21 Ideas For Flower Garnishes For Drinks
Flowers are blooming in my neighborhood, and I’m feeling so inspired to dress up my mocktails and nonalcoholic cocktails with beautiful blooms!
I’ll never forget the day I was admiring a friend’s garden, and she handed me a nasturtium blossom to pop into my mouth. I swear I can still taste it—so peppery and sweet.
Adding flowers as garnishes to beverages creates an experience to remember. Flowers might be the perfect garnish: not only are they pretty, they also can impart delicate flower flavors too.
Your flowers don’t have to grow in gardens though! Garnish art can also create a moment to remember when your guest realizes the “flower” on their drink is actually a fruit!
Today I’m sharing 21 innovative and fresh ways to use flowers in your nonalcoholic beverages.
Then, I’ll be talking about where to buy fresh flowers to use as garnishes (and what do to if you can’t get them!).
Note: I may earn a small affiliate commission from links in this post. Thank you so much for supporting this blog!
Also note: Not all of these images link to nonalcoholic beverages. Some beverages contain alcohol. Adjust recipes as you see fit.
On to the flowers!
Apparently, certain kinds of dogwood flowers are edible. Others have poisonous berries. Do your research before you decide to start grazing. But in the meantime, you can start gazing on this beauty!
Garnish by Moody Mixologist.
Ice Cube Flowers
Flowers frozen in ice cubes are soooo pretty in drinks. It’s early spring as I write this, and I’m for sure going to be bringing some flower ice cubes to our family’s Easter gathering. Flowers like this can make even plain club soda feel super special!
Floral DIY Ice Bucket
Ready to wow your friends—not only with your nonalcoholic wine selection but also how you chill the bottles? I’m not exactly Martha Stewart, but even I am excited about trying this idea on a summer day with a lovely nonalcoholic rose.
Orange Blossom Garnish (That’s Actually an Orange)
This is a Christmas center piece, but I think making a flower out of an orange peel this way would work great for a spring drink garnish!
Cucumber Flower Garnish
I *wish* I had known about this amazing way to turn a bit of cucumber into a flower for my easy gimlet recipe! A cucumber flower garnish would have taken a nonalcoholic drink that was already a 10 and turned it into an 11!
Dried Flower Garnish
This was one of the first videos I posted on Instagram! (They got a lot better after this, but you have to start somewhere and I’m still proud of it).☺️
I used dried flowers of my “hug tea” to make it that much more huggy (that’s the American way to spell hygge). You can find dried flowers easily on Amazon.
Instagram’s embed code is wonky I know; I’m working on it!
Cocktail Skewer Fruit Flowers
Ooh these fruity skewers are so clever! With fruit shaped just like flowers, these would be a hit with kids and adults alike! Bonus: No fancy ingredients here, so you can make them after a quick trip to the grocery store.
Strategically Placed Flowers In Glasses
Flowers don’t just have to go on top of drinks; they can be placed along the side of the glass to create a really pretty effect.
Video by Smoothies And More.
More Cucumber Flowers (On Skewers This Time)
Cucumbers and beverages are such good friends! Especially in the springtime. There’s something so delicate about the flavor of cucumber that lends itself to a flowery presentation!
Easiest And Possibly Cutest Not-A-Flower Flower Garnish
Turning a lemon into a sunny yellow flower garnish looks like too much fun. And can you imagine how people will react when you pop one of these lemon medallion garnishes into their drinks? This looks like spring itself!
Trail of Spring Flowers
This was too pretty not to share. Unfortunately, I’m not able to find the original creator of this absolutely beautiful photograph of a colorful flower garnish method!
Strawberries As Flowers
These strawberries have been carefully sliced and arranged into flower shapes, and the effect is stunningly beautiful. But I’m not gonna lie: When I was looking at the thumbnail image of this, I thought it was ham. 😂
Blood Orange Roses
This flower garnish is made of blood oranges. It looks a little tricky, but I think with some practice, making this garnish could become a go-to for evenings drinking nonalcoholic cocktails with friends. This would have been great in my blood orange ghia sour!
Mai Tai Floral Garnish
Instead of flowers inside the drink, this cocktail shows as thick green leaf wrapped around the glass. Knowing me, the leaf would slip and the glass would go flying. But if your guests are more sure-handed than I am, you’ll be fine!
Pink Rose Magic Garnish
At first, I thought the pink rose used to garnish this drink must have been ensorcelled (okay, not really, but it does look like it’s just floating there!). If you look closely, you can see there’s a tiny notch in the stem of the rose that helps it a balance on the lip of the glass.
Baby’s Breath Glass Decoration
I’m super in love with this charming decoration (not sure you can really call it a garnish). I actually think a few of these would filled with almonds (or something) would be a beautiful addition to a country table setting.
Daisy Garnishes Are Spring Incarnate
Daisies are everything innocent: baby bunnies, lambs, and all the springtime adorables. I have totally fallen for the idea of using a daisy to garnish a cocktail or mocktail for spring!
Orchids Are Exquisite Garnishes
Orchids make any space more beautiful and make any cocktail more eye-catching. If you’re going to buy orchids for garnishes, make sure they haven’t been treated with chemicals.
Chilling With Roses
I literally exclaimed when I saw this presentation of roses and champagne (I can only assume it’s nonalcoholic). And my mind is blown. Apparently, champagne CAN get even fancier…
Unfortunately I can’t find a link to the original post. This one has been shared a lot!
Flowers And Wine
This would be a wonderful way to decorate a wine bottle at a spring wedding! It’s amazing what florists can do with flowers—