Thyme sparkling water, three ways
The unsweetened infusion, the syrup, and the ratio that makes the finished drink.
In season: Year-round. Lemon thyme is worth hunting for and does the work of thyme and lemon peel at the same time.
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Infused, unsweetened
Use
6 whole sprigs per 1 litre
Method
Whole sprigs go in and whole sprigs come out. Rinse them, drop them into cold still water, refrigerate.
Time
4 hours for a light herbal edge, 8 hours for something you clearly taste
Sparkling
Still water for the steep. Like rosemary, a single woody sprig standing in a finished sparkling glass costs almost no carbonation, so it is safe as a garnish.
Keeps
4 days refrigerated with the sprigs pulled at 8 hours
The syrup
Ratio
1 cup sugar : 1 cup water : 8 sprigs thyme
Method
Simmer the sugar and water until it runs clear, add the sprigs, simmer 1 minute, then off the heat and steep 25 minutes covered. Strain.
Keeps
3 weeks refrigerated
Note
Thyme is more forgiving than rosemary and less forgiving than mint. 25 minutes off the heat is the sweet spot and 45 minutes starts tasting medicinal.
The finished soda
1 part syrup to 5 parts sparkling water over ice, with lemon
Thyme and lemon is the pairing that carries this flavour anywhere. Half thyme syrup and half lemon syrup, topped with sparkling, is the drink worth building.
The shrub version
1 cup crushed blueberries with 1 cup sugar and 6 thyme sprigs, 24 hours cold, strained, then 3/4 cup white wine vinegar. Rest 1 week.
What doesn't work: Stripping the leaves off the stems first, which is the right move when you are cooking and the wrong one in a drink. You get a glass full of floating green flecks that catch in your teeth, and the leaves do not extract meaningfully faster than a whole sprig anyway. The second failure is over-steeping, which pushes thymol forward until the drink tastes like mouthwash.
Goes with: LemonBlueberryPeachGrapefruitApricot