Pack up your Aperol Spritz & try my favorite Spanish cocktail.
Summer is officially here. It’s rained for a month straight here in Austin – so unlike Texas, and TBH it is putting a bit of a damper in my summer plans of sitting poolside.
Summer 2020 was going to be the year I took Mike to Spain and relived my student-abroad-wannabe-expat life. Obviously, COVID-19 had other plans, but I am so thankful to be starting summer 2021 with the world starting to open back up again. While we will have to wait on the trip, we won’t wait on tinto de verano – THE DRINK of summer. I hate blogs that make you read the entire thing before giving you a recipe, so here ya go. Keep scrolling if you’re into the backstory.
TINTO DE VERANO
- 1 bottle (750 ml) of Sangria
- 750 ml of limón Fanta (HAS TO BE LIMÓN FANTA)
- 1 orange sliced
- 1 lemon sliced
- Lots of Ice cubes
The best, freshest way to do this (the way all the bars do it in Spain) is to mix a pitcher of Sangria with your citrus slices, fill a large glass with big ice cubes, fill halfway with Sangria, then top with limón Fanta. You could make a larger pitcher by mixing the Fanta and Sangria together, but I swear it’s fresher and fancier to do it in each glass.
A note on Limón Fanta…
Tinto de verano is THE REAL DEAL tinto de verano only with Limón Fanta. Limón Fanta is not sold in the United States. That’s a problem. Your options therefore are:
- Buy it from Amazon. Please, please do this at least the first time to try it “the real way”
- Sub lemon Fanta. This way is much sweeter in my opinion, I don’t like it as much.
- Sub limoncello or key lime La Croix. I like this alternative version best – it’s less sweet, lower calories (if you’re into that) but has that similar zesty citrus flavor as the limón Fanta.
Once, I was feeling spicy and tried to make my own tinto de verano recipe by subbing sparkling wine (cava to keep it Spanish). I thought I was a genius. I was not. I thought it would be the brainchild of an aperol spritz/tinto de verano/sparkling rosé. It was none of those things. 0/10 do not recommend, please save yourself and do not attempt.
Just buy the limón Fanta.