What Is Infused Water? Here Are Our Six Favorite Recipes
What is infused water? It’s quite simple: it refers to water that has been combined with your choice of herbs, fruits, vegetables, and other nutrient-rich additions to enhance both the flavor profile and health benefits of your beverage. There are limitless possibilities that allow you to customize your infusion to best match your preference and nutritional needs.
Drinking water is a true foundation of health – we need it for proper organ function, temperature regulation, detoxification and much more. Preparing infused water is an excellent way to introduce a greater abundance of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients into your diet, and we’re going to offer some of our favorite recipes in this article.
For some, drinking plain water is a challenge due to the neutral taste, while others simply struggle to get in enough water due to their hectic schedule. Whatever the reason, drinking infused water can overhaul your water consumption habits in a big way. Plus, you won’t be resorting to synthetic sweeteners and syrups to make the most of your water—just the best of what nature has to offer.
First and Foremost: Water Quality
Before getting to our favorite infused water recipes, let’s touch on the best type of water to drink and infuse. Water safety is of varying concern depending on your geographic location, so it’s important to source water that is mineral-rich and free of dangerous contaminants. You can check your local tap water quality using EWG’s Tap Water Database.
Typically, spring water is an excellent source of water since it is mineral rich. Along with using mineral-rich water for all of your infusions, it’s equally important to ensure that the `sel in which you use to drink your water is both inert and sanitary, which is why borosilicate glass bottles make an optimal choice. Borosilicate is thermal shock resistant (meaning it is resistant to extreme temperature changes), and highly resistant to chemicals. Borosilicate glass is so resistant to chemicals, that it is even used to store nuclear waste. The boron in the glass makes it less soluble, preventing any unwanted materials from leaching into the glass, and outside of the vessel. In terms of consuming beverages from glass, borosilicate is far superior to regular glass or soda lime glass.
Without further ado, here are our favorite infused water recipes that are quick, easy, and nourishing. All of these recipes are nutrient-rich and support a healthy inflammatory response, a sense of calm, proper digestive function, and provide an influx of nutrients that your body is craving if you exist on a Western diet. Not to mention, they are delicious.
All recipes make approximately one, sixteen-ounce serving. However, you can easily adjust the recipes to fit our borosilicate glass bottles. It’s easiest to prepare with our 32 oz. glass water bottles: just double the recipe!
Our Six Favorite Infused Water Recipes:
1. Lemon Water Detox Tonic
Ingredients:
- 1 lemon, thinly sliced
- 1 inch of ginger, washed, peeled and thinly sliced
Instructions:
Add your lemon and ginger to a glass or borosilicate glass water bottle, and let sit for at least five minutes. Alternatively, add the ginger to your water and let sit in the refrigerator overnight, adding the lemon just before you enjoy this infused water tonic.
Benefits:
Lemon juice is a powerful digestive aid, and is often used to increase the stomach’s natural production of hydrochloric acid (HCL), which is essential for digestion (protein digestion, in particular). This citrus fruit also works to support the liver’s natural detoxification pathways by protecting liver function and preventing oxidative damage (1). Lemon is packed with vitamin C, a potent antioxidant for detoxification, immune health, and healthy skin.
Ginger is an age-old digestive support, anti-inflammatory agent and highly effective immune booster. Detoxification is a complex process that depends - in part - on normal inflammatory responses and pathways in the body. Pairing ginger and lemon in your infused water makes for a powerful detox tonic.
2. Cucumber Refresh
Ingredients:
- ¼ cucumber, thinly sliced
- Small handful of chopped mint leaves
- 1 lemon, thinly sliced (optional)
- 1 small sprig of lavender
Instructions:
Add cucumber, mint, lemon and lavender to your water, and refrigerate for at least one hour.
