The perfect formula for Pimm's (don't even think about eating the garnishes…)

Telegraph

14-06-2025

We're heading towards peak Pimm's season. Whether you're throwing a garden party, celebrating the end of exams or watching the Wimbledon Championships (where 317,000 cups of Pimm's were served in 2024), now is the time to perfect your summer-cup pour.
A summer cup is a sweet alcoholic drink based on gin or vodka, with extracts of rich botanicals (fruit, spices, herbs) added. It's meant to be the base of a long drink (essentially a punch), usually topped with lemonade, ice and garnishes – which these days everyone associates with Pimm's.
The original Pimm's No 1 was actually concocted in the 1820s by James Pimm as a match for oysters in his City of London bar. Its recipe is, no surprise, a 'closely guarded secret' but I can tell you that No 1 is produced with gin and additional fruits and spices. And quite a lot of sugar, to judge by its intense sweetness, although that is somewhat balanced by the lightly bitter botanicals.
Get the serve right and you'll ace a spritz-y, aromatic, quintessentially British summer drink to toast the season; drop the ball and you end up with a flat or over-confected glassful. Here's all you need to know…
The base
Pimm's might be the market leader but it's not the only option. Aldi 's Austin's Summer Punch (25%, £8.49 for 70cl) is a very good-value bottle which tastes remarkably similar to Pimm's when made up in a classic recipe, if slightly less rich and a bit sweeter.
Reverend Hubert's Summer Cup (20.1%, £30 for 50cl, Adnams), produced in the Cotswolds, has a more herbal intensity and is delicious with ginger ale or Fever-Tree Rhubarb & Raspberry Tonic (the bottle is beautiful, too, so it makes a lovely gift).
Then there's London-based Sacred's Rosehip Cup (18%, £26.50 for 70cl, Master of Malt), which has natural, juicy-fruity flavours and works well topped up with a mix of sparkling wine and soda water.
The recipe on a Pimm's label calls for 50ml Pimm's to 150ml lemonade (simply scale up for a crowd). That works well, achieving a nice balance. But the key to excellence lies in the details…
The mixer
Choose your lemonade carefully. Many cheap versions, and especially the 'diet' ones, contain sweetener and that tinge to the flavour is unappealing in the finished drink. Buy a lemonade without sweetener in its listed ingredients. Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Sparkling Sicilian Lemonade (£3 for 750ml), for example, delivers a much more natural taste, though it's relatively pricey.
However, it doesn't have to be lemonade. Ginger ale is a really good mixer for Pimm's, adding a light pepperiness and slightly less sweet finish. Try Fever-Tree Premium Ginger Ale (widely available, £2.15 for a 500ml bottle).
One thing is certain: always chill your mixer well. You don't need to chill the Pimm's as a cool mixer and ice is enough.
How to make it
Go for a glass jug if making up pitchers of Pimm's – a wider-mouthed punch bowl may look good for the 'gram but the fizz of the mixer will dissipate more quickly.
The question of which liquid goes in the glass first is contentious; spirits expert Pritesh Mody swears by lemonade first, but I prefer to pour in the Pimm's then top it up with the mixer (using a ratio of 1:3) just before serving (this is critical), so the sparkle is kept as frothy as possible.
Give the mix a very quick but gentle stir (with a cocktail stirrer/swizzle stick or spoon) – it needs this to get the heavier spirit-based drink distributed in the mixer.
The garnishes
In a recent Aldi survey of 2,000 adults on summer cups, a worrying number admitted to adding rogue garnishes such as marshmallows, olives, jelly babies and – yuk – bacon. Just no, to every one of these.
A lesser crime but still all wrong is using tinned fruit like peaches, pineapples and cherries – their soft stickiness really doesn't belong in this drink.
Raspberries might look the part but they're not juicy enough so deliver barely any flavour, no matter how long they are immersed.
For the perfect embellishment, I have to recommend the traditional: stick to super-fresh British strawberry slices and orange half-wheels with the peel left on, all cut a couple of millimetres thick. Keep the fruit at room temperature for extra juiciness, and always hull the berries first; their soggy leaves do not appeal. For cooling qualities add crisp, unpeeled cucumber half-moons, again no more than half a centimetre thick. Long slim strips, while sometimes attractive, just do not feel English enough.
In addition to mint sprigs in the jug, pop a couple of small garden mint leaves, twisted to release their fragrance, into each finished glass. Lemon verbena is acceptable (a bruised leaf or two) if you don't like mint.
If you're adding your garnishes to a jug, you'll need to employ a small ladle to distribute them when dispensing the drink – or you can place garnishes directly in each glass. No need to stir but do immerse greenery with a spoon if necessary.
Don't even think about eating the garnishes after you've finished the drink (well, not in public, anyway…).
To serve
Choose from a highball tumbler, a chunky short tumbler or a large wine glass – it makes little difference.
Use two or three ice cubes per serve – larger ones are better as they don't melt as quickly as smaller ones – and do add these directly to the glass rather than to the jug. Ice in the batch drink will dilute the mixture from the top downwards, upsetting the concentration of the spirit from glass to glass – not to mention causing a right splash when you pour!
Make your summer cup as close as possible to serving it as it will grow flat and tired quickly. Refreshing the dregs of the jug with more spirit and mixer is best avoided, or else it'll be too dilute. Instead, remake your punch from scratch, redoing it in small batches, for the perfect summer pour.