Lavender Coconut Lemonade (Easy Malibu Rum Cocktail Recipe)

This easy, four ingredient cocktail is the perfect mix of floral lavender, refreshing lemon, and sweet, tropical coconut. If you love Malibu, but want something a little more elevated than Malibu and pineapple, this recipe is for you!

What you'll need to make it

Before we get into the details, here's a list of the ingredients you'll need. Read on for more info about all of these, as well as ideas for substitutions, how to make it mocktail, and lots of helpful tips.

• Malibu Rum (or other coconut rum liqueur)
• Fresh lemon juice
• Lavender simple syrup
• Sparkling water
• A few frozen blueberries, for color, optional

Malibu Rum and other coconut liqueurs

Malibu is a classic rum-based liqueur that's known for it's strong coconut flavor and syrupy sweetness. Although many Malibu mixed drinks treat it like a base spirit (think rum, vodka, whiskey), Malibu is actually a liqueur.

This means that it has a lower alcohol content and is quite sweet. We have to keep these two things in mind when creating cocktails with liqueurs, because they can quickly make a drink too sweet if we treat them like a liquor!

While Malibu is super popular, other coconut liqueur options include Giffard Coconut, Kalani Coconut Liqueur, and Clement Rhum Mahina Coco (which I so badly want to try).

Using coconut syrup instead of liqueur

If you'd prefer a non-alcoholic option or don't have any Malibu on hand, you can substitute a coconut syrup for the liqueur. You can make your own with an incredibly easy recipe like my Coconut Simple Syrup Recipe, or buy one.

Some great options for coconut syrups include Liber & Co Toasted Coconut Syrup, Coco Real Cream of Coconut, Liquid Alchemist Coconut Cocktail Syrup, or 1883 Coconut Syrup. All of these are available on Amazon and Coco Real is also easy to find in grocery stores.

One thing to keep in mind is that your Lavender Coconut Lemonade with look cloudy or creamy if you use a coconut syrup that's made with coconut cream. If you use a clear coconut syrup it will look the same as this recipe.

Lavender simple syrup

Like with coconut syrup, lavender simple syrup can be easily made at home or store bought. It's a little trickier to find in local shops unless you have a lavender farm nearby, but Amazon has some options.

For this recipe, I used a local-to-me lavender syrup. If you'd like to make your own, check out my quick and easy Lavender Simple Syrup Recipe. You'll need just hot water, sugar, and culinary grade dried lavender.

Use fresh lemon juice

Like with any quality cocktail, it's so important to use fresh citrus juices! For this recipe, you'll need one ounce of fresh lemon juice per serving, so that's about half to one lemon per drink.

Using bottled lemon juice will give the drink an off, bitter, or acrid flavor that the other ingredients won't be able to cover up, so don't risk it. Grab a citrus reamer or an elbow-style squeezer and you'll thank me later!

How to make it purple

To make this drink purple, you can either use a purple-colored lavender syrup or pop a few frozen blueberries in your cocktail shaker. Frozen blueberries will rapidly thaw and break down in the shaker, giving the drink a vibrant pink-purple color.

How to make this Lavender Coconut Lemonade

Ok, on to the drink-making! To make this cocktail, add your Malibu, lavender simple syrup, fresh lemon juice, and blueberries (if using) to a cocktail shaker and fill it three quarters with ice.

Strain the liquid into a goblet, wine glass or highball glass filled with ice and top with chilled sparkling water. Garnish with a lemon wheel and a sprig of lavender, if you like.

More lavender cocktails to enjoy:

• My Top 10 Lavender Cocktail Recipes
• Lavender Lemonade
• Lavender Martini (from Sweet Life Bake)
• Lavender Gin Sour (from Our Salty Kitchen)