This rose lemonade recipe makes a fragrant floral refreshing beverage from the Middle East that’s wonderful in warm weather, but can be enjoyably sipped all year if you turn up the air-conditioning. Perfumed and sweet thanks to the rose syrup, lemon juice provides balance, and fresh mint add freshness, but it’s endlessly versatile. Make a pitcher if entertaining or add gin or vodka to create a heady rose cocktail.
Try this Middle Eastern rose lemonade recipe if you’re looking for a deliciously refreshing beverage to serve over the festive season. I mix these drinks in the glasses, just giving them a stir with a swizzle stick. But if you’re entertaining over the Christmas-New Year period or find yourself having a relaxed casual gathering, you could easily make a pitcher or two to serve with snacks, dips and finger food.
This vibrant drink is perfect for kicking off a Christmas lunch in the sun or serving with nibbles for a late afternoon or early evening holiday get-together. Add a jigger of a white spirit to each glass, such as vodka, or even gin, for more floral notes, and you have a lovely early evening cocktail. We’ve got more festival cocktail recipes here.
I first tried this Arabic rose lemonade soon after we moved to the United Arab Emirates way back in 1998, and throughout the many years we lived in Abu Dhabi and Dubai I always kept a bottle of rose syrup in our kitchen pantry. Aside from making this gorgeous drink, I used rose syrup in milkshakes and poured it over ice-cream.
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Rose Lemonade Recipe for a Fragrant Floral Refreshing Drink
You’ll love this rose lemonade recipe if you’re a fan of those Middle Eastern floral flavours, such as orange blossom, jasmine and rose used in Arabic sweets, desserts, drinks, and pastries, such as baklava. I use rose essence in this rose mascarpone cheesecake tart topped with berries and fresh mint (which is wonderfully-easy and can be made with a homemade no-bake base or even a store-bought base; I do both depending how busy I am).
I used to make this rose lemonade recipe all the time at home when we lived in the United Arab Emirates. If I saw rose lemonade on a cafe menu, I’d always order it. Either that or another refreshing lime mint lemonade, for which I’ll also share a recipe. Both were fantastic thirst-quenching drinks made for the sultry seasons of the region, and were lifesavers in the stifling heat of summer on the Arabian Peninsula.
In the Middle East, it’s easy to find traditional rose syrup made with rose petals with no synthetic ingredients. All-natural rose syrups are much more aromatic and floral. Whenever we were travelling in the region and I spotted real rose syrup, mostly made in villages in Lebanon and Syria, I’d always buy a couple of bottles.
I got my mother hooked on this rose drink when she and dad visited us in Abu Dhabi and then Dubai, and I would try to take some home to mum on trips back to Australia — along with cans of cardamom flavoured condensed milk and chocolate covered stuffed dates that my student’s husband made. That’s if Customs didn’t confiscate them!
Just a few tips to making this rose lemonade recipe for a fragrant floral refreshing drink that’s fantastic for the festive season
Tips to Making this Rose Lemonade Recipe
I only have a few tips to making this rose lemonade recipe as it’s a quick and easy drink to make, so let’s begin with the ingredients.
Ingredients
Our rose lemonade recipe has just a handful of ingredients.
Rose Syrup
Let’s be clear: you want rose syrup, not rose water. I’ve spotted a lot of rose lemonade recipes calling for rose water and red food colouring. In the Middle East, rose water has a lot of uses, but during the many years we lived in the Middle East and travelled the region, I never came across a drink with rose water and red food colouring. Never.
That’s one of the reasons I decided to share this rose lemonade recipe, as well as it just being a lovely drink, especially for the festive season.
Try to find an all-natural traditional rose syrup made from rose petals, sugar, water and/or lemon juice. That’s it. Sometimes a small amount of concentrated natural fruit juice might be used for colouring, depending on the colour of the roses, such as prune juice or rosella. But most of the traditional natural rose syrups I’ve bought were only made with red or pink roses, using Wared Jouri or Damask Rose, sugar, water and/or lemon juice.
I have made rose syrup before but I can’t source organic roses for consumption at the moment. When I can, I’ll share a rose syrup recipe. Note that you can’t just use any roses, such as those sold at florists and supermarkets, which have probably been exposed to pesticides. You need organically grown roses.
You can also make a rose water simple syrup made from rose water and sugar, but this will be clear. You could colour the beverage when mixing the drinks. For instance, blitz it with red berries, such as raspberries or strawberries. But do make sure it’s a rose water for human consumption, which, again, is made from natural ingredients. You do not want the rose water that’s label ‘attar’, which is a perfume.
The best natural rose syrups in my experience are made in Syria and Lebanon to traditional methods, In those countries, you’ll find rose syrup at local markets, especially in villages famous for their roses, and in the cities at markets, supermarkets and gourmet food shops.
I’m not yet confident that our beloved Syria is safe enough to travel to yet, but it’s getting there, so if you do get to Syria, try local markets in Damascus and Aleppo.
