Tonic Water Experiment #1

The bell sounded last night. The tonic water experiment has officially been launched.

Here were the ingredients:

1/4 cup powdered cinchona bark. (this required using about 3/8 of a cup of chips to yield 1/4 cup powdered)
1/4 cup citric acid
1 tbsp fresh lavender
10 juniper berries
1 tsp coriander
15 cardamom pods
1/4 tsp kosher salt
zest of: 3 lemons; 3 limes; 1 grapefruit

first stage

Fresh cut lavender

red gold?

A couple of things I learned this week. Cinchona Officialis, the bark that is most available for purchase, contains only trace quinine. It is Cinchona Pubescens that is the original fever tree. The only cinchona bark I could find was the officinalis variety. However, I also learned that the taxonomy is often muddled, so cinchona calisaya is often mistaken for officinalis, and calisaya is known to produce significant amounts of quinine. Most of the "Peruvian bark" taken from Cinchona trees are, it turns out, no longer cultivated in central and south America. And different encyclopedias (Columbia, etc.) are telling me different things.

I brought the concoction to a boil, covered it and let it simmer for thirty minutes. Then I cooled it, transferred it to a glass carafe and put it in the downstairs fridge, where it will steep for two days. Then I will take it out, strain out the big stuff and let it sit another two days before filtering it finely and mixing it with sugar syrup. Apparently I need a rich one, 2-1 sugar ratio, and almost a 1-1 tonic water to sugar. But that part will be about balance.

UPDATE:

I strained it through cheesecloth after two days, and returned the mixture to the fridge. After one more day, after which more of the sediment settled on the bottom, I strained the mixture through a paper coffee filter. Then I began mixing. One bottle I mixed with a light sugar syrup (1-1 ratio) and the remaining 2 I mixed with a heavier syrup (2-1 ratio). The light syrup required more volume to balance with the concentrate. But basically a 1-1 ratio was necessary.

The result is a potent concentrate syrup. Tasting the syrup to correct the sugar set my stomach on edge. I was not surprised by how bitter the cinchona mixture was, but I was surprised that it took the full 1-1 ratio of cinchona to sugar, and that the ratio did not result in a cloying mouthfeel or flavor.

Now--the appropriate gin and tonic recipe from this will be another matter. Because I am dealing with a concentrate, the ratios will need to be worked out. I tried the following last night to great effect:

3/4 oz. gin
3/4 oz. concentrate tonic
juice of quarter lime, which comes out to about half the 3/4 oz. jigger, or so.
topped with seltzer water, probably 2 oz.

I initially mixed the ingredients in the glass, then poured it back and forth once into a boston shaker.

This produced a pleasant cocktail with layered flavors. A bitter bite, bright acidity, and a nose of lavender and coriander.