Benefits:
Not only is cucumber refreshing on a warm afternoon, it’s also rich in vitamins C and K, potassium, and magnesium. Cucumber itself is made up of about 96% water, so it goes a long way in promoting hydration. Mint is excellent for digestive health, and might even play a positive role in mood and cognitive function. The lavender will help reduce abdominal swelling and intestinal gas. If you’d like, you can sweeten this recipe with a touch of unrefined and raw honey (3).
3. Apple Berry Cinnamon Delight
Ingredients:
- ½ apple, thinly sliced
- 4-5 strawberries, halved
Instructions:
Combine fruit and water, and enjoy immediately! You can refrigerate this infused water overnight, but longer than that and the strawberries will begin to break down, adding an undesirable flavor.
Benefits:
Apples really do live up to all the hype, as they are a wonderful source of vitamin C and a very beneficial form of fiber, called pectin. Apples are thought to support healthy cardiovascular function and a balanced gut microbiome. Some research even suggests they play a role in weight management due to their impact on satiety, largely thanks to their pectin content (3) (4). Strawberries are a low-sugar, nutrient-dense berry that are an immune-boosting powerhouse. These bright red berries are particularly rich in the antioxidants pelargonidin, ellagic acid, ellagitannins, and procyanidins, all of which offer unique health benefits.
4. Digestive Toner
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons of fenugreek seeds
- 1 tablespoon of honey (adjust to taste)
- 1 lemon, thinly sliced
Instructions:
In a small pot, add your seeds and water and cover, allowing them to soak overnight. In the morning, bring the water to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for about ten minutes. Let the water cool, add honey and lemon, and enjoy.
Benefits:
Inspired from ancient Ayurvedic medicine tradition, fenugreek has been used in Indian cooking and beverages throughout history. The seeds are commonly served after meals as a digestive aid, and adding them to water has similar benefits and a gentler taste. In Ayurvedic medicine, fenugreek-infused water is called methi water.
While more research is needed, methi water has been used anecdotally for centuries to support digestion, weight loss, liver and kidney health, and overall metabolic function. Meta analysis has also revealed that consumption of fenugreek significantly increased milk production in lactating mothers (5).
5. Stress Reliever
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup tulsi (holy basil) leaves, chopped
- 1 inch ginger, washed, peeled and finely sliced
- 2 cups hot water
Instructions:
Bring the water to a boil, then pour over your tulsi leaves and ginger. Cover and allow to sit for 10-20 minutes, then enjoy.
Benefits:
Tulsi (also referred to as Holy Basil) is a plant native to Southeast Asia, and is considered an adaptogenic herb. Adaptogens help to regulate the body’s stress response and balance hormones. More specifically, adaptogenic herbs work to balance the hypothalamic-pituitary-endocrine axis (HPA axis), which can be considered the link between your hormonal system and brain. The delicate HPA axis plays a major role in mood, energy, metabolism, libido, and much more.
While each adaptogenic plant has slightly different health benefits, tulsi is especially recognized for its role in cognitive health, digestive wellness, and decreasing feelings of anxiousness (6).
6. Grapefruit-Rosemary Boost
Ingredients:
- ¼-½ thinly sliced grapefruit
- 2 rosemary springs
- Optional: unflavored sparkling water instead of plain water
Instructions:
This infused water is best enjoyed immediately. Add your grapefruit and rosemary to either plain or sparkling water, and serve.
Benefits:
The grapefruit-rosemary boost makes a perfect support for decreasing symptoms of the common cold, due to its massive vitamin C content and both antiviral and antimicrobial properties.
Grapefruit is well-known for its’ ability to regulate insulin, which is essential for healthy blood sugar levels and appetite control (7). Rosemary is a super-herb, known to boost brain health and memory, and to lower a fever during the beginning stages of a cold or flu (8).
Final Thoughts
Drinking infused water can transform your hydration habits, helping you explore new flavors while simultaneously enjoying a slew of health benefits. Whenever possible, source mineral-rich water and choose a durable and non-toxic glass bottle that won’t leach contaminants. Experiment with recipes that appeal to you and your family, and don’t hesitate to get creative – it's hard to go wrong!