Bring A Bright Flavor To Drinks With This Thai Ingredient

It's easy to fall into a humdrum drink routine featuring sparkling water, standard red wines, fruit juices, and mainstream sodas. But beverages are just as versatile as food recipes, and beyond the basics lie endless combinations of thirst-quenching drinks that inspire the taste buds just as much as your world-famous dinner dishes. To craft stand-out beverages, though, you need stand-out ingredients. Enter lemongrass — the bold-tasting Thai staple that brightens up drinks with its jazzy, refreshing flavor.

Lemongrass is a tropical grass plant hailing from Asia — probably Southern India or Malaysia. Commonly used in soups, curries, and marinades, this zippy herb works just as well in beverages, both alcoholic and non. Although it's not actually related to lemons, lemongrass flaunts a citrusy, tangy taste accented by slightly spicy notes akin to ginger. Introducing the herb to a drink gives it a marked complexity that's equal parts refreshing and invigorating. Although it has a complex, multi-dimensional flavor, lemongrass pairs well with many other ingredients, making it a versatile and adaptable beverage component.

There are a few different ways to add lemongrass to drinks. Some of the more accessible techniques include simmering it in water before straining it to use as a base for drinks, making a simple syrup to incorporate into homemade sodas and cocktails, steeping it into a loose-leaf herbal tea, macerating it in spirits, or adding it to fermented drinks like kombucha during the second fermentation stage.

A plain lemongrass tea or soda is delicious without additional ingredients. But if you're a flavor fanatic, you'll need some accents to round out your lemongrass drink. Beat the Sunday scaries with a warm, comforting, evening cup of tea made with lemongrass, turmeric, and a dollop of floral honey. The result is a spicy, citrusy, and sweet elixir that soothes and satisfies simultaneously. If you need a pick-me-up instead or don't enjoy the taste of turmeric, brew a lemongrass-infused green tea for an earthy morning beverage kissed by the zippy taste of the versatile herb. Complement a meal by washing down a platter of pad thai (don't forget the tamarind) with a lemongrass simple syrup-infused coconut soda.

For a sophisticated boozy beverage, shake up a gin fizz cocktail featuring gin, lemon juice, lemongrass simple syrup, club soda, and an egg white foam to crown it. Because it shares similar notes to ginger, lemongrass can mingle seamlessly with a classic Moscow mule while imbuing it with an edge of radiance. You can also get crafty and use lemongrass to infuse vodka, gin, or tequila for refreshing poolside libations. Dark, heavy liquors like bourbon, spiced rum, and peaty Scotch might not pair well with lemongrass as their bold, smoky, or caramel-esque flavors can overpower the delicate, citrusy, and herbaceous notes of lemongrass.

Don't limit yourself, either — this versatile herb also pairs well with tropical fruits, cucumber, ginger, and Thai basil, just to name a few. Next time your beverage routine gets redundant, reach for lemongrass and reignite your passion for sipping.