My latest tonic water concoction may well be my best. I've made a batch in anticipation of a neighbor's housewarming party. The base recipe is unaltered--3 cups of water to 1/4 cup cinchona bark and 1/4 cup citric acid and a pinch of salt. Then I added about four lemongrass stalks, chopped, a teaspoon or so of coriander, and a sprinkling of cloves. For the heck of it, I threw in the peel of 1/2 of a lemon. It was in the fridge, after all.
I macerated the lemongrass after a 60 minutes boil. Then I let it sit three days, transferred it to a carafe, and let it sit another three before double filtering it.
The yield was 18 ounces. (2 1/4 cups). Rather than use agave, I used sugar syrup. The syrup was about a 1 1/2-1 ratio. I put in about 24-26 ounces of sugar syrup, brought it to a simmer, and then shut down the heat.
The cloves are noticeable in the profile. I decided to go with sugar rather than the agave to make the mouthfeel a little more rich velvet. This is a tonic water for the winter months--possibly a Christmas version.
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