Non-Alcoholic Sangria

Wine brings two things, and both need replacing

Sangria is wine, fruit, sugar and a little soda. The wine contributes acidity and tannin, the dry grip you feel on the gums, so cutting it turns the drink into fruit punch. Hibiscus tea puts the tartness and the tannin back, and unsweetened grape juice restores the grape flavour.

Measures in ml and oz

Plus 8 ml of syrup per glass, added last and lightly, because the fruit keeps releasing sugar.

Technique: macerate first, bubbles last

Put the sliced orange, apple and peach in the jug with the lemon juice and syrup and leave them thirty minutes, which is what makes sangria taste steeped rather than assembled. Add the cooled tea, the juices and the cinnamon, chill two hours, and add the sparkling water to each glass as you serve.

Body without the wine

Tannin is the whole game: hibiscus for astringency, a black tea bag steeped alongside it for grip, and cinnamon for a woody note that reads like barrel age. Verjus or a teaspoon of apple shrub adds acid with texture. A 0,0 % red should stay under a third of the liquid.

Mistakes and repairs

• Tastes like fruit juice. Add 30 ml more hibiscus tea and cut the syrup.
• Muddy and brown. Too much orange juice: add 10 ml of lemon.
• Bubbles gone. You topped the jug instead of the glasses.

Variations with a name

• White sangria sin alcohol — white grape juice and peach, with chamomile tea.
• Sangria de cava sin alcohol — alcohol-free sparkling white grape juice.
• Winter sangria — steep orange peel, clove and star anise in the hot tea.

Non-Alcoholic Sangria FAQ

What can I use instead of wine in sangria?

Strong hibiscus tea with unsweetened red grape juice. The tea supplies tannin and tartness, the juice the grape flavour; sweetened juice alone tastes like a soft drink.

How long can it sit?

The base keeps two days refrigerated and improves for the first six hours as the fruit macerates. After that the tea turns dull.

Does it taste like real sangria?

Close enough that people ask. It lacks the alcoholic warmth at the back of the throat, and cinnamon and tannin bridge that gap.