Lemon Lime Bitters

Lemon Lime Bitters or LLB for short is an Australian thirst quencher of a mocktail with a blend of fresh citrus juices, simple syrup, a few drops of bitters all topped with sparkling water.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• How to Make an LLB
• Recipe Notes
• How to Juice Citrus Fruits?
• Substitutes
• Recipe
• Comments

While I love a good Lemon Drop Martini with Limoncello or a Lemon Drop Shot , the further I get into my 50's (!!!), the less I want to put alcohol into my body, which is where this fun Lemon Lime Bitters drink enters.

For me personally, even one cocktail leaves me feeling dehydrated the next day no matter how many glasses of water I guzzle before, during and after.

So between my own dehydration and the need for what seems a global thirst quenching thanks to the climate, I'm trying to gather as many mocktail recipes in my arsenal as I can to share with you good people.

This Lemon Lime Bitters recipe, LLB for short, hails from Australia. I think I first saw an article about it in Tasting Table?

Anyhow, an LLB is thirst-quenching, quick and easy to make and good for you.

If you're a citrus fan, try my Lemon Drop Martini (3-Ingredient Recipe with Limoncello) and Grapefruit Rosemary Martinis or Passion Fruit Cocktail Recipe.

You could also serve this drink with Rosemary Chicken Sandwiches and Sugared Grapes.

Ingredients

• Lemon juice
• Lime juice
• Simple syrup
• Bitters (I used blood orange bitters, which I didn't care for, thought it tasted like Dr. Pepper, made another one with Angostura Bitters, which I do like.) Use your fave.
• Ice
• Sparkling water

How to Make an LLB

• Squeeze the juice.
• Make a quick and easy homemade simple syrup.
• Pour juices and simple syrup in a cocktail shaker with ice.
• Shake really hard until cocktail shaker gets icy and too cold to hold.
• Pour juice into a rocks glass with or without ice if you like.
• Pour sparkling water in glass.
• Top with a few drops of bitters (up to 5 drops), stir.
• Garnish with lime and or lemon slices or wedges.
• Serve.

Recipe Notes

Please use fresh lemon juice and fresh lime juice for this recipe. It really makes a huge flavor difference.

If you're making a batch of this drink and want to work ahead, you could juice the citrus fruits a day before and store them in the fridge.

Lemon juice lasts a while in the fridge but juice no more than a day ahead for the freshest flavor.

Does lime juice go bad? Yes, it does. How long you can keep lime juice in the fridge?

How to Juice Citrus Fruits?

Use a sharp knife to cut the fruit in half horizontally.

Then use a tool, like a fork, reamer or a lemon hand press, which I have but don't use, to extract the juice.

Hold half a lemon or lime in one hand, I'm right handed so I hold the cut fruit in my left hand. Then with the right hand stick a fork in the fruit and while squeezing the fruit over a bowl to catch the juice, turn the fork back and forth in the fruit to help break up the fruit pulp to extract the juice.

Ideally you've got a strainer on top of the bowl you're working over to catch seeds so you're not fishing the seeds out of the juice with your fingers.

There are so many things you can buy at Amazon or Crate & Barrel or Walmart to juice citrus but when it comes to juicing a lemon or lime for a drink or a cookie, I just like to use a big, sturdy fork.

A fork is quick, usually always available, thorough enough for our purposes and can be cleaned with just a rinse in hot water.

You could also use a citrus reamer. I have a wooden citrus reamer, which hangs out in my utensil draw 99 percent of the time.

Or you could get fancier with one of these manual juicers, which sit on a counter and are large enough to juice an orange or grapefruit.

Substitutes

If you don't have lemons or limes and really want to make this drink, you could substitute one of them for grapefruit juice or orange juice or blood orange juice.

If you like citrus drinks, you'll want to try an easy grapefruit martini or a blood orange martini.

Are you concerned about sugar or carbs in vodka?