Paan mocktail: paan mojito and paan shots
A paan mocktail for parties: paan mojito with mint, lime and soda, a party jug, and paan shots with gulkand. All made with paan sharbat.
The short answer
A paan mocktail is a cold party drink that tastes of meetha paan. The easiest is a paan mojito: 30 ml of paan sharbat with lime, mint, crushed ice and soda. For paan shots, shake paan sharbat with chilled water, ice and a little gulkand and pour into small glasses. Both are alcohol-free and take a couple of minutes.
Our Paan Sharbat is betel leaf extract and mishri syrup only — no supari, no tobacco — so these are drinks anyone at the party can have. If you want the creamy, blended version, that is the paan shake; this page is for the light, fizzy ones.
Paan mojito: ingredients
• 30 ml paan sharbat
• Juice of half a lime, plus 2 lime wedges
• 8–10 fresh mint leaves
• 200 ml chilled soda
• Crushed ice
Method
1. Put the mint leaves and lime wedges in a glass and press them a few times with a muddler or the end of a rolling pin, just enough to release the oils.
2. Add the paan sharbat and lime juice and stir.
3. Fill the glass with crushed ice.
4. Top up with chilled soda, stir gently once, and serve with a sprig of mint.
The lime and mint lift the green, peppery taste of the betel leaf, and the soda keeps it light. It will not be bright green: no colour is added to our sharbat, so the drink is pale. The colour you see in most paan drinks is added colour.
Paan shots
For about 8 small shot glasses:
1. Put 80 ml of paan sharbat, 200 ml of chilled water, 1 teaspoon of rose gulkand and a handful of ice in a jar with a tight lid, or a cocktail shaker.
2. Shake hard for 20 seconds, until very cold and slightly frothy.
3. Strain into shot glasses and top each with a pinch of fennel seeds (saunf) or a few shreds of desiccated coconut.
The gulkand gives the rose note of a stall paan. For a fizzy shot, use chilled soda instead of water and stir rather than shake.
A party jug
For six glasses, put 180 ml of paan sharbat, the juice of three limes and a big handful of lightly crushed mint in a jug. Keep it in the fridge until guests arrive, then add plenty of ice and about 1.2 litres of chilled soda just before serving, so it stays fizzy. Taste and add sharbat by the spoonful if your guests like it sweeter.
Tips
• Start at 30 ml a glass. It is a concentrate, and easy to make too sweet.
• Do not over-muddle the mint; crushed to a paste, it turns bitter.
• Garnish with a small betel leaf or a paan-shaped fold of mint for a party table.
• Pair with dessert. Paan drinks fit the after-dinner slot, the same moment as a meetha paan. What paan sharbat is
These are sweet drinks, so anyone managing diabetes should check with their doctor. Keep the bottle in a cool, dark place with the cap tight; it does not need the fridge. Delivery is a flat ₹39 anywhere in India.
Buy from the Haldighati valley
- Rose Gulkand — Sun-cured Damask rose petal preserve. 470 g, ₹449.
- Paan Sharbat — Paan extract and mishri, no added colour. 350 ml, ₹349.