Very late to the party. Quick search here showed a thread from 2019. I just had my first one a few weeks ago and thought it was a new thing. I had to try and make some at home. First experiment was with the soda Squirt. It's a grapefruit flavored soda. And it was all right. Didn't have the kick of bitter citrus that the cafe versions had. I went to my local market and found grapefruit flavored tonic water. Tried it, once again, it was all right. Not the same kick again. Then I bought plain old tonic water. That was the right combination which was surprising since I thought the grapefruit flavored version would have more of the flavors I was looking for. What's your go to tonic water?

I prefer Fever Tree, mostly for the small bottles. Their light tonic and elderflower tonic are my favorites. I also have used Jack Rudy tonic syrup before, which I love in particular because I can dial the amount of syrup to suit the beverage as a whole. However it's much easier to find Fever Tree so I tend to opt for that.

I'm going to look into the syrup. Being able to dial in the amount of syrup is an option I want to try. I've tried the Fever Tree and the Schweppes tonic waters and they taste the same to me.

Fever Tree light is my choice - about 4:1 or so.

Fever Tree and Q but there are other small batch tonics out there. They make a world of difference.

I like fever tree as well. They're also good with a hit of lime juice.

I have some bitters somewhere in the pantry from when I was making espresso old fashioneds. I'll have to try it with that to see. I'm looking for more of a bitter end though like I thought the grapefruit tonic would have. I have some gentian root bitters somewhere around here I'll have to try too.

If you haven't seen it, worth watching James Hoffman's take on espresso tonic:

mckolit wrote:I have some bitters somewhere in the pantry from when I was making espresso old fashioneds. I'll have to try it with that to see. I'm looking for more of a bitter end though like I thought the grapefruit tonic would have. I have some gentian root bitters somewhere around here I'll have to try too.

Perhaps grapefruit bitters will give you the result you were hoping for

Just watched the James Hoffman vid and first thing he says is don't use Schweppes! I'll have to get some grapefruit and try that.