8 Ways to Perk up Your Ice Cubes
Updated: Apr. 26, 2023
Use our ice cube ideas to add a spark to your favorite drink with fresh herbs, fruits and vegetables or flowers.
Have Fun with Fruit
Fresh fruit makes for bold ice cubes to add to fruit punch, lemonade, iced tea or cocktails, and will make the ordinary look extraordinary! We think berries of all sorts are your best bet—use what’s in season.
Psst…fruity ice cubes would be the perfect addition to any of our best lemonade recipes for summertime.
Make It Blush
Add a touch of pink to your next brunch or “It’s a Girl” baby shower menu. Juice cubes will have your drinks blushing! Frozen cherry juice cubes make for a perfect addition to this Fresh-Squeezed Pink Lemonade. Juicy cubes would also make for a great addition to this round-up of party-ready mocktails.
Keep the Kick in Your Coffee
It’s a travesty to sip on a watered down iced latte. Keep those flavors bold by freezing coffee instead of water. Have extra coffee on hand? Freeze it and simply add to milk for a simple iced latte. You could also switch things up a bit by freezing milk, and adding milk cubes to this Iced Coffee recipe.
Brighten with Botanicals
A floral touch brightens any drink! We love the calendula and bergamot cubes from Juliet Blankespoor at Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine, which are paired with healing herbal teas. Use fresh rose petals, lavender, chamomile or elderflower to create a clever cocktail or soothing iced tea.
Hit the High Notes with Herbs
Fresh herbs make a drink sing! Judy Barbe, a registered dietitian, headed out to her garden for some quick inspiration. Sip a savory rosemary lemonade with adorable rosemary ice cubes or try a grilled lemon and thyme lemonade with lemon-thyme ice cubes.
Infuse Ice with Vitamins
Make your own vitamin infused waters. NYC-based dietitian Natalie Rizzo uses these watermelon lime ice cubes to beat the heat of summer. Things like cucumbers, mango, pineapple and melons add bright notes and water-soluble vitamins to your otherwise boring bottle of water.
Spruce Up Your Cocktails
We love Half Baked Harvest’s sweet addition to tequila. Blogger Tieghan Gerard freezes strawberries and limes in tequila and lime juice, to make some “extremely fun” ice cubes! You could take any of these classic cocktails up a notch with colorful ice cubes, too. Make this martini recipe a bit more dirty with olive juice and olive cubes, or blend fresh mint and freeze for this refreshing mojito recipe.
Test Kitchen tip: Mini silicone muffin pans are perfect for freezing custom cubes!
Boost Your Immune System
Aromatics have been touted as healing additions to soups and teas. Keep immune-boosting frozen cubes on hand for someone needing a healing boost. Simply freeze sliced ginger, grated turmeric, smashed garlic or rosemary sprigs.
Originally Published: July 19, 2018
