Carolyn J. Braden • 3 Minute Read
How to Make Flavored Water and a Refreshing Recipe
Refreshing Flavored Water: A Burst of Natural Delight
Creating your own delicious flavored water at home is not only easy but also a fantastic way to stay hydrated with a touch of flavor. My husband and I both drink lots of water, and while I don’t mind mine to be plain in flavor, my husband prefers a bit of flavor.
Our disco ball sippers make drinking water fun
We experimented with some flavored water powders, which are great when we need some electrolytes after sweating a lot, but I wanted to be able to add natural flavor sometimes without a bunch of sugar or artificial sweeteners. Read on to see how we create our own natural flavored water.
There are many fruit and herb combos to try in water
Years ago, we got into the habit of filling up a 2-quart carafe every day and making sure we finished it by the end of the day. This is a great idea if you are in need of tracking your water intake. It’s sometimes hard to remember how much you are drinking if you aren’t tracking it closely. We purchased a carafe by Rubbermaid that has a fruit infuser. If you want to drink the same flavor infused water all day, this is a great product to try. You can alternately take the infuser out if you don’t want to use it.
We love fresh herbs and fruit to flavor water
To create a naturally infused water, start by choosing your favorite fruits, herbs, or even vegetables for a unique twist. Begin by slicing your chosen ingredients into small pieces to release their flavors. For a hint of citrusy freshness without using a fruit infuser, squeeze a lemon or lime into a pitcher of water. For a more vibrant taste, try adding fresh berries, such as strawberries or blueberries, and a handful of refreshing herbs like basil. Feel free to experiment with different combinations and quantities until you find the perfect blend.
Water can be flavored with many herbs
If using a lot of loose ingredients, add your selected ingredients to the fruit infuser inside your pitcher. You can add them to water without an infuser, but an infuser keeps them from making too much of a mess. Let the water infuse in the refrigerator for a few hours to enhance the flavors. Finally, serve your homemade flavored water over ice, and enjoy the invigorating burst of natural delight as you sip away the summer heat. If you do not want an entire pitcher of water to be infused with the same flavor, there are also water bottles that have infusers in them too or try our next idea of using silicone tea bags.
Silicone tea bags make great water infusers
Our Favorite Naturally Flavored Water Recipe
We purchased a set of silicone tea infusers and experimented by adding some fruit and herbs to each one and added them to our favorite daily water Rambler by Yeti. After lots of experimenting, we landed on our favorite flavor combo of Strawberry Basil. We thought we’d like one of our experiments of mint infused water, where we added freshly cut mint to the tea infusers, but when we tasted it, it wasn’t right. My husband said it tasted like grass. So, we tried a combination inspired by an episode of Modern Family.
The character, Jay, on the show Modern Family, was at his golf club on one episode raving about their delicious Strawberry Basil water. He said it “was to die for”. So, I decided to try a recipe experiment with the same combination. I finely chopped up a strawberry and finely chopped up a few small leaves of fresh basil from my yard. I added both ingredients to a silicone tea bag. I then tossed it into our water and ice filled Yeti Ramblers and let it sit for about 10 minutes.
See the flavored water recipe in action in my less than a minute YouTube video below or via my channel @carolynjbraden:
Silicone tea bags work great for infusing water without making a mess
Within the 10 minutes, you could already taste the combination and my husband said Jay was right. The flavor combination is to die for. Within 20 minutes, the flavors were happily dancing around inside our water cups and it was delicious. We were able to use the same tea bag with the same basil and strawberry for a day and each glass of water was flavorful.
Loving our cute sippers
We also love adding them to cute cups, like our disco ball sippers, for a little fun twist. I loved cute sippers when I was a kid (my favorite was a Yogi Bear sipper I got in the Kings Island amusement park), and I still do as an adult!
I’d recommend trying a Strawberry Basil flavored water combination and also try experimenting with your own favorite flavors. I created a cucumber mint water once for a volunteer group luncheon, and it was devoured. I think adding something else along with mint is the key to keeping it tasting refreshing instead of grassy. If you try your own natural flavored water combination and love it, let us know in the comments below!
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Carolyn J. (C.J.) Braden is a regular contributor and editor for Carolyn’s Blooming Creations. She has been featured in numerous media publications such as InStyle Magazine, on HGTV, on Bustle.com, and more. She is the author of the books Georgia McMasters in Amethyst Lake Cemetery, How To Be Yourself: 3 Ways To Help You Being You, and the illustrator for the children’s book Bridging Connections. She is a former classroom teacher that now dedicates her life to educating others on how to live their most healthy, creative and happy life. Learn more about her visiting our About Us page.