inconsistencies – particularly with the lemongrass and the zests. My results in weight lead me to guess you are looking for the same amount of zest from all three fruits, right around half an ounce. Lemongrass comes in around 1.75 ounces. Stalk count versus weight is all over the board, I’m afraid, and it really adjusts the acid and lemon flavors. I also use about double the cardamom and allspice. (about .04 and .07 oz, resp.) Someone mentioned Junipero, which is great gin, as well as Hendricks. Recently I’ve been making my own gin with the Homemade Gin Kit and refills. I make the gin with about half again as much vodka as recommended (See aforementioned plebeian effect.) What brought all this on is Sodastream abruptly canceling their tonic syrup. Now Schweppes tastes like chemicals to me. If I start a craft tonic business I suppose I will feel obligated to split any profits. Thanks so much, Ken PS: Using an orange slice instead of lime really brings out the spiciness.

   1. 
      Also I want to add the best final ratio is 1:7.

   2. 
      I realized I wasn’t too clear on the simple syrup – notably I left out the word “simple” – I use three cups of Demerara sugar and one and a half cups of water. Conveniently the Domino 24 oz. (weight) package is also about three cups of volume. Last thing I swear: I use a sieve, then a linen cloth, then a coffee filter. Crystal clarity and requires no shaking before diluting.

      1. Well this is one knock-out comment Ken! Thank you so much for sharing all of your findings. I really appreciate the note on weights – it’s a great point that stalks of lemongrass are like saying one medium potato. With baking, I love recipes with weights and mixology should be the same. I’m going to try your way in my next batch and eventually will update this recipe with weights to help people (including myself) have a more consistent outcome.

         Cheers!!

      2. I noticed yours comes out crystal clear. I too used sieve, cheesecloth and then about 15 coffee filters. Mine looks like orange juice! I wonder what I did wrong.

         1. Hi Brenda,

            The final tonic water should be an amber color (like the last couple of photos in this post). Do you mean that your tonic water is cloudy?

   3. Hi Ken and Marissa,
      just a quick question, being European I’m a little confused by the cups and so have been trying to make a conversion to grammes or ounces. Ken thank you for your help in this but can you clarify the weight of water? that’s the last bit of the puzzle…
      thanks Amanda

      1. Hi Amanda,

         A cup of water is 8 ounces or about 237 grams. Honestly, you don’t need to be precise with the amount of water – you can just add all of the aromatics to your jar and then fill it up with water. Also note that many commenters have preferred a sweeter version – if something doesn’t taste quite right when your tonic is ready, add more simple syrup.

         Cheers!
         Marissa

   4. 
      Thank you so much, Ken, for doing the weight work! My heart sinks when I see cups and counts; they’re so unreliable. Just a quick question – when you talk about the final ratio being 1:7 is that 1 syrup to 7 sparkling water or 1 syrup to 7 water+gin? I’m grateful too for your comments about the sweetness because I would have cut down on the simple syrup, or made a standard 50/50 syrup, thinking it would probably be too sweet for my taste (most things are!)

      No-one seems to have commented on the bitterness. As this isn’t something one can adjust to taste without making a new batch I’d appreciate a view on where this recipe sits in this regard, on the understanding, of course, that it’s a very subjective assessment!

      Now…..if I could get y’all to talk in grams…:-)

      1. Hi Elyss,

         I’m the same way when I see a recipe for baking – I only like to bake by weight. I promise that it’s on my short list to make a fresh batch of this and update the recipe with weight measurements.

         Cheers!

      2. One part finished syrup to seven parts carbonated water. I like tall g&ts so I use half a shot of gin to seven or eight ounces of the final carbonated tonic. Lots of ice.

