3 cocktails to support the stress of back to school, with or without alcohol

Although I rarely drink fizzy drinks, I love to invent slightly sophisticated drinks at home every day, based on tea, matcha, plant milk or combinations of frozen flowers and fruit syrups. A bit like Olivia Pope (Kerry Washington) who pours herself a glass of wine too big every night after solving yet another scandal in the series ScandalI love making me a mocktail to unzip.

So, as the start of the new school year approaches and the stress that often accompanies it, I share with you some cocktail recipes, with or without alcohol, that can help you better support this period of anxiety.

The Alta Margherita

In Martinique, where I come from, almost all grandmothers make Schrubb: an orange peel liqueur, infused with a thousand spices (cinnamon, vanilla, nutmeg… it varies according to the family). But in France it is much more difficult to find and the industrial forms do not compare well with those of my grandmother. But I recently discovered something similar that doesn’t pretend to be Schrubb at all: Cointreau. Yes, it’s not new at all, but I had never tasted this delicious sweet and bitter orange peel liqueur, triple distilled (hence the name triple sec).

With Cointreau you can prepare a delicious Margarita (just shake some ice cubes, 5cl of Tequila, 3cl of Cointreau, 2cl of lime juice, to be served in a flared glass with a rim moistened with lemon before being soaked in salt to do things right). A classic !

But to better face the beginning of the school year, I recommend the recipe for Alt ‘Margarita, much less alcoholic.

The ingredients of the Alt ‘Margarita cocktail recipe

• 2 cl of Cointreau
• 2 cl of lime juice
• 10 cl of Club-Mate

It’s fresh, ethereal, a little herbaceous and even energizing thanks to Club-Mate (caffeinated soft drink with mate extract). It is available or easily enriched with other drinks you would have at home if you feel like it.

For a non-alcoholic version, you can swap the Cointreau for half a squeezed orange and some zest of it.

Alcohol-free gin and elderflower

In terms of alcohol, I love gin, a spirit often flavored with juniper berries, and St-Germain, which is an elderflower liqueur. I find that the aromas of the first pair well with the floral notes of the second, once diluted with lots of ice cubes. St-Germain also works very well with sparkling wine, but I wanted to find a way to make it a non-alcoholic version, closer to gin.

And that’s how I came across JNPR (a contraction of “juniper berries”). This alcoholic and sugar-free brand was founded by the French Valérie Oudinot De Sutter with the very famous Italian bartender Flavio Angiolillo. Thus were born JNPR n ° 1 and JNPR n ° 2, which could be summarized in non-alcoholic gin that delight the greatest mixologists.

With it, you can prepare non-alcoholic drinks such as moscow mule (with ginger beer) or a gin and tonic (with tonic). But it is with a drop of flower syrup that I recommend you try.

The ingredients of the fake ginto elderberry cocktail recipe

• 5 cl of JNPR n ° 1
• 4 cl of elderflower syrup
• Sparkling water to complete the glass
• Some frozen raspberries and / or blueberries for garnish

It is lightly spicy, floral, delicious and particularly photogenic!

For an alcoholic version, swap the JNPR for gin and syrup for St-Germain.

melon foam

The month of September, in addition to the beginning of the school year, also corresponds to the end of the melon season. So it’s time to savor the last one, and why not in a cocktail, with or without alcohol for a change. Just mix a little to get a puree full of vitality that you just need to dilute with what you prefer, be it alcohol, soda, still or sparkling water.

The ingredients of the sparkling melon cocktail recipe

• 1 quart of melon (orange or yellow) to mix
• juice of 1 lemon or lime (and a little zest for garnish)
• sparkling water to fill the glass

It is a very simple recipe that you can make in large quantities to serve for example an entire table during a brunch, especially if you have a melon that has been lying around for a long time and you do not want to dirty the blender for only 1 glass. The addition of lemon improves the flavor while the sparkling water makes it less dense without sweetening it more like soda could. If you have mint, basil, verbena, or cilantro, it works great too.

If you have JNPR, it can make these flavors more complex,

For an alcoholic version, you can very well add gin to your liking, but of course in moderation.

And good luck in the new school year!

Featured photo credit: Getty Images Pro macarosha via Canva.