The formula of the perfect summer drink: &T + Tubi 60 = Tubi Tonic. Terraces are opening, sunshades out, and ice cubes are clinking in cocktail glasses. It is undoubtedly summertime, which means it is time for refreshing summer drinks.
Luckily, &T already has the scoop on the drink of the summer: Tubi Tonic!
Tubi here, Tubi there, Tubi everywhere! Even if you go out, or even if you don’t, even if you drink, or even if you just listen to your friend’s stories, we can bet that you have already heard about the ‘tubi-craze’ that spread to almost every bar in the last few years.
What is Tubi?
Let’s take a short historic trip to Israel to find out where Tubi 60 originated. The alcoholic drink that turned the world upside-down and what inspired our tubi tonic cocktail. Tubi 60 is a unique herbal spirit made from all-natural and high-quality ingredients, creating a whole new category of alcoholic drinks for itself. In 2012, two brothers, Hilal and Yanai Tubi developed the recipe in Haifa, Israel, where they opened their first distillery a year later. Using local botanicals, citruses, spices and flowers, they created a herbal drink, which its founders simply call liquid euphoria, a drink that will make you happy (the 40% alcohol content might also have to do something with it though :P).
Tubi became an essential element of the parties and the synonym for joy and positive energies. Since 2017 it has been available on the international market as well – including Hungary – and taking the hearts of happiness-thirsty people one by one ever since. The drink humbly positioned as an ‘elixir’ looks like a foggy, yellow simple liquor at first, but don’t be fooled by its looks, Tubi is something out-of-this-world that picked the best of nature’s gifts and bottled up pure joy. This description is from the creators of Tubi, which might sound a little bit braggy and over the top, but these guys are undoubtedly enthusiastic about what they do and are experts in two things: making alcohol and marketing.
Tubi facts: 40% alcohol content, gluten-free, vegan, kosher, kept ice cold, served chilled and well-shaken.
How and with what should we drink Tubi?
Among the ingredients of Tubi, we can find citrus and ginger, which give the drink a clean and tart taste. It’s preferred to drink on its own but strongly advised to be poured over ice or served ice cold. In Hungary, we mostly know its ‘happiness effect’ as a shot as well, but it’s worth knowing that Tubi – just like vodka – is a real swiss army knife in the world of alcohol: it can be mixed with basically anything. The founder brothers also claim that it minimises hangovers (but we are still waiting for some data to prove that). In case you only heard about Tubi with soda in the bars, it is time for you to open your eyes (and mouth) to all the tubi-cocktail possibilities. However, we are &T Tonics, after all, so we can’t deny that we are mainly crazy about tubi tonic!
We can differentiate two types of Tubi cocktails: one is when the Tubi is the only alcoholic component of the drink, and the other is when we introduce a different kind of alcohol to the mix. Naturally, the creators of the drink advise against mixing it with other alcohols and enhancing the flavours of Tubi with non-alcoholic mixers. And with that, we arrived at the reason for our post, which we not-so-humbly announced as the drink of the summer: the tubi tonic!
Without further ado, let’s see why these two drinks go so well together and what kind of cocktails we can create by combining Tubi and tonic!
ⒸTubi60
1. Tubi &T Tonic
Tubi tonic is the most common Tubi cocktail, and not by mistake. The pleasantly bitter taste of quinine and the refreshing bubbles perfectly complement Tubi’s sour and citrus flavours. Together they create a refreshing and tasty unity like they were made for each other.
First, chill down your long drink glass with ice, pour 60ml Tubi 60 over and top that with a truly cooling &T cucumber tonic. Add some slices of lemon and cucumber for not just the taste but for the visual effect, and the summer heat is already more bearable, isn’t it? To reach the maximum ‘refreshing effect’, you can try the tubi tonic with &T yuzu tonic water because there is only one thing more refreshing than citrus flavours: even more citrus flavours!
Tubi &T Tonic Cocktail Ingredients:
- 60ml Tubi 60
- Fill up the glass with &T Cucumber Tonic Water or &T Yuzu Tonic Water
- Lemon slices
- Cucumber slices
ⒸGrumpyBudapest
2. Red Tubi &T Tonic
As mentioned above, tubi tonic is the ‘it’ drink of the summer, but we didn’t say that we can’t make IT even better. Introducing the red tubi tonic, where the ‘red’ comes from cranberry juice, giving a little extra sweet and fruity flavour, but preserving all the light and refreshing experience at the same time. Making it pretty easy and similar to tubi tonic: take one glass with lots of ice, pour one shot of Tubi and the same amount of cranberry juice and fill it up with &T’s jolly joker Indian tonic water. If you want to enjoy the bitter and sweet red tubi tonic with a little bit less sugar, then choose our &T Light Indian tonic water instead.
Red Tubi &T Tonic Cocktail Ingredients:
- 60ml Tubi 60
- 60ml cranberry juice
- Fill up the glass with &T Indian Tonic Water or &T Light Indian Tonic Water
- Lemon slices
ⒸTimeOut
3. Tropical Tubi &T Tonic
Moving forward from simple to a little more complicated cocktail recipes, Tubi and tonic remain the stars of the show. It is time for you to flex those bartender skills you learned from previous posts and practice them on the cocktail we simply named tropical tubi tonic. So – and you know this step by heart – fill up your highball glass with ice, so it is chilled down properly, then bring in your cocktail shaker, which should also be cooled down.Mix 60ml of Tubi 60, 60ml pineapple juice, 20ml lemon juice – we are already drooling by all this freshness, but it’s not over yet – and 10ml ginger syrup together. Shake it well and pour it on the ice. And now, the best part – as always – fill up the glass with &T tonic! For this cocktail to keep the truly exotic and tropical mood, we suggest mixing it with our grapefruit tonic water. Although you cannot go wrong with any of the &T flavours, to be honest! 🙂
Since we are making a beach cocktail, we can’t miss the proper decoration either: slice up some cucumbers and add some mint and basil leaves. We are only missing a little umbrella and the beach, but if you close your eyes while sipping it, you will feel the ocean breeze.
Tropical Tubi &T Tonic Cocktail Ingredients:
- 60ml Tubi 60
- 60ml cranberry juice
- Fill up the glass with &T Grapefruit Tonic Water
- Lemon slices
Decoration:
- Cucumber
- Mint
- Basil leaves
Even the air conditioning can’t compete with all the citrus freshness pouring out of this post. So the only thing left to do is go shopping for the ingredients and mix a tubi tonic cocktail to fight the heat, whether it catches you in a bar, on the beach or at home on the terrace.
Don’t forget to send us pictures and feedback about the cocktails above, and please tell us if the hangover was milder with the bottled happiness or not! We are conducting important research here.
Cover photo and Grumpy Budapest photos made by: Kocsis Judit
Set designer: Perger Zsófi
Location and bartender: Grumpy Budapest, Ispán Szilvia