         1. Ken, thanks again for all of your experimenting and input. I just made a fresh batch and went with more simple syrup as you suggested – you’re right! Even better… It seems like a lot of sugar, but since you use 1 tablespoon of tonic syrup for each drink and end up with about 6 cups (96 tablespoons) of tonic water between the concentrate and simple syrup, it’s about 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar per drink, not bad. 🙂

            1. What is the shelf life of the syrup and does it need to be refrigerated?

7. Great to have stumbled across your blog in the quest for the perfect tonic syrup! Cinchona is difficult to get so I wanted to research before I actually tried making it. I dismissed several recipes off the mark, Jeffrey Morganthaler’s because one stalk of lemongrass cannot possibly equal one cup, David Lebovitz (whom I love) because I was suspicious of the cooked citrus thing. Look forward to trying this and will report back – the only thing I was curious about is whether citric acid comes in different concentrations accounting for some commenters finding this recipe on the sour side. I’m going to start with a bit less and tweak as I go. Thanks for doing all the hard work to get us to this point!

   1. Hi there! That’s a great question about citric acid – if it’s available in different levels of acidity, I’m not aware of it. Good plan to start with less – you can always add more if you want. I think that citrus rind can vary a lot too – in flavor and acidity. So many variables at work! Let me know how it goes… Cheers!

8. I’ve made tonic syrup before. This recipe looked intersting so I gave it a go. Way too much citric acid. Way too much! Even diluted with 6 ozs. of club soda it’s instant heartburn. I won’t sacrifice my gin to a tonic water that I can’t even drink straight over ice.

   1. Oh, I’m so sorry that it didn’t work out for you. I agree about sacrificing good gin – never a good idea. 🙂 Cheers!

9. i ve made around 600 G&t at my bar with this recipe, and 99% has been very happy.But the funny thing is that i realized last week that i use 80ml of citric acid instead of 30ml..So this week i am going to try with 30ml.

   1. Wow, you’re making it at your bar? That’s awesome! Where is your bar? Feel free to leave a link…& let me know how it goes with the reduced citric acid. Cheers!

      1. 
         It’s been a compromise, we are using around 50ml.We also use some star anise & cinnamon.
         I’ve compared this with a new tonic in the market here in Sweden.Ours.Yours..:) is way better!

         1. Wow, thanks Marcis! Cheers!

10. I’ve made many other tonic recipes, but this had many more tasty botanicals and I was intrigued by the steeping process versus the cooking process. Then I tried. Whoooooooooa. So good! This blew my mind. Loved it! Thank you for sharing this recipe! Took tonic to a whole other level!

    1. aww, thanks so much, Andy! Glad you’re enjoying it…cheers!

11. I had a fund raiser party with 50 people and offered 5 drinks, The only drink that everyone came back or 2nd’s and 3rd,s was the G&T. Thanks you very much for the awesome recipe

    Even my wife who only drinks wine is now a fan of this G&T

    thanks again

    1. Wow! What a lovely comment – thank you so much for letting me know!

12. this is the best G&T ever. My wife who is only a wine drinker loves this G&T. I am getting ready to pour this G&T to 50 guests tomorrow. Will post their reactions

    1. You made my day! 🙂

13. We really enjoyed this. I think it was VERY strong though, so we wound up diluting the syrup with a bit more sparkling water, but the end result was very tasty. We also used empty tea bags (for use with loose leaf tea) to strain the mixture, which worked out brilliantly. Thanks for sharing!

14. I haven’t made your recipe yet, but I was wondering what brands of gin you like in G&Ts. I’ve been experimenting with the standard G&T recipe and then adding a small amount of St Germaine elderflower liquor and grapefruit bitters, and it’s pretty fantastic. I’m excited to replace my generic store bought tonic with your recipe and see how it improves my experiment. Thanks for posting your results.

    1. Hi Mason. That hint of elderflower / grapefruit bitters sounds delicious! Generally we drink a locally produced gin – Cascade Lakes. Or, when we’re budget minded Gordon’s dry. Have you tried Hendrick’s? Honestly, it’s a bit too floral for me, but some people LOVE it. Cheers!

15. Hi Marissa. I made it and I love it but I have a question – how long does your tonic syrup last in the fridge?

    1. Hi Jackie – that’s a great questions! We tend to keep ours for a few months. I’m careful to start with a very clean container and always add a splash of vodka to help extend it. Cheers!