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This summer drink—made with cooling rose petals, muscle relaxing mint, and aromatic toasted clove—is guaranteed to cool your head and balance your emotions in a sweet way.

With summer temperatures topping the charts in most places around mid-July, most of us are on the hunt for hydration that satisfies and cools. 

This summer drink, made with rose, mint, and clove, is loaded with health benefits to deliver your sought-after relief.  

This recipe is adapted from a recent Shanka Vansiya Ayurveda (SVA) newsletter. SVA is a particular Ayurveda lineage with expertise in vibrational energy, and so much more!

Their official name was “A Recipe for Bliss.” I love this name, but I figured more descriptive words would be helpful (haha).

That’s how I arrived at rose, mint and clove summer drink.

I also made some meaningful adjustments to make this recipe easier to actually make. That’s important!

I believe this Ayurvedic summer drink recipe will surprise and delight you. Read on to understand why you need to make this, and exactly how to make it!

Rose health benefits

Let’s start with rose. Do you know how rose petals taste, and their health benefits when consumed?

Rose is sweet and oily in nature, and so it satisfies the nervous system, which gets easily frazzled and dried out in the heat. 

Rose also has both bitter and astringent tastes, and these are cooling tastes that pacify the fire element, also known as Pitta for those who are familiar with Ayurveda. 

The very scent and experience of rose conjures up positive feelings for most people, and there is physiological evidence to back this up.

According to SVA, rose carries a unique property called som nasya janana, which energetically coordinates the connection between the mind and the “light of the soul.”  

Rose has a lot of health benefits: 

• Enhances brain health
• Strengthens the stomach
• Enhances absorption of nutrients
• Balances metabolism
• Supports skin health

For your rose petals, you want to ensure that you purchase organic, culinary grade petals. 

You can’t just use dried roses leftover from your flower bouquet. 

Rose petal jam is a great alternative to rose petals. Rose petal jam is typically just culinary-grade rose petals and cane sugar in a thick syrup. 

In addition to the traditional uses for a jam, a teaspoon of rose petal jam turns into a quick sweetened rose tea or natural rose flavor for any drink.

Peppermint health benefits

Mint is a strong aromatic, which means it helps to clear stagnation and move energy. 

When the heavy, humid heat is bearing down, peppermint can be just the thing. 

You might be surprised to learn that Ayurveda views peppermint as a warming herb. My guess is that you probably thought that it was cooling. 

That cooling experience actually comes from peppermint’s clearing action. It can clear a stagnant stomach, and bring lightness to a dull and heavy mind. 

If you have peppermint growing in your yard, then you can pick some. Otherwise, you can get peppermint from the grocery store. 

In a pinch, you can use a peppermint tea bag.

Clove health benefits 

Clove may be another surprising ingredient for you in a summer drink. 

That’s because, despite being spicy, cloves have a secondary bitter, sweet, and cooling action in the body. 

Also aromatic, cloves help to open up bodily channels that keep systems flowing. 

For this recipe, I recommend using whole cloves, and toasting them gently in a tiny skillet, just until a light smoke appears. 

Store your toasted cloves in a small container for each time you make this recipe, or use up the cloves in cumin basmati rice.

Why salt and sugar? 

A bit of good quality mineral salt in water is recommended in the summer because it is a good source of electrolytes. 

That bit of salt helps the body absorb the water into the cells, assisting in hydration. 

It also adds a classy, balancing element to the bit of sweetness in this drink. 

The sugar is sweet, and therefore cooling. 

In my Ayurvedic practice, I always recommend jaggery powder, which is the most natural, unrefined form of sugar you can get. 

It is basically just evaporated cane juice. There’s no chemical processing, and nothing is removed from the cane. 

A sugar like this is loaded with minerals, electrolytes, and caramel flavor. YUM! 

How to make

I recommend selecting a glass jar large enough to hold 2 cups of water and adding in all of the ingredients. 

Use room temperature water of the highest quality. Later, you may chill your drink slightly with 1-2 ice cubes, but in general, room temperature water is the best.

I also recommend waiting at least 30 minutes before enjoying to allow the ingredients to steep and release their flavors.

Finally, since some of the ingredients are inedible, or you might not want to eat them, use a tiny sieve to strain your drink before enjoying. 

How to enjoy

Sip your cooling summer drink throughout the day to stay cool and refreshed. 

Since this drink is more medicinal, I also recommend that you consume regular water to ensure enough hydration in the summer’s heat.