How to Make Hibiscus Simple Syrup for Cocktails and Mocktails

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Bright, pink, and slightly citrus, homemade hibiscus simple syrup is a fun way to add unique flavor and color to your cocktails and mocktails.

Dried hibiscus flowers can be found online or in specialty food stores. These edible flowers impart a citrus flavor and pink color to anything they’re added to, making them a popular choice for herbal teas.

While teas are often a blend of ingredients, using 100% dried hibiscus flowers for syrup gives you better control of the flavor in your cocktails and mocktails. It’s easier to mix a drink when you know how the various ingredients will taste together and aren’t trying to work around an unexpected flavor.

Hibiscus simple syrup pairs extremely well with orange, lime, lemon, and grapefruit flavors, given the citrus notes of the dried flowers. Ideas for drinks include combining it with fresh orange juice, lime sparkling water, or citrus vodka. It’s also delicious in my hibiscus margaritas.

Ingredients

Water
Sugar
Dried hibiscus flowers

How to Make Hibiscus Simple Syrup

Heat the water to boiling. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved.

Remove from heat.

Add dried hibiscus flowers.

Pouring dried hibiscus flowers into a small pot of sugar and water.

Stir and let the mixture infuse until the syrup has cooled to room temperature.

Strain the syrup through a fine mesh to remove all of the hibiscus flowers.

A fine mesh sieve being held over a bowl while straining the syrup.

Store in a glass jar in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Hibiscus syrup will keep for 2-3 weeks in the refrigerator.

Use the Syrup in Hibiscus Margaritas

Get the recipe for my Hibiscus Margaritas!

FAQs and Tips for Hibiscus Simple Syrup

Can I use hibiscus tea for this syrup?

Maybe. Check the ingredients list on your tea. You want hibiscus flowers to be the number one ingredient. There also needs to be no actual tea - black, green or red - in your hibiscus tea.

What do you use hibiscus flowers in syrup for?

Hibiscus syrup is delicious for cocktails, mocktails, and as a sweetener in iced tea or lemonade.

What do you do with dried hibiscus flowers?

Teas and syrups are the most popular uses for dried hibiscus flowers. They can also be used as a natural pink dye for just about any liquid.

Why is my syrup bitter?

Hibiscus flowers are naturally a little tart. To prevent their tartness from overtaking your syrup, be sure you’re not putting your hibiscus flowers in until after the syrup has heated. You want to infuse the syrup, not cook the flowers. Putting the dried flowers in at the beginning with the sugar will result in a more bitter syrup as the dried hibiscus will be exposed to too high of heat.

Adjust the syrup color with how much hibiscus you add.

This recipe calls for 1-2 tablespoons of dried hibiscus flowers. The more you add, the darker your syrup will be. Using 2 full tablespoons will give you a dark magenta syrup like the one pictured on this page.

What can I use instead of sugar?

Substituting honey for the white sugar in this recipe will give you a delicious syrup that enhances the floral flavors of the hibiscus.

How long will hibiscus simple syrup last?

If kept refrigerated, this syrup will last 2-3 weeks in the refrigerator. Discard the syrup when it starts to look cloudy or changes scent in any way.

Where can I buy hibiscus syrup?

Some specialty food stores will carry hibiscus syrup or hibiscus cordial in their cocktail section as mixer options. It’s much easier in my area to find dried hibiscus flowers (usually in the tea section) to make this syrup.