If you’re heading to Lebanon, try Souk el Tayeb, Beirut’s first organic farmers market, on Armenia Street in Mar Mikhael. Or perhaps Beirut Farmer’s Market, on Rue Gouraud, Gemmayze (one of our favourite streets in Beirut!), which is not actually a farmers market as such but a shop selling organic produce and products such as honey, teas, herbal remedies, and even beauty products.
Outside of Beirut, if you’re visiting places like Byblos and Tripoli, try local markets. As you drive through the Bekaa Valley, where rose syrup and rose water are made by women’s cooperatives, don’t be surprised if you see farm gate stalls that have bottles of rose syrup for sale, along with local wine, honey, and other farm products.
I have also used rose syrups made from artificial rose flavours and aromas, also called rose cordials. I used to buy them when I couldn’t source natural rose syrups in supermarkets, including the supermarket on the ground floor of our building on Hamdan Street in Abu Dhabi, when I was desperate. Even Carrefour sold rose syrup when we lived in the UAE.
The artificial rose syrups are often sickly sweet and will need to be diluted even more. These rose syrups are better used in milk shakes or poured over ice-cream, desserts or pancakes than in rose lemonade.
Outside the Middle East, look for natural rose syrup in Arabic or Middle Eastern grocery shops or supermarkets or buy it online. I checked Amazon, however, the rose syrups currently available are all artificial. You can purchase proper rose syrup online from Beirut-based businesses such as Beit Kanz Epicerie, and businesses in the Arabian Peninsula ran by Lebanese expats, such as Kuwait-based Lebanese Village Products.
I’ll search for online sources in Australia, the USA and UK and add them here.
If you can’t find a natural rose syrup, and have to buy a rose syrup made from synthetic flavours, you’ll probably want to use half a tablespoon of rose syrup, or even less at first, as they can often be overly sweet. Experimenting with measures is essential.
Lemon or Lime
Our rose lemonade recipe calls for a lemon but limes also work wonderfully. But oranges are too sweet. You want the tang, tartness and sourness of lemons and limes to counteract the sweetness and provide balance. Not to mention, the ‘lemon’ in lemonade.
Mineral Water
While I like a plain natural sparkling mineral water, this rose lemonade recipe is endlessly versatile. I’ve experimented with using various naturally-flavoured sparkling mineral waters that are made with real fruit juice, which we often buy here in Australia. Waterfords’ flavours such as lemon, lime and bitters work wonderfully, as well as apple berry.
Step-By-Step Process
This rose lemonade recipe is a cinch to make, taking around five minutes or so. I make the drinks in glasses.
Distribute the lemon wedges (or lime wedges) and half the mint leaves between the glasses and muddle them a little, as if you were preparing a caipirinha.
Pour one tablespoon of rose syrup into each glass — best to start with one tablespoon, as you can always add more rose syrup later, but can’t take it away without transferring it to another glass.
Add a few ice cubes to each glass and top up each glass with sparkling natural mineral water; plain or flavoured naturally with fruit juice, such as Waterfords. Or use soda water or tonic water.
Stir each glass with a swizzle stick, top the glasses with the remaining fresh mint leaves, and optional edible dried rose buds (also available at specialty Middle Eastern specialty shops, grocery store or supermarkets) — just because they’re pretty, not for eating! — and serve immediately.
If you’re not planning on moving onto wine or entertaining, you could always make a pitcher of rose lemonade. And if you’re having a cocktail party or just looking for something even headier, you could always add some gin or vodka. White spirits work best.
Serve with nibbles such as spiced peanuts or with crunchy pita chips and bowls of hummus — we have lots of hummus recipes here. And if you enjoy this, try our fruity white sangria recipe.
Rose Lemonade Recipe for a Fragrant Floral Refreshing Drink
Ingredients
- 1 lemon - or lime, sliced and cut into wedges
- 24 fresh mint leaves - divided
- 4 tbsp rose syrup - or more or less to taste
- 12 ice cubes
- 4 cups sparkling water - plain or flavoured, or soda or tonic water
- dried edible rose buds - optional
Instructions
- Distribute the lemon wedges and half the mint leaves between the glasses and muddle them a little, as if you were preparing a caipirinha.
- Pour one tablespoon of rose syrup into each glass — best to start with one tablespoon, as you can always add more rose syrup later, but can’t take it away without transferring it to another glass.
- Add a few ice cubes to each glass and top up each glass with sparkling water; plain or flavoured naturally — or soda or tonic water.
- Stir each glass with a swizzle stick, top the glasses with the remaining fresh mint leaves and optional edible dried rose buds — just because they’re pretty, not for eating! — and serve immediately.
- If you’re not planning on moving onto wine, you could always make a pitcher of rose lemonade — and you could always add some gin or vodka…
Nutrition
Please do let us know if you make our rose lemonade recipe as we’d love to know how it turns out for you.
