How to make clear ice cubes for dazzling Christmas cocktails

Christmas is the best time of year for showing off your hosting skills and a particular favourite is making cocktails as part of the celebrations. But whether it’s a festive G&T or cranberry mocktail, a crystal clear ice cube is the final touch and there is an easy hack to ensure they look high-end cocktail bar-ready.

There’s nothing more disappointing than fetching the ice tray and realising all your cubes are opaque. Clear ice is not only aesthetically pleasing but also can make your drink taste better as it lacks impurities.

For cocktails worthy of your swanky bar cart ideas, you don’t want to use water straight from the tap to make your ice cubes. This water can contain impurities which stop your ice from going clear. Instead, you want to make sure your water is distilled – here’s how.

Why your ice is turning cloudy

‘When you use tap water to make ice cubes, they often freeze opaque because of the impurities that are naturally found in most tap water, such as dissolved minerals and gases.’ explains Rizwan Asad food expert, and founder of Chocolates & Chai.

‘These impurities get trapped in the ice as it freezes, especially when freezing happens quickly in a standard freezer. The process causes air bubbles and impurities to be concentrated toward the centre of the cube, making the ice cloudy.’

While this method is certainly not harmful to consume and is a quick way to make ice cubes if you’re short on time, you will not get the aesthetically pleasing clear ice you’re hoping for.

How to make clear ice cubes

For clear ice cubes, you need to use distilled water. Deepak Shukla, CEO of Pearl Lemon Cafe, explains the best way to do this is by boiling your tap water.

‘Start with the purest water possible. Filtered or distilled is ideal. Boiling the water twice and letting it cool between boils helps eliminate impurities and air bubbles, which are the main culprits behind cloudy ice,’ she explains.

‘Freezing the water slowly is another key step. Using an insulated container, such as a small cooler, allows the water to freeze from the top down. This method, called directional freezing, pushes air and impurities to the bottom. Once fully frozen, simply trim off the cloudy portion to reveal the clear ice.

‘For a professional finish, silicone ice moulds are highly effective, and larger moulds like spheres or oversized cubes are ideal for reducing dilution in cocktails. Clear ice looks stunning in a festive drink and melts slower, keeping the flavours intact for longer.’

Distilled water can also be purchased in most supermarkets and retailers like Amazon. This is different to filtered water because of the process if goes through. Or you can also purchase a water distiller which costs around £60 on Amazon to remove impurities from water. However, the cheapest and easiest way to distil water is to boil water using Deepak’s method at home.

Use this method this Christmas for the best-looking cocktails around – you’ll be able to prove you’re the hostess with the mostess.