Cold Drink

The name egg cream is misleading—in actuality, the soda fountain classic contains no eggs and no cream. The three winning elements are milk, flavored syrup, and seltzer. For an icy beverage like top soda jerks used to craft, it's best to frost glasses in the freezer.

Legend has it that a bartender at Chasen's, the famous West Hollywood gathering place for entertainment luminaries, created the eponymous cocktail for "Little Curly Top," the star of Bright Eyes, Little Miss Marker, and The Littlest Rebel. Necessarily nonalcoholic, the drink's appeal to children may lie in the brightly colored, candy-sweet maraschino cherry garnish.

In 2010, Ruth Laskey, a talented artist who weaves hand-dyed threads into graphic shapes, was one of the Bay Area artists chosen for the biennial SECA (Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art) award and whose work would be featured at SFMOMA. She also happened to be Leah's classmate from the California College of the Arts. Thrilled to collaborate with an artist as she produced her work, we arranged a studio visit to see the weavings Ruth was creating for the show. She had a series of six sketches, each with two intersecting shapes of different colors, and she had started weaving the pieces based on her sketches. I suggested assigning a flavor to each color, and where the colors overlapped, so would the flavors. We decided that a liquid of one flavor chilled with ice cubes of a second flavor would be an interesting approach: as the ice cubes melted, the flavors would slowly overlap. My good friend Paul Einbund, an extraordinary sommelier and a genius at making seasonal sodas, taught us how to make a concentrated syrup by muddling an ingredient with sugar, adding cold water, and then chilling the mixture to allow the flavor to infuse. When sparkling water is added to the concentrate, the result is a lightly sweetened soda with pure flavor. Leah discovered that just about anything could be given this treatment—from fresh fruit and herbs to licorice candy, and even bubblegum—giving us limitless options for homemade sodas. I like to use standard Eureka lemons in this recipe because I prefer their classic, extra-sour flavor, but Meyer lemons will also work. We created a soda and ice cube combination for each of the six weavings created for the SECA exhibition, from her larger twill series, and rotated through them on a daily basis: peppermint soda with licorice ice cubes for the blue/black weaving, green pepper soda with orange blossom ice cubes for the orange/green, chokecherry soda with rose ice cubes for the two-toned pink weaving, bubblegum soda with violet ice cubes for the pink/purple, hibiscus soda with eucalyptus ice cubes for the magenta/green, and lemon soda with bay ice cubes for the yellow/green. We served each drink on a custom wood tray made for us by the installation crew at the SFMOMA. Stained to match the frames around Ruth's weavings, the tray held the glass and two small vials containing threads used in the artwork that had been scented to correspond with the flavors in the drink. With visual, taste, and olfactory components, the Laskey sodas offered guests a multisensory experience and a direct connection to the art, and they were our most conceptual creations to date.

Tasty, and healthy, too: Coconut water is high in potassium and other electrolytes. And Flaxseeds are a good source of beneficial omega-3s.

Vinegar is the key ingredient in the tart, refreshing beverages known as shrubs.

For a quick and easy glass of tranquillity, indulge in the mellow sweetness of vanilla and dates. This low-fat, creamy smoothie makes the perfect breakfast when you’re on the go or an energizing shake after a workout. Toss in a banana and 1/2 cup almonds for a filling drink or substitute soy milk for dairy. To create a silkier consistency, soak the dates for about an hour and then blend untilsmooth.

Serve this spritzer as a rejuvenating treat in the summer heat, or try the basil lime syrup drizzled over your favorite melon. If you decide to add alcohol to a few glasses, garnish with either a fresh sprig of basil or a lime wheel to differentiate them from the virgin drinks.

This frothy Southeast Asian favorite is easy to make and even easier to slurp down. Customize your drink with mint or cumin for a summer barbecue, baby shower, or birthday; you can even spice it up your drink with ground chiles or fresh ginger.

This recipe is a peek inside the magic hat of cookbook author and New York City caterer Serena Bass. There’s nary a tea leaf in sight of this spicy and refreshing “tea”—rather, it’s made from a fragrant combination of apples and cardamom spice. Be sure to use high-quality juice, not from concentrate, such as Adam and Eve apple juice or cloudy, fresh-pressed apple juice.

For a clear liquid, use coarsely ground coffee. (Finely ground beans make for a cloudier drink.)

Once you know how much condensed milk you like, pour it directly into the cup or glass before you brew the coffee.

We've been making chef Scott Howard's ginger syrup in bulk and keeping it in the fridge for quick tonics and late- evening cocktails. If you have a juicer at home, by all means use it, but good store-bought 100 percent carrot juice will work just as well here.

We love our sweet twist on a daiquiri: mango mixed with dark rum, sugar syrup, and lemon juice (in place of the traditional lime).

Seltzer enlivens this effervescent drink, which consists of sweet honeydew melon puree and mouth-puckering lime juice.