Homemade Coffee and Molasses Soda

I like coffee. That is probably pretty clear to anyone reading this. And I like soda. But I detest cloyingly sweet, overly sugared commercial sodas most of the time. (It's all about moderation, after all.) Sometimes I like to combine my love of coffee and my love of soda, and while there are a few commercial products available that do this, I always feel they fall a little short.

On the other hand, this is a ridiculously easy drink to make at home.

I use a SodaStream to make my sparkling water, but you can just as easily use a can of bottle of good seltzer water. Seltzer is important -- do not use Club Soda unless you want a salty taste added to the drink. A strong seltzer is nice and bracing and holds up to the added ingredients which, frankly, you will want to experiment with in small doses as you perfect your own recipe.

With sodas, always start small and taste as you go. Remember that you are diluting flavors, but mix them in slowly (the bubbles do most of the work) or you will overflow quickly.

My glass today began with this stuff, none of which was measured but generally amounted to a total of less than 2 tablespoons all together before the sparkling water was added:

Fresh squeezed lemon juice
Cinnamon
Coffee (cold brew)
Bragg's Apple cider vinegar
Blackstrap molasses
Muguey sweet sap
Residual crushed mint (from my previous soda)

More cinnamon, coffee, lemon and molasses for me, very light on the sweet sap (which is kind of like a sweeter molasses, anyway, and is easily dispensed with), and I don't normally add the vinegar except when I am in a mood for that sort of thing... You might want to just leave it out unless you already love the tartness.

And there you have it. Add some ice and it is a great tonic for a hot day.