It's OK, You Can Love the Arnold Palmer
It's OK, You Can Love the Arnold Palmer
Ice tea and lemonade are refreshing and deserve their place in the sun but the DNA can also create some surprising combos.
You may use tea bags, but when I was a kid we used powder. The powder was in a cardboard cylinder with a yellow plastic top and each container had a scoop that I would wrestle out with my grubby fingers buried under the granules of “tea,” which were pre-sweetened flavor crystals.
I’d put a few scoops of the powder in a plastic pitcher, pour in cold water from the tap, squeeze half a lemon, add ice, and stir with a large wooden spoon. And, just like that, I had an instant summer-worthy beverage: lemon tea. Basically an Arnold Palmer, more commonly known as lemonade and ice tea.
The Arnold Palmer is named after the golf legend who purportedly drank them, and it has even made its way onto store shelves bottled by AriZona Beverage Company. (Both of which you can learn more about here.) But it has a life of its own, popping up in popular culture as a rib at busy-body homemakers and cuckolds (see The Other Guys for more on that).
First, I’m sure I know why most people don’t treat the Arnold Palmer as a serious drink. It’s not, even if you’re using tea bags and making fresh lemonade. When and where it’s served plays a role in its reception, too: the Arnold Palmer feels like a compromise between sugary sodas and plain water during lunch and a stand-in until you can get to more grownup dinnertime beverages.
Though it may be an unserious drink, or even a stand-in, it also seems somewhat irrepressible. The Arnold Palmer may not be great, but it also won’t go away. Perhaps that’s because its possesses the DNA for some greater combinations that are certainly worthy of further exploration.
For one, why use only black tea? There are so many tea options. Why not use green teas, aged teas, smoky teas, and tisanes. And, though lemonade is the preferred fruit-ade, why can’t we expand our options here, too? Orange-ade, lime-ade, and mango-ade come to mind. (Fruit-ade is fruit juice with sweetener.)
Why not use a grassy Sencha green tea with mango-ade or floral and tart hibiscus tea with lime-ade? I recently tried fresh-squeezed Meyer lemons and Turmeric Bliss from Adagio. Added a little honey syrup, at one to one water to sugar, and it was delicious. The perfect balance of spice, sweet, and sour.
In my book “Mindful Mixology: A Comprehensive Guide to No & Low Alcohol Cocktails,” I dressed up the Arnold Palmer with aromatic bitters and renamed it the Tea Belly. Though the bitters are a simple addition, it pops.
I used aromatic bitters from All the Bitter (learn more about their founders here), but there’s no reason you can’t use other flavored bitters, too. Lavender bitters seem like a lovely addition for a mellow-floral Arnold Palmer and Hellfire Habanero Shrub would almost certainly wake it up. (Hellfire Habanero Shrub contains alcohol.)
Lastly, top it with a little soda water to add fizz and lengthen the drink without adding more sugar or juice. The bubbles also add texture and additional tartness.
Serious or not, I’m giving you permission to re-embrace the Arnold Palmer, serving it any time of the day (or night), in a pitcher, glass, or as you please. The recipe is pretty straight forward: tea plus fruit-ade plus bitters plus soda. You can always start with the measurements from my Tea Belly recipe below.
Happy experimenting and please post in the comments below if you find a particularly delicious combo.
Tea Belly 0% ABV
One Serving/ 10-12 ounce Collins Glass
2 oz. Strong Brewed Black Tea
2 oz. Fresh Lemon Juice
1 oz. Simple Syrup
1 Dash All the Bitter Nonalcoholic Aromatic Bitters
1 oz. Soda Water
Combine all ingredients except soda in a shaker with ice and shake vigorously. Strain into collins glass, add ice, and top with soda. Garnish with lemon wheel.
Derek Brown is an author, NASM-certified wellness coach, and founder of Positive Damage, Inc.
This newsletter is free and public. Share with anyone you think will enjoy it.