This flavour essence gives you a really complex and sophisticated orange drink - think along the lines of San Pellegrino Aranciata and you're getting there.

You'll have to remove the terpenes from the oils - magnesium carbonate mixed with the essential oils does the trick nicely. Terpenes carry most of the flavour, but crash out and float to the top when mixed with water, which ruins the syrup and drink. Removing the terpenes takes some of the "fresh-cut peel" punch out of the essence, but it is needed due to their inherent insolubility.

Neroli oil is very expensive, so you can omit it and up the petitgrain to 3 drops instead.

Ingredients

• Sweet orange essential oil: 3.5ml
• Mandarin red essential oil: 1.0ml
• Bitter orange essential oil: 0.6ml
• Clementine essential oil: 0.5ml
• Tangerine essential oil: 0.5ml
• Bergamot essential oil: 0.2ml (~4 drops)
• Neroli essential oil: 0.10ml (~2 drops)
• Petitgrain essential oil: 0.10ml (~2 drops)
• 95% ethyl alcohol: 80ml
• Magnesium carbonate (food grade): 12.5g
• Filtered water: ~110ml

Method

• In a glass beaker or mortar, add the magnesium carbonate
• Add the oils to the alcohol, one by one, largest volume first and mix
• Slowly pour the oil/alcohol solution into the magnesium carbonate and mix thoroughly into a smooth paste. take your time and don't rush this step. Make sure the powder is thoroughly combined with the mix.
• Measure ~110ml distilled water into a clean bottle or jar. Scrape the paste in all at once and shake/stir violently. If you have a magnetic stir plate, use it on full speed for several minutes.
• Leave to macerate for 1 week, shaking or stirring once a day.
• Filter through coffee paper. The magnesium carbonate builds up on the paper and helps to filter itself. I like to do it at least twice through the same paper to make sure all the really fine particles have been filtered out. Top up with filtered water to 200ml.
• Bottle in an amber glass bottle and store in a cool, dark place.

Syrup

• Dissolve 800g sugar in 500ml hot water and add 6-7g citric acid. Allow to cool.
• Add orange food colouring (optional).
• Mix 20-30ml of the flavour essence (to taste) into the syrup and allow to age for 2 days before use.
• Dilute 1:5-1:7 with sparkling water.

Coming back to this one almost a year later - it's in the same family as Irn bru, Karribean Kola and other champagne colas in having a bubblegum base with a fruity top note - wanting to see if I can improve on the previous attempt.

Ingredients

• Lemon verbena drops: 24ml
• Bubblegum concentrate: 12ml 
• 95% ethyl alcohol: 15ml
• Ethyl vanillin: 0.6 g
• Propylene glycol: top up to 100 ml (~49 ml)

Method

• Weigh the ethyl vanillin into the 15 ml of ethyl alcohol and stir until fully dissolved (it won't dissolve in water, so do this first).
• Add the verbena and bubblegum, then top up to 100 ml with propylene glycol.
• Shake well to mix

Syrup

Assumes the syrup is a 3:2 simple syrup to be diluted ~1:5-1:7 with sparkling water.

• Flavour extract — 18ml/L (starting dose)
• Citric acid — 5g/L
• Yellow colour — optional, for the look
• Caffeine — 0.5g/L ≈ cola strength ⚠️ milligram scale only, see below

Take three 100ml portions of syrup, dose at 1.8 / 2.1 / 2.4ml (= 18/21/24 per litre). Dilute each at your target ratio, taste side by side, scale up the winner. Same trick for citric acid.

Notes

>Caffeine safety: pure caffeine powder is genuinely dangerous - a rounded teaspoon (~3-5g) can be fatal and doses are easy to get wrong by eye. If you don't have a 0.001g scale, leave it out.

A refreshing and mildly floral, honey-like syrup, with a distinct hay/chamomile note - people often compare it to a light wildflower honey crossed with chamomile tea.

The lemon usually comes through as a bright citrus edge. It's sweeter and less complex than real honey since it lacks the enzymatic depth; the flavour mostly comes from the petals' pollen and the caramelisation during reduction.

On a bright summers' day, pick around 200 bright yellow dandelion heads - they should be fully open, have grown away from roadsides and sprayed lawns, as well as away from where dogs frequent..!

