Pineapple Mint Mocktail

Peel a ripe pineapple, remove the tough core, and cut the flesh into small chunks. You need about 400 g of flesh for this pineapple mint mocktail. Set aside some chunks for garnishing the glasses, and place the rest into a blender.

Wash the limes thoroughly with hot water. Slice one lime into thin rounds for garnish, and squeeze the juice from the remaining lime and half of the sliced one using a citrus juicer.

Rinse the mint under cold water, strip the leaves from the stems, and set a few larger leaves aside for the final garnish.

Add the pineapple chunks, fresh lime juice, mint leaves, and cane sugar to the blender. Blend on high speed for about 30 seconds until you get a smooth, light yellow liquid with no large pieces of flesh.

Taste and adjust the sweetness with more cane sugar if needed, or add a splash of lime juice if you prefer a tangier flavour. Keep an eye on the mint: it should not overpower the pineapple.

Fill four tall glasses generously with ice cubes, ideally up to two thirds of the glass, so the drink stays cold for a long time and does not dilute too quickly.

Evenly distribute the pineapple mixture over the ice into all the glasses, filling them to about two thirds (roughly 120 ml of the drink per glass), then top up with about 60 ml of chilled sparkling water per glass for a gentle fizz.

Garnish each glass with a lime slice on the rim, a pineapple chunk on a cocktail pick or perched on the edge, and a sprig of fresh mint on top. Serve immediately with a straw.