Watermelon Mint Aperol Spritz

Ingredients

For the tea concentrate

• 3 cups cold sparkling water
• 4 sachets of Tea Forté Watermelon Mint Cold Brew Tea

• 3 cups fresh watermelon juice
• 750 ml Aperol
• 750 ml Prosecco
• ice
• garnish: seedless watermelon slice, pineapple leaves, orange slices

Directions

1. Make the tea concentrate: Measure cold sparkling water into a 1-quart liquid measuring cup. Add the tea sachets and cold steep for ten minutes. After steeping, remove the sachets and pour tea into a one-gallon pitcher
2. Make the Watermelon Juice: Buy either store-bought juice or make your own. To make your own, cut a watermelon in half and then each of those in half again to give you four wedges. Put one wedge aside for making garnishes. For the remaining 3 wedges, remove & discard the outer green and white skin. Roughly chop the watermelon flesh into one-inch cubes for roughly six cups of chopped watermelon. Place the chopped watermelon into a blender and blend on medium-high until smooth. The juice can be used as is or strained.
3. Combine the ingredients: Add watermelon juice and 750 ml bottle of Aperol to the pitcher of Watermelon Mint sparkling tea, and gently stir to combine.
4. Make the garnishes: Slice the orange into quarter-inch wheels. Take the remaining watermelon with the skin on and slice into small half-inch wedges to garnish the rim of the glass. Next, pull the top leaves off the pineapple, wash, and set aside.
5. Make the cocktails: Fill serving glasses with ice, and arrange orange wheels between the ice and sides of the glass. Pour 6 ounces, or roughly ¾ cup of the drink mixture into the prepared glasses. Top off each drink with 2 ounces, or roughly a ¼ cup, of Prosecco. Garnish each glass with two pineapple leaves and a watermelon wedge on the rim of the glass. Cheers!

Note: To make an individual serving, combine 2 oz of watermelon juice, 2 oz of Aperol and ice to a cocktail shaker and mix. Pour into a glass and top with 2 oz of sparkling Watermelon Mint tea concentrate and 2 oz of Prosecco. Garnish and enjoy!