Mocktails for a Crowd

The mistake when hosting is making drinks one at a time. Everything here scales to a jug and most of it improves for sitting a few hours, which means you can make it before anyone arrives.

Brown Sugar Bubble Tea

Chewy tapioca pearls, dark sugar syrup and cold milk tea. Worth the twenty minutes.

25 min · Medium

Homemade Ginger Ale

Real ginger, lemon and soda. Once you've made it, the shop-bought kind tastes like sugar water.

15 min · Easy

Horchata

Rice, cinnamon and milk, blended and strained. Sweet, cooling, and the best thing to drink with spicy food.

15 min · Easy

Lavender Lemonade

Floral, tart and pale purple. Restrained lavender is the difference between a drink and a bar of soap.

10 min · Easy

Mint Lemonade

Blended rather than muddled, which is what makes it green, cold and far more intense than the stirred version.

6 min · Easy

Mocktail Sangria

A pitcher that improves as it sits. The best thing to put on the table when you're hosting.

15 min · Easy

Mulled Non-Alcoholic Wine

The smell of December. Makes the whole house smell right and scales to any number of guests.

25 min · Easy

Party Fruit Punch

A punch bowl that isn't sickly — built on tea and citrus rather than sugar, and it scales to any number.

15 min · Easy

Peach Iced Tea

Real peach and real tea, not syrup from a bottle. Makes a jug that disappears fast.

15 min · Easy

Pink Lemonade

Coloured with real fruit rather than syrup, and sharp enough to actually be refreshing.

10 min · Easy

Southern Sweet Tea

The method matters more than the recipe — sweeten it hot, cool it fast, and never boil the leaves.

15 min · Easy

Spiced Apple Fizz

Autumn in a glass, and the most reliable crowd-pleaser at a holiday party.

5 min · Easy

Spiced Hot Chocolate

Made with real chocolate and a little chilli. The drink to hand people at a December party.

10 min · Easy

Strawberry Lemonade

Real macerated strawberries rather than syrup, and sharp enough to be worth drinking.

12 min · Easy

Thai Iced Tea

Strong spiced black tea over ice with condensed milk poured through it. Sweet, and worth it.

12 min · Easy

Virgin Cosmopolitan

Cranberry, lime and orange, shaken hard and served up. Looks the part and tastes sharp rather than sweet.

4 min · Easy

Virgin Hurricane

Passion fruit, orange and lime — New Orleans' loudest drink, minus the rum that made it dangerous.

5 min · Easy

Virgin Pimm's Cup

The English summer drink — fruit, cucumber, mint and lemonade in a jug. Built for a garden and a crowd.

10 min · Easy

Watermelon Agua Fresca

Blended watermelon, lime and a pinch of salt. The most refreshing thing you can make in summer, in four minutes.

5 min · Easy

Watermelon Juice Cooler

Three ingredients, no equipment beyond a blender, and the best thing to drink in real heat.

5 min · Easy