Hibiscus sparkling water, three ways
The unsweetened infusion, the syrup, and the ratio that makes the finished drink.
In season: Dried, year round. Fresh calyces turn up in Latin and Caribbean markets in autumn and are worth buying when you see them.
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Infused, unsweetened
Use
1/4 cup dried hibiscus calyces, about 12g, per 1 litre
Method
Cold brew. Dried flowers straight into cold still water in a lidded jar, into the fridge, no hot water at any stage. Strain through a sieve and squeeze nothing.
Time
8 hours for a light ruby, 12 for full colour and tartness. Past 24 it turns astringent and dries the roof of your mouth out.
Sparkling
Still water for the brew. This takes 8 hours and nothing stays carbonated that long. Chill the strained concentrate and cut it 1:1 with sparkling in the glass.
Keeps
5 days refrigerated once strained, which is longer than fruit infusions because hibiscus comes out about as acidic as lemonade.
The syrup
Ratio
1/2 cup dried hibiscus : 1 cup sugar : 2 cups water
Method
Bring the water and sugar to a simmer, kill the heat, drop the flowers in, cover, steep 20 minutes. Strain without pressing.
Keeps
3 weeks refrigerated, 6 months frozen in an ice tray
Note
Never simmer the flowers themselves. Off the heat is plenty and it keeps the colour on the red side of brown. Use glass or steel; hibiscus reacts with aluminium and picks up a metallic edge.
The finished soda
1 part syrup to 4 parts sparkling water, over ice, lime wedge
Hibiscus is tart before it is anything else. If the unsweetened infusion tastes hollow, the fix is a teaspoon of sugar in the glass, never a longer steep.
The shrub version
Steep 1/2 cup dried hibiscus in 1 cup white wine vinegar for 3 days at room temperature, strain, stir in 3/4 cup sugar until dissolved. Half an ounce in a tall glass of sparkling. Keeps 3 months.
What doesn't work: People pour boiling water on it like ordinary tea and then wonder why it went bitter and brownish. Hot water pulls the tannins out along with the colour. Cold brew gets the tart red part and leaves the drying part in the flower.
Goes with: GingerLimeMintTart cherry