6 Refreshing Summer Drinks to Cool You Down When It’s Sweltering Outside

This article is sponsored by The Coffee Club.

With the heatwave of summer finally hitting us midway through the season, it’s high time we switch it up and welcome the scorching season in its full glory! That means gluing those sunglasses to your face, breaking out the thongs and trading in the jeans for some (mostly) sweat-free shorts.

But it’s not just our wardrobes that shift as the weather warms up, it’s also what we eat and drink. Not only do we crave colder meals and drinks to help us stay hydrated and cool off, but the summer yields more citrusy harvests, making things like lemons, berries and melons in great supply.

As we look for refreshing cool sips for an afternoon pick me up, here are a few great cold bevs that’ll help get you through the season.

Piña Colada Frappé

The frappé has always been an iconic summer drink as nothing beats feeling pretty while sipping from a straw. Whether it’s a sweet creamy chocolate drink, or a yummy shake-up to get that caffeine hit, the frappé is the perfect summer drink for when you want to treat yourself.

If you’re looking for a smooth creamy drink with a tropical twist, The Coffee Club has a new non-alcoholic Piña Colada Frappé available just this summer.

This drink comes with that sweet pineapple citrusy goodness, thick coconut cream and my favourite summer ingredient – ice to make up a deliciously smooth drink to cool down with. It also comes topped with perfectly toasted coconut chips to add some nice texture to the drink.

A perfect frappé for those that like Piña Coladas, and getting caught in the rain, which honestly after this summer, sounds greatly needed.

Oat Milk Iced Latte

It’s not just goth girls on TikTok drinking oat milk, it’s here to stay. The oat milk revolution has been a recent phenomenon in the past two years, and it’s easy to understand why. Oat milk adds so much to coffee, giving it a thicker consistency and a creamier taste.

I personally love the taste of oat milk over full cream or soy as well and have been substituting it into my lattes for a while now. If you’re looking to dive into alternative milk culture, oat milk is a great place to start!

Watermelon Lemonade

Watermelon + sugar = ah.

We can all agree lemonade is a great drink on a piping hot day, especially after doing some gardening or to sip on while basking in the sun outside. But there are so many great ways to add a little more to your lemonade and imbue it with great flavour.

A personal favourite of mine is a nice watermelon lemonade because for one, it tastes so good but also it also looks super aesthetic.

There are so many awesome and different ways to make your own watermelon lemonade at home as well. A great recipe I enjoy is this one with blended watermelon, lemon juice, sugar and water to make a nice refreshing watermelon drink. If you really want to go full uni living though, it is totally valid to just blend seedless watermelon with lemonade and call it a day.

Raspberry Kombucha

Kombucha is a great healthy drink for the summer. This fermented drink made from sweetened tea — usually black tea, has been a great alternative to sodas if you’re craving a carbonated drink with a bit of flavour to it. You can easily pick it up at the store, however, if you were like many who picked up a COVID hobby and still have a bunch of SCOBY lying around, now’s as good a time as any to start using it to brew your own!

If you’re keen on brewing your own kombucha, raspberries are blooming in Australia right now. Making your own raspberry kombucha to share with friends is easier than ever thanks to the endless teaching resources out there! I found this recipe to work wonders, as the raspberry flavour really cuts through the bitterness of the kombucha, adding a nice fruity zest to the drink.

Iced Tea

Iced tea is one of the oldest summer drinks and for good reason! Iced tea emerged in the 1860s in the south of America, and quickly spread all across the decade within diners and bars not only because of how easy it was to make, but also because it’s really good.

Much like kombucha, you can find these easily in stores, however iced tea tastes best when it’s homemade, either at a cafe or at home.

There are so many possibilities you can try to make iced tea your own, especially if you’re looking for a convenient excuse to use up some leftover fruits or herbs. Whether you prefer sweetened, unsweetened, different combinations of fruits or even tea mixes, you can really let your imagination run wild.

A fresh honey lemon iced tea from a cafe will forever remain my personal favourite after a long walk on a nice hot summer day, but I’d be remiss to not mention peach green tea also.

Water

Water is, and forever will be, the most important drink throughout summer and thankfully an icy cold glass of water is the perfect remedy to any issue. Unfortunately, a surprising amount of people will go through summer feeling dehydrated and not realise it until symptoms like light-headedness and extreme thirst.

If you’re struggling to reach that eight cups of water in a day because you need a drink with a bit more punch to it, adding different herbs or citruses into your water bottles such as lemon and lime slices, mint or cucumber can help add extra electrolytes and other health benefits.

If you’re a freak like me and enjoy the taste of TV static, sparkling water is also a great option that can also help with filling your appetite if you wanna cut down on snacking as well.