Lychee Mocktail

If you're on the lookout for a tasty and refreshing non-alcoholic drink, this Lychee Mocktail recipe is the perfect choice! It's a mojito-style mocktail that beautifully blends the sweet, floral flavor of lychee with the tang of lime juice and bright mint. This mocktail has a ton of flavor and feels just as fancy as any cocktail!

If you love the flavor of lychee, this recipe will become a quick favorite. And for those who haven't tried lychee yet, this is a perfect way to try its delicate, sweet flavor. It's a fancy drink that's perfect for a lazy summer afternoon, or enjoying with friends and family at a get-together.

If you love this recipe, try out some more of my delicious mocktails!  This Pineapple Mocktail with ginger beer is always refreshing, or this Citrus Slush mocktail is great for hot weather. Try out the Blueberry Lavender Lemonade for a more fruity style of drink!

If you're looking for more rum mojito ideas, try out the Dragon Fruit Mojito, the Watermelon Mojito or the Kiwi Mojito. Or, the Southside cocktail is another tasty cocktail with mint and lime flavors, but with a gin base instead of rum.

Ingredients

Here are the ingredients you'll need for this drink:

• Fresh mint leaves - some for making the cocktail, and more for a garnish. The fresh mint brings so much delicious and refreshing flavor to the drink.
• Lime juice - freshly squeezed if possible, for the best flavor.
• Lychee puree - I used Real brand lychee puree, which has a great flavor. Like many store bought purees, this has sugar added to it already.
• Lychee syrup - this is optional, but to up the lychee flavor and add even more sweetness, I used a touch of the syrup from a can of lychees (Dynasty brand canned lychees).
• Sparkling water - I used Sanzo brand lychee sparkling water, which added even more lychee taste. This is such a good sparkling water and has a touch of real lychee fruit.
• Garnish - lime zest and table sugar makes a great addition to the glass rim. Mint and a lychee, either from a can or fresh, also make this drink pop.

Substitutions

Here are some ways you can substitute the ingredients in this cocktail:

• Lychee Puree - if you can't find pre-made lychee puree, you can make your own in a blender using either fresh or canned lychee. If you're using fresh, you will have to take out the pits and any impurities first. Also, you'll need to add about a tablespoon of sugar per ounce of puree if you want to match the sweetness of the store bought version (for the sugar, you can adjust the amount to taste).
• Lychee Syrup - you can omit the syrup and just add a little extra puree.
• Sparkling water - if you don't have lychee flavor sparkling water, try lime flavor, lemon flavor or just plain seltzer.
• Lime juice - you can use lemon juice, or try using True Lime packets if you don't have a fresh lime.

Variations

Here are some tasty variations on this recipe:

• Lychee Mojito - Just add in 1½ ounces of white rum in place of some of the seltzer to make this a rum mojito. If you want to keep it a mocktail but add a little rum flavor, try adding Lyre's White Cane non-alcoholic spirit.
• Yuzu - instead of lime, try using yuzu juice. Yuzu is an Asian citrus fruit that's a little sweeter than lime. You can also try using yuzu sparkling water.
• Coconut - add a little bit of cream of coconut to the drink to make it a little richer. Coconut goes really well with all of the flavors in this drink!

Equipment

You don't need a ton of equipment to make this drink. Since it's made directly in the glass, you'll just need a tall cocktail glass along with a jigger to measure everything. Also, a cutting board, a knife and a long bar spoon will come in handy.

For the garnish, you'll need a citrus zester and a small dish to add the lime sugar rim. A cocktail pick is great to have for adding the whole lychee fruit.

If you're on the lookout for new bar tools, definitely check out A Bar Above! You can get 10% off using my discount code, LKDrinks. Their bar tools are really durable, and also can be thrown in the dishwasher when you're done mixing!

Instructions

Start out by making the lime sugar to add to the glass rim. Zest your lime and add it to a small dish, followed by your sugar.

Rub the zest and sugar together with your fingers until the sugar is nice and fragrant.

Use water or a cut lime to wet one side of your cocktail glass.

Then, dip the glass into the sugar mixture. Pick up the glass and re-dip to make sure all of the wet spots are coated in the sugar.

Start the drink itself by adding fresh mint to the bottom of the serving glass. You don't need to muddle the mint -- just clap it between your hands before adding it in to release the mint oils and aroma.

Add in the lime juice and lychee puree.

Add in the lychee syrup, and then fill the glass with ice.

Top off the drink with the seltzer water, and give everything a gentle stir with a long spoon just until everything is incorporated.

Clap the mint sprig garnish between your hands before adding it to the top of the drink. Then, add a lychee to a cocktail pick before resting it on top of the glass.

Serve and enjoy!

Hint: Try to chill all of your ingredients (including the cocktail glass!) for about 30 minutes before making the drink. This will keep the ice from melting too quickly.

Top tip

You don't need to muddle the mint leaves to get a nice mint flavor in this drink. Muddling them too much will actually give off a bitter flavor. Just clap them between your hands before adding the leaves to the glass.