Tropical Thirst Quencher

Think pink grapefruit tartness, coconut for that tropical kick…then just add gin to make delicious refreshing drink an adults only affair.

A few weeks ago, I visited beautiful Melbourne to judge burgers for a restaurant industry magazine competition. Aside from the copious amounts of awesome food and drink you inevitably encounter in this southern sister city of ours, the stand out was the weather. It was unseasonably warm. Sweltering, in fact.

Melting along the footpath, we happened upon a quintessentially Melbourne (out of the way, cute as hell) café, called Grub Food Van & Grub Hole in Fitzroy. There, we begged for the most refreshing cool drink they could muster. The following recipe is a little nod to that saviour.

 

Ingredients:

• One young coconut

• 2 cups of pink grapefruit juice

• 1 cup of lemonade or tonic

• 1 cup of ice

• 1 handful of mint leaves, roughly torn

• Nasturtium flowers to decorate

Method:

1. Crack open the coconut, pour the water into a jug, scrape out the flesh with a spoon and chop roughly. Add to jug.

2. Add pink grapefruit juice, lemonade/tonic, mint leaves and ice.

3. Add a little raw honey to sweeten to taste.

4. Serve in your most tropical looking glasses, topped with nasturtiums or other edible flowers…and maybe a little cocktail umbrella for good measure.

Cheers!

Melissa Leong www.fooderati.blogspot.com