Tamarind Cooler Mocktail Recipe
Tamarind with lime and a salted rim — sour in a way no citrus manages on its own.
- Category: Mocktail
- Glass: Highball glass
- ABV: 0%
- Difficulty: Easy
- Prep time: ~3 min
- Alcohol-free: ✓
Ingredients
- Tamarind paste25 ml (0.8 oz)
- Fresh lime juice20 ml (0.7 oz)
- Simple syrup25 ml (0.8 oz)
- Cold water140 ml (4.7 oz)
- Salt1 pinch
How to Make It
- Whisk the tamarind paste into the cold water until it dissolves.
- Rim a highball glass with salt and fill it with ice.
- Add the tamarind water, lime juice and syrup, then stir.
- Garnish with a lime wedge.
Garnish
Salted rim and a lime wedge
What it tastes like
The citrus acidity leads, the sweetness is pronounced and it drinks cool and easy.
The technique
Built in the glass. Ice goes into the serving glass, the ingredients go on top, and you stir once if at all. Anything carbonated goes in LAST and never gets stirred; every turn of the spoon costs you bubbles. Fill the glass to the rim with ice: less ice melts faster, not slower.
Glass and ice
A tall, narrow highball. The narrowness does real work — less surface area means the carbonation lasts longer and the ice melts more slowly.
Ingredient notes and substitutes
- Fresh lime juice
- Freshly squeezed lime. Bottled lime tastes cooked and flat; one lime gives about 30 ml. If you have none, half lemon and half grapefruit juice comes closest.
- Simple syrup
- One part sugar to one part water, stirred until it dissolves — no need to boil it. Keeps a month in the fridge. No syrup? Use the same amount of honey, loosened with a little water.
- Cold water
- Seeing it in a recipe is not a mistake: in spirit-forward drinks, measuring the dilution instead of leaving it to the ice is what makes the result repeatable.
- Salt
- A pinch of salt lifts the sweetness and pulls the bitterness back — most of all in grapefruit and tomato drinks. Coarse salt for the rim; dissolved brine when it goes into the drink.
The Story
Agua de tamarindo is one of Mexico's three classic aguas frescas, ladled from glass barrels in every market.
Frequently asked questions
- How is a Tamarind Cooler mixed?
- It is built in the glass and served in a highball glass.
- Does a Tamarind Cooler contain alcohol?
- No. It is safe to serve to children, to anyone pregnant, and to whoever is driving.
- Is a Tamarind Cooler hard to make?
- Easy. No bar kit required — a measure, ice and a jar will do.
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Alcoholic drink recipes are intended for those aged 18 and over. Please drink responsibly.