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Drink

Citrus Energy Drink

A citrus-based energy drink made with lemon, lime, orange, sugar, optional caffeine, and carbonated water.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and lime match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,289 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Citrus Energy Drink

Serves 4
Time24 hours

Ingredients

Directions

Make the syrup

  1. Combine the citrus zests and sugar, rubbing the sugar into the peels to extract the oils.

  2. Let this mixture rest in the fridge for 24 hours to infuse.

  3. Combine the sugar-zest mixture with the citrus juices and caffeine. Stir well to dissolve the sugar and get a syrup.

  4. Strain the syrup. This should yield approximately 5 oz (150 ml) syrup.

Serve

  1. To make the finished beverage, mix 1 volume of syrup with 5 volumes of carbonated water.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

134Calories
2 gProtein
0 gFat
35 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Orange1 medium (131g)62
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Limejuice of 1 lime (44ml)11
Waternot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Lemon + limetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,289 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Lemon + orangetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Lime + orangetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together937 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together53,532 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Orange + sugartop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together19,212 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

White sugar
Draws oils from the zest and dissolves into a syrup that sweetens the drink.
Lemon
Adds sharp acidity and bright citrus aroma from its juice and zest oils.
Lime
Adds tart acidity and aromatic citrus oils from its juice and zest.
Orange
Adds sweeter citrus flavour and aroma from its juice and zest oils.

The step that matters

Rubbing the sugar into the zest. Rubbing breaks the peel's oil sacs so the sugar absorbs citrus oils. Skipping this or rushing the 24-hour rest leaves a weak, flat aroma, because the oils are the main source of flavour.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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