Honey Chamomile Soda
I think someone should throw me a dang parade for coaxing Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread out of my oven. With hours dedicated to flour and yeast, I feel like a parade (or a really solid high-five) is a totally reasonable return. It’s yeast induced hero-status… am I wrong?
Sometimes hero status doesn’t require multiple hours in the kitchen, and flour in your hair. Thank goodness.
Making a simple syrup is the easiest way for me to feel super clever in the kitchen. It’s the best way to bring together ultra comforting flavor combinations without making a huge fuss. Make a big fizzy soda, totally fancy-up happy hour, or add this sweet syrup to hot water with lemon. It’s bottled delight… and you really don’t have to tell anyone just how easy it is to make.
You probably have some chamomile tea bags in the back of your pantry, right? Have some honey lying around somewhere?
That’s it! You’re all the way there!
Tea bags are steeped in simmered water. Honey is stirred in, and the whole mixture is cooked down to a syrup-y consistency. With the addition of soda water… it’s totally time for sweet refreshment.
Where hot tea meets bubbly refreshment. I think this soda is best served with lemon cookies. Most things are best served with cookies. These Lemon Meringue Sandwich Cookies are little cloud dreams.
Honey Chamomile Soda
makes 2 cups of syrup
2 1/2 cups water
3 chamomile tea bags
1 cup honey
For serving:
cold club soda
ice cubes
lemon wedges (optional)
Bring water to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat, add tea bags, cover and allow to steep for 10 minutes. After steeping, remove the tea bags and discard. Return to heat and add honey. Stir to melt the honey into the liquid. Bring to a boil and simmer mixture to reduce to just less than 2 cups of syrup, about 15 minutes.
Pour syrup into a heat-proof jar and allow to cool to room temperature or cold before serving.
To serve, fill a class with ice cubes. Add about 3 tablespoons of syrup to 1 cup of club soda. Add more or less syrup to taste. Add a squeeze of lemon if you’d like. Enjoy!
Syrup will last for several weeks in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
64 Comments Add A Comment
I want a glass now please!
Wow! What an awesome easy recipe. I really want to try a syrup with earl grey and honey because I’m obsessed with it. Do you think those flavors would work? Thanks for the inspiration Joy!
Quinn Cooper Style
I know some people who are getting this as a birthday present. Thanks for the idea.
All the things, you win all the things!!
Nailed it, fancy pants soda!
Interesting soda…
Not Only Sugar
i love how simple this is! And totally delicious sounding!
Oooh… I love doing these sorts of things. The other time I made a lemon-thyme syrup and had that with lime juice. Cinnamon and clove syrup is lovely too. Now I have this to try. Thumbs up!
This is such an interesting flavour for soda. I’d be up for it!
This looks so great! Beats a store bought cordial any day! so healthy and delicious sounding. Must definitely give it a try.
Thinking of making a self-carbonating version of this much in the same way I make my ginger beer.
With the honey as food, it should just take the addition of small amount of yeast to the drink and letting it set for about 25 hours. Typically I then put it into the fridge to stop the fermentation so the bottle doesn’t pop and the yeast settles out.
The amount of alcohol produces is minimal, but the carbonation is usually quite fizzy with very small bubbles. I find it very refreshing. I have also done sparkling fruit juice in the same way.
THAT is a great idea.
oh wow, this sounds perfect for the first days of spring… I can’t wait to try it. Thank you for posting!! have a great day.
Honey-made simple syrup, infused with chamomile, oh wow, what delicate and lovely flavors that I need…like right now a mug of tea sweetened with that would be wonderful! Tea with my tea, of sorts!
This is so simple and so refreshing. I’ve never liked chamomile tea much on it’s own but with honey it’s a whole different story. :)
Sounds fabulous. I used to make chamomile tea with dried flowers, add lemon juice and comb it through my hair and sit out in the sun in summer in order to lighten my hair. Only much later did I drink chamomile tea, at night, to aid sleep. Did you know chamomile tea is a diuretic?