10 Ideas for What to Drink This Summer

It’s here! It’s here! At least June is, if summer isn’t. This hint at the changing of the seasons usually means my beverage choices shift away from steamed, frothed, and steeped to chilled, blended, and infused. For some reason I really spend a lot of time thinking about what to drink; so much so that a third of the recipes on the blog aren’t even for food…they’re for satiating sippables. Seems like as good a time as any to do a drink recipe round-up to get you ready for the warm temperatures that I’m sure are just around the corner. Right? Like in 2 weeks. Please?

Iced Coffee Tea

This is certainly the beverage recipe I keep returning to most often. It’s easy, I always have the ingredients on hand, and I adore the taste. The flavors are more mild than bold, but you could tinker with it until you get a concoction that makes your tongue happy.

Iced Molasses Milk

Some beverages taste good hot or cold, as most of us know from our year-round latte habit. Turns out this is the also case with my recipe for Hot Molasses. Just warm some milk, sweeten it up with some (nutrient-dense) blackstrap molasses and pour the whole caramelly mess over ice. You’ll be glad you did.

3 Low-Calorie Homemade Flavored Waters

Peach-mint, apple-cinnamon, or lemon-basil-cucumber. With the abundance of summer fruit and fresh herbs, the possibilities really are endless, but these are 3 of my most favorite combinations.

Coconut Horchata

If I start a second blog, it might chronicle my search for the perfect horchata. I order it in restaurants every chance I get and it still feels like something special when I stumble upon a particularly creamy, cinnamony glass of rice milk excellence. For this recipe, I took a shot at making it myself and I’ve got to say that having my very own pitcher of it in the fridge makes me feel quite satisfied. (Kind of like when I put 8 jars of freshly canned homemade jam on a shelf in the pantry. Like I’m ready for anything. Like those doomsday preppers. You know. That kind of satisfied.)

Homemade Strawberry Quik Milk

This recipe was inspired by the below-freezing temperatures of December, but it’s just as yummy in June. Just follow the recipe instructions, but finish up by chilling in the refrigerator for several hours.

Coconut Mango White Tea

This recipe came together as I was testing out a tea maker that had an infuser. In this case, I think the coconut and mango make it a little tropical, which feels more exciting than plain iced tea. If you don’t have the Takaya product, you can brew it old school. Just add the coconut and mango to the iced tea, let it sit in the refrigerator for a few hours in a pitcher or mason jar, and strain.

Homemade Low-Calorie Summer Drinks

These 2 are the first-ever drink ideas I posted on the blog. Thankfully, the recipes have withstood the test of time a little better than my food photos from 2012. Egad.

Go ahead. Grab your favorite glass (I’m not the only one with a favorite glass, am I?) and gulp, swig, slurp, and sip the summer days away. No doubt the warm temperatures of these next few months will spark some new thirst-quenching recipe ideas…just in time for fall.

When you’re standing in front of the open refrigerator, parched and sweating, what do you reach for?

Note on Cold Molasses and Homemade Strawberry Quik Milk: To enjoy these over ice, I recommend making the hot version first, then chilling down to maximize dissolvability of the stir-ins. Molasses and strawberry powder seem to disappear better into warm liquids rather than cold. But if you want to save yourself some time and get the ymmy stuff into your face faster, you could try making either with cold milk and and just going for it.

Kristine Duncan, Registered Dietitian

I’m a Registered Dietitian, the author of Veg Girl RD, and a vegetarian who loves to eat. I’m a nutrition nerd who teaches at the University of Washington and Skagit Valley College. I also write about nutrition professionally for magazines and books. If you want to know more, check out my About page.