Blooming into the new year: two alcohol-free drinks recipes you will love
Each year heiter contributor Elisabeth Grindmayer makes the conscious decision to skip alcohol in January. Sometimes she goes on even longer and extends her alcohol-free weeks to February and March. She doesn’t see her tradition as a form of deprivation. To her it’s a little detox after the holidays and an opportunity to let both body and mind bloom again. It helps her clear her thoughts, regain energy and have clarity for new ideas. January is her month to plant seeds that can grow and eventually blossom in summer.
Discover two of Elisabeth’s latest alcohol-free drinks recipes. She used them with Aronia as base. You can read more about the superfood and its health benefits below.
Blooming Aronia Tonic
A refreshing “virgin aperitif”. The bitter notes of tonic beautifully balance the tannins of Aronia and create a combination that is ideal to be enjoyed with goat cheese or fried appetizers. My tipp: choose Tonic water that is not too sweet and more dry in taste.
I believe that an alcohol-free drink should look good too, so before serving I slightly dipped the rim of the glass in honey and then in dried flowers that I had collected from the kitchen garden last summer. I always store various edible flowers in jars –– calendula/marigold, cornflowers, chamomile, rose petals, to name a few. I love sprinkling them over salads like confetti, or using them as a garnish for drinks and you know what? It never fails to make me feel "heiter"! For this drink, calendula and its warm yellow brings a lovely glow and creates a nice contrast to the deep red tone of the drink.
Ingredients:
60ml Aronia juice
120ml tonic water
15ml fresh lemon juice
Large ice cube
Garnish: a little bit of runny honey and dried edible flowers (here: calendula/marigold)
Preparation:
Place some of the honey on a small plate and a few dried edible flowers on a second plate. Briefly dip the rim of the glass in the honey, then in the dried flowers so that they stick. Fill the glass with ice cubes.
Pour the Aronia juice and lemon juice in the glass and stir. Top up with dry tonic water. Done.
Black Tea Aronia Highball
Simple, but with depth. The tannins and malty notes of the black tea and the tart Aronia: the result is an aromatic drink that almost resembles a dry red wine. It pairs wonderfully with hearty dishes like roasts, braised vegetables, or mushrooms.
Ingredients:
50ml Aronia juice
100ml strong, cooled black tea e.g. Assam
10ml lemon juice
Optional: 5ml maple syrup
Ice cubes
Garnish: lemon zest
Preparation:
Fill a highball glass with the ice cubes.
Mix the cooled black tea, Aronia juice, and lemon juice; shake or stir well. If you’d like, add the maple syrup. Personally, I prefer my drink to be not too sweet, so I skip it. Fill the glass with the drink and garnish it with the lemon zest. Enjoy!
Good to know: Aronia is a true powerhouse. In Elisabeth’s native Germany and her chosen home Sweden, it's an old cultivated plant: undemanding, frost-resistant, and wonderfully adapted to cooler climates.
Aronia is rich in antioxidants and polyphenols that protect cells and have anti-inflammatory effects. Especially during the wet and colder months of the year, Aronia is the perfect booster for your immune system. Elisabeth explains that we don’t necessarily need far-traveled superfoods like Goji or Açaí berries when Aronia practically grows on our doorsteps. Pure Aronia juice is available in the form of juice and powder at many health food stores and organic shops these days. The taste is tart, slightly sour, and tannin-rich – a great base for alcohol-free drinks.
Munich-born Elisabeth Grindmayer lives on an 100-year-old forest farm in the wild nature of Southern Sweden. She works as freelance photographer and author (for magazines, publishers, and brands), primarily in the areas of food, kitchen gardening and slow living. With the help of the recipes and stories of her cookbooks “Ein Jahr in Schweden" (Hölker Verlag 2024) and “Weihnachten in Schweden” (Hölker Verlag 2025), she takes her readers on a culinary and visual journey to her newly chosen Swedish home. Learn more about here here: elisabethgrindmayer.com
