You can drink water out of copper cups without worry – anything with a neutral pH is totally safe – and hot beverages are not ideal because the copper gets hot so fast and impossible to hold!

Now, a nice cold summer beverage? Those are a great match. Drinking alcohol out of copper cups has been a topic in years before (read my blog post about Moscow Mule Mugs HERE). Honestly, because you aren’t cooking in the cup, and you’re usually drinking the beverage within an hour or two, you really don’t have to worry about copper leaching…unless, of course, you do this 3-4 times a day, ever day, for decades…and you can always get your copper cups lined and never have to worry the slightest.

However you decide to drink, here are some great cocktails – my personal take on the Sweet Sidecar is my favorite – to get you through the hot months. And it goes without saying, but please DRINK RESPONSIBLY!

Dirty Mother

• 1 shot brandy

• 1 shot Kahlua

Stir with ice. Serve frosty and cold

Sweet Sidecar

(Serves Two! This is my own accidental invention…)

• 2 shots Cointreau

• 2 shots Grand Marnier

• ¼ cup dried plump cherries

• The juice of 6 freshly squeezed lemons

Combine Cointreau, Grand Marnier, and dried cherries into a microwavable dish. Heat on HIGH for 1 – 2 minutes. Pour evenly into 2 glasses and top with evenly distributed lemon juice. Stir together, and add ice. Pour 1/8 cherries into one glass and the other 1/8 into the remaining glass. Trust me, those cherries are AMAZING by the end of your beverage. Eat them up!

*Bonus! The lemon juice will lightly polish the interior of an unlined copper cup!

Powdered Sugar Mojito

This recipe calls for powdered sugar!! Who knew?!

• 1 lime, squeezed and juice reserved (reserve the lime itself, too!)

• 1 Tbsp powdered sugar

• 2 shots rum

• 2 shots Club soda

• Fresh mint

Stir powdered sugar and lime juice together and add the lime rinds and crush with muddler. Add mint leaves. Add rum, mix, and pour over ice. Add the soda and stir once more before serving.

West Indies Punch

½ fresh lime, squeezed and juice reserved

1 shot pineapple juice

• 1 shot orange juice

• 2 shots rum (dark is best)

• Nutmeg and Fresh Banana slices for garnish

Mix together pineapple juice, orange juice and rum. Add the lime juice and shake. Pour over ice. Sprinkle nutmeg on top and garnish with some banana slices.

Scotch Sour

(I always have to include some scotch!!)

• ½ fresh squeezed lemon juice

• 2 shots of Scotch (Balvenie or Oban!)

• Splash of simple syrup

• 1 tsp powdered sugar

• Cherry for garnish

Mix lemon juice, scotch, and simple syrup. Shake the three ingredients with the powdered sugar. Pour over ice and garnish with the cherry!