What is Tonic Water?

Tonic water is a lemonade containing quinine that tastes bitter. The colorless, non-alcoholic, and carbonated drink is often mixed with gin and enjoyed as a popular long drink gin and tonic. Originally, tonic water consisted only of carbonated water and quinine: the latter is obtained from the bark of the cinchona tree and was traditionally used, and in some cases still today, as an antipyretic, antimalarial and antispasmodic medicine. Today, the content of the bitter quinine in tonic water is significantly lower than it used to be, but many types of tonics contain other ingredients such as sugar, herbs, fruit acids, and flavors. A look at the bottle label provides clarity here. Gin fans try different bitter lemonades for their gin and tonic until they find the perfect flavor profile for them.

Is tonic water healthy?

The lower quinine content makes tonic water safe for healthy people as long as they consume it in normal amounts of no more than one liter. However, the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) advises pregnant women, people suffering from tinnitus, anemia, or cardiac arrhythmia, and people taking blood-thinning medication not to drink tonic water. Tip: If you want to enjoy flavored water, try Infused Water instead. In addition, there is now also tonic water without quinine.

This is how tonic water can be used

Cocktails with tonic water are undoubtedly the domain of lemonade. In addition to gin and tonic, there are, for example, vodka/vodka tonic, whiskey tonic, rum tonic, and aperol tonic on the bar menu. Of course, you can also drink tonic water straight over ice. To compensate for the bitter taste, simply add sugar to the tonic water or mix it with fruit syrup. A refreshing recipe suggestion for hot days is our gin and tonic ice cream, which you can also make non-alcoholic by leaving out the juniper schnapps. Or you can enjoy an espresso tonic as a pick-me-up.