How do you prepare a sparkling grapefruit mocktail - a non-alcoholic drink that you can serve at a baby shower (also because of the beautiful color), Mother's Day, and your next summer BBQ. It's one of the easiest mocktails to prepare, with a bit of rosemary syrup, grapefruit juice, and sparkling water.
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This recipe is easy to prepare, budget-friendly, and really refreshing. The ideal mocktail recipe you want to have in your own recipe cookbook.

You make this sparkling grapefruit mocktail with some easy steps. First, make some sugar water with rosemary (which you add for the Wonderful taste and smell). And then you mix that with grapefruit juice and sparkling water in a jar. Add some ice cubes and garnish and you've got a delicious mocktail for both adults and children.

Two grapefruit mocktails with rosemary and straws

What do you need for this non-alcoholic drink?

As you can see the ingredient list seems to be long, but in reality you only need 4 ingredients.

ingredients sparkling grapefruit mocktail with rosemary

Sugar: gives sweetness to this mocktail. The opposite of the sour grapefruit juice. It's used in the rosemary sugar syrup.
Rosemary: rosemary gots a bittersweet flavor. And a delicious smell (and I think it's almost one of the most beautiful herbs). And we're going to use all this into this mocktail. A part of the rosemary we're going to use to give the sugar syrup more flavor (and to let it smell terrific). Another part is used as a garnish.
Grapefruit: we take the grapefruits for the juice and as a garnish. It's got a refreshing sour flavor. There are different sorts of grapefruit and with this drink, I use pink grapefruit juice (because it looks terrific). You can juice them yourself, but you can use store-bought as well to make it easier to prepare.
Sparkling water: Gives a tingling sensation when. you drink this sparkling grapefruit mocktail, but it doesn't add extra flavor. I added this, to make this mocktail even more festive.

How to prepare this sparkling grapefruit mocktail?

A printable recipe can be found at the bottom of this blog.

Step 1: Prepare the rosemary sugar water. Bring 1 cup of water with 1 cup of sugar to the boil, while stirring. When the sugar is dissolved you can turn off the heat. Put 3 sprigs of rosemary into the pan and let it marinate for 30 minutes at room temperature.

rosemary sugar water and a sieve with rosemary

Step 2 sieve the sugar syrup. Take a clean bottle or bowl and hang a sieve in the opening. Pour the sugar syrup into the sieve, so the rosemary stays behind. You can use a coarse sieve for this. Let the syrup cool down further in the refrigerator (you can store it up to 1 week this way).

Step 3 Prepare the sparkling grapefruit mocktail. Pour 2 cups grapefruit juice and 4 tablespoons of rosemary sugar syrup into a jar to prepare the mocktail. Add 4 cups of sparkling water. Store in the refrigerator until use.

A jar of grapefruit mocktail with garnish

Step 4: Prepare for serving. Garnish the mocktail with slices of grapefruit, sprigs of rosemary, and ice cubes. Serve immediately.

The redder the grapefruit, the sweeter the taste. I use pink grapefruit juice for this mocktail because the color is so beautiful. But if you prefer a slightly sweeter cocktail, you can also use red grapefruits.
This mocktail is delicious with sparkling water, but you can also use tap water.
If you do prefer to serve this as an alcoholic cocktail? Replace ⅓ cup of water with ⅓ cup of rum.
To make it look even more beautiful make a sugar rim. First, dip the glasses in water and then in some sugar. Let that air dry for 15 minutes.

The rosemary sugar syrup can be stored for up to 1 week in the refrigerator.
If you don't use store-bought grapefruit juice, you can juice the grapefruit in the morning and store it in the refrigerator until use.
When you add water to this sparkling grapefruit mocktail and you let it stand for a while, the tingling will become less and less. Therefore it's the most delicious to, when mixed with everything, serve it right away.

What does a mocktail mean?

A mocktail is an iced drink that is made by mixing different ingredients (all nonalcoholic). You can use juice, herbs, soda, fresh fruit, and (sparkling) water. And if you combine it the right way, you can make the most delicious mocktails.

A glass filled with a rosemary grapefruit mocktail. Garnished with rosemary and slices grapefruit

Did you make this recipe? Tag #byandreajanssen via Instagram. I enjoy seeing what your creation looks like. Video recipes can be found on my YouTube channel. And don't forget to save the recipes on Pinterest so you can easily find them next time!

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