I’ve written up my experience here.

http://cooksandcocktails.wordpress.com/2010/07/14/the-best-gin-and-tonic-youve-ever-had/

Chopped, I think, will work fine. What is going on here is an acidic extraction. Quinine is an alkaloid, which is an alkaline compound derived from a plant. This reacts with an acid, in our case citric acid. A salt is formed, quinine citrate, which dissolves easily in water. If you use the cold brew method, which I really like, you might give it an extra day to pull out the quinine. Alternatively, you could grind the bark down finer with a blade type coffee grinder to speed things along.

I should mention that when I brew, I don’t add any sweetener until I’m done. I add agave or organic sugar simple syrup along with the tonic concentrate to the water prior to carbonation.

An interesting note is that the form of quinine in the tonic water depends on what acid is used in the process of making it. Most commercial tonic water contains quinine hydrochloride, which indicates it was made with hydrochloric acid. Here, we’re using citric acid, which results in quinine citrate.

Good luck, and thanks Jeff for the best homemade tonic page around!

It sounds as tincture isnt very practical so I have been in touch with my sister who lives in California. She has found a source of cinchona in ”chopped” form. Im not sure how finely it is chhopped, but if anyone could provide any advice on whether this would do the trick for tonic, I would be very grateful.
Rob

Tinctures are alcohol based infusions which usually come in small bottles. In theory it might work, but I imagine it would take quite a few bottles of tincture and would be very expensive. The result would probably be clear, rather than reddish brown.

One thing I do is cold brew the cinchona with just the citric acid in six quarts of water (I do double batches). I leave it at room temp and shake occasionally for a day or so. I then put it in the fridge overnight and the bark settles to the bottom. I then take a liter water bottle with the bottom cut out. I unwrap three cotton balls and stuff a thick portion of this into the neck via the bottom (I use a sharpening steel). I then insert the neck into that of a larger bottle, after which I decant a portion of the brew through the filter apparatus. Be careful not to disturb the sediment. After most is passed through, I can finish off that last little bit. The cold brewing is more selective. You get all the quinine, but less of the bark taste. You still get a deep red hue and great clarity.

I brew the other ingredients in the remaining two cups of water on the stove and run that through a gold coffee filter. For pristine clarity, run it all through the cotton again. It will go quite fast this time.

I’m curious, has anybody come up with a Bitter Lemon recipe based on this tonic recipe?

I’m thinking grapefruit for sure, replace the allspice with something else…suggestions?

Thanks for the recipe.

oh, and I wouldn’t attempt this without a french press strainer.

M

All the best,

Jeppe Morgenthaler
Copenhagen, Denmark

The agave syrup is critical here. Great call on that. It lends a softer sweetness than simple syrup would.

Nuriah– If you’re leaving out the fruit juice for calorie concerns, your giving up a lot of flavor for almost no caloric advantage. One each of a lemon, lime, and orange adds a total of about 100 calories to a mix that makes a minimum of 40 drinks. That’s 2.5 calories/drink. There’s no way the flavor trade-off is worth 2.5 calories.

By the way, in Seattle, cinchona can be purchased really cheaply at Dandelion in Ballard. The guy who sold it to me knew exactly what I wanted it for and had made tonic water himself, so we had a nice chat about it. Really good guy. Also picked up the citric acid and allspice there. Got enough of everything for four batches for about $12.

Currently waiting for it to cool down and trying to strain. I think that’s going to be the hard part.

Thanks,
Matt

I made a gin & tonic with your recipe plus 1 packet Sun Crystals. It was perfect, with a clear salmony-orangey hue. Just tried a vodka tonic with Rain organic vodka (a great smooth vodka)–also perfect. Thanks for a great recipe. :)

Recipe:
4 c. water
1/3 c. dried lemongrass
1/4 c. cinchona bark
zest & juice of 1 orange
zest & juice of 1 lemon
zest & juice of 1 lime
5 allspice berries
1/4 c. citric acid
1/4 t. kosher salt

Combine and boil slowly 20 min. Strain through a sieve and a French Press. To 1 cup of cooled mix add 3/4 c. water and 9 Tablespoons of Xylitol. Stir to dissolve. Mix as recipe advises:
3/4 oz. of mix
1 1/2 oz. gin
2 oz. canned seltzer water

It’s good-oh yeah!!

I went ahead and made a batch, using 1/3 cup of dried lemongrass and no allspice. Unbelievable. It was like I had never had a gin and tonic before. Jeffrey, thanks so much for posting this; you’ve improved my life.

@Cisco: I think the reason nobody’s using quinine sulfate is because it’s regulated as a drug and it’s frighteningly expensive. The site you mentioned wants $160…although it doesn’t say how much you get for that price. If there was a cheap source for the stuff I might give it a go. But really, I kind of like using the bark. It’s like a “proto-tonic” or something; the Raj already had isolated quinine sulfate when they invented the G&T, so we’re going back to construct one like it “would have been” hundreds of years before it was invented. Wrap your brain around that! Oh, and also I think the look is super cool as well…definitely drives home the uniqueness of what we’re doing.