Homemade Tonic Water

Homemade Tonic Water is simply the best way to upgrade your cocktail repertoire. The process is easy, and most of the time required to make it is completely hands off. Be aware that your homemade tonic water is going to have a slight yellowish-orangish tinge to it. This is completely natural and would exist in commercial tonics if they didn’t strip the color from the final product.

The great tonic water shortage of 2020

I don’t know about the rest of you, but a year ago when the Pandemic first hit and everyone was buying toilet paper and paper towels we here in Boston suffered another shortage: Tonic Water.

This one I can understand a bit more than bathroom paper products. No one likes the Pandemic. Politicians may argue about the best ways to deal with it, but there is no average person sitting at home thinking: “Gosh, what a stress-free time this is,” or “I’m so glad this world-wide plague has descended upon all of us.” We are, in fact, in a time of crisis. And in times of crisis it’s sort of natural to turn to a gentle, liquid indulgence every now and then.

But the good people of Boston REALLY turned to that indulgence. The shelves were bare. No Fever-Tree, no Q, no Schweppes or Polar even. Determined to avoid the shortage in my house I turned to the internet to see what I could find.

Creating a recipe for homemade tonic water

In this search, the internet was disappointing.

Google doesn’t really return that many recipes because most people haven’t started making Homemade Tonic Water yet. And that’s a shame because the flavor is so good, and so distinctly superior to anything store-bought that making it should become part of your monthly routine.

Determined to keep the G&T in our weekend repertoire I went into the kitchen and started to make up my own batches of homemade tonic water. I can’t lie to you, the first few were not good. But batch by batch I learned some key principles:

• The tonic has to have enough sugar to balance out some of the really bitter taste of the Cinchona bark (quinine). And that stuff is BITTER.
• This then led to the happy discovery that adding some sugar also allowed for ample bitter citrus. I mean, YUM.
• A few whole spices and a pinch of salt were needed to round out the endeavor. Truthfully, I’m not sure if the pinch of salt actually adds much or if I’m just in love with the idea of adding a pinch of salt. Either way, it’s such a small amount it’s certainly not going to hurt anything.

A note on quinine and Cinchona bark.

Cinchona bark can be difficult to source here in the States, but not impossible. I recommend you get chopped bark, as it’s easier to measure and work with than either powdered versions or long twigs of the stuff. I got mine from a small, locally owned, shop in California that I found online. While it wasn’t inexpensive the quantity you use to make homemade tonic water is so small that the bag I got has lasted an entire year with barely a dent in it. And it’s not like bark is going to go bad after a while. I mean it’s bark. It’s good to go. As an added bonus, I ordered myself some paprika from the same shop and honestly haven’t had the spice taste that good since my cousin hauled out her home-grown, home-ground, paprika the last time I was in Hungary.

I sourced my Cinchona bark from Lhasa Karnak Herb Company in Berkely, California. They do not sponsor me or have any idea I’m promoting them. They’re just nice people who ship a good product.

Now, heads up: Quinine is toxic. Yes, you read that correctly. And lots of people on the internet have well-intentioned if under-informed blog posts where they warn you of how a single drop of it is going to kill you.**

Listen, I am not a medical expert. The people on the internet who tell you quinine will kill you are not medical experts. In fact, we exist in a culture of non-experts talking as if they know what they’re talking about (has anyone turned on a 24-hours news station lately? Pro-tip: If you want to live a better, less-angry, more fulfilling life… turn off the television).

Here’s the deal: I suppose you could consume enough quinine to kill you. But do you know what else is toxic and will kill you if you consume it in high enough quantities? Alcohol.

Here is what I have learned from my own research into quinine:

1. Quinine is a medicine that has been used to treat malaria for almost 400 years.
2. Legend has it that the Gin and Tonic was created as a way to make the bitter tasting extract more palatable. “Want to ward off malaria? Here, drink this.”
3. To this day quinine is listed on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines.

**If you are at all concerned about the toxicity of quinine, or have any inclination to sue me, or my loved one, I insist that you hold fast to your beliefs, close your web-browser and go enjoy a lovely glass of ice water.

Building off of a template

Now that we have a template for our homemade tonic water, we can use this as a jumping off point to create endless variations.

• Is it the middle of winter and you want a blood orange tonic? Add a couple of blood oranges to the mix. You seriously won’t regret it.
• Love elderflower? Get rid of the orange and add in some of that.
• Want a diet tonic water? Substitute artificial sweetener for 50% of the sugar.
• Or how about an earthy, Mediterranean flavor? Kick the orange out and try adding in some lemon thyme and rosemary.

Once you have my basic formula down, you can modify it to your heart’s content.

Other things you might be interested in:

If you’re looking for more inspiration you might enjoy one of these other recipes I’ve posted!

• The Perfect Old-Fashioned
• How To Make A Watermelon Punch
• Tia’s Tips on How To Shop For Wine
• The Skylark

Tag me Instagram @jamandbreadofficial (I love seeing when other people make one of my recipes!) and please consider leaving me a review below if you make my recipe for Homemade Tonic Water. I really hope that you love it, and that you are ON BOARD with making my Homemade Tonic Water a staple of repertoire. 

For even more recipe ideas you can follow me on Pinterest!

Enjoy!

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