Ingredients

• 200 fresh dandelion heads
• Half a lemon cut into thin slices^(1)
• 500ml water (plus more later)
• 800g sugar
• 5g citric acid

Method

• Pick heads on a sunny morning when fully open.
• Pull the yellow petals off the green bases - the green parts make it bitter.
• Simmer petals with the water and lemon slices for ~10 minutes, then cover and steep overnight (or at least a few hours).
• Strain through a fine sieve or muslin, pressing the petals well to extract all the flavour.
• Add 500g of the sugar^(2) and simmer gently, uncovered, until it thickens to a honey-like consistency - typically 45–90 min. Test by cooling a drop on a cold plate; it thickens more as it cools. Don't over-reduce or it'll set hard! *
• Measure the syrup volume (usually reduces by 100-150ml whilst simmering) and top up to 500ml with fresh water.
• Gently heat and add the remaining sugar and citric acid. Stir until fully dissolved.
• Add 1ml of sodium benzoate or 10ml 95% ethyl alcohol as a preservative to extend shelf life (optional).
• If you add a preservative, allow the syrup to age for a week or so to really allow the flavours to develop.

Cordial

Dilute 1:5 - 1:7 with cold water - still or sparkling.

*If you stop at this point, you'll end up with dandelion "honey" which is delicious on its own as a honey substitute.

^(1)Substitute some of the lemon for orange zest for extra fruit flavours. Add a small handful of chamomile, elderflower, or linden blossom to the steeping stage they reinforce the honeyed character.

^(2)Substitute a quarter of the white sugar for light brown sugar for maillard/enzymatic depth.

Try looking for Spirytus Duch Puszczy.

This is Polish rectified spirit, mostly used for making fruit and herbal liqueurs and is an ideal dilution medium for essential oils. It is food-safe alcohol and can be ordered online from specialised spirit shops or found in Polish food and drink shops.

I've just found my local Polish deli sells it for £26 per 500ml. More expensive than the other stuff, but worth it for the hobbyist drinks maker.

In the US, you may be able to find Everclear 190 Proof.

Otherwise, contact a local homebrew hobby forum or shop and ask if anyone distills spirits and if you can purchase off them.

An essential-oil based concentrate. Makes ~100ml of essence - dose 25ml into 1 L of 2:1 sugar syrup, dilute 1:5 with sparkling water.

Aromatic phase (mix into alcohol first)

• 95% ethyl alcohol - 35ml
• Lemon essential oil (cold-pressed) - 3.5ml
• Bergamot essential oil - 0.8ml
• Lime essential oil - 0.2ml
• Rose essential oil (attar, Rosa damascena) - 3 drops ⚠️ do not exceed
• Citral - 6 drops
• PEA (phenylethyl alcohol) - 0.5ml
• Geranyl acetate - 4 drops
• Nerol - 3 drops
• Linalool - 3 drops
• Decanal (Aldehyde C10) - 2 drops
• Beta-ionone - 1 drop ⚠️ do not exceed
• Ethyl butyrate - 1 drop
• Vanillin - a few grains only

Carrier phase (add in order, swirling between each)

• Propylene glycol - 22ml
• Vegetable glycerine - 20ml
• Nielsen-Massey Rose Water - 3ml ← add this with the water, not the alcohol
• Distilled water - 5ml

Method

1. Dissolve the vanillin in the 35ml of alcohol.
2. Add lemon, bergamot and lime oils, swirling between each.
3. Add rose oil - 3 drops only. Set the bottle down and don't return to it.
4. Add citral and decanal by drop, swirling.
5. Add PEA (0.5ml - the dominant rose molecule, does the heavy lifting).
6. Add geranyl acetate, nerol, linalool, then beta-ionone (1 drop - 2 pulls it toward violet/iris) and ethyl butyrate.
7. Add propylene glycol, then glycerine - swirl thoroughly.
8. Mix the rose water and distilled water together, add in two pours. If it clouds, add 5ml more alcohol to clear.
9. Bottle in amber glass. Rest minimum 72 hours - 1 week is ideal.

Usage

Mix 25ml essence into 1 L of 2:1 sugar syrup + 6 g citric acid. Add red food colouring (optional).

Dilute 1:5 with chilled sparkling water. Needs decent carbonation (3+ vol CO₂) to carry the floral notes.

Troubleshooting

• Smells like perfume, not a drink → citrus is under-powered; lift lemon to 4ml and bergamot to 1ml
• Soapy → rose oil too high or PEA/oil ratio off; drop rose to 2 drops, lift PEA to 0.6ml
• Turkish Delight → beta-ionone overdose; omit it entirely on the next batch
• Flat/no lift → lime is missing or lemon oil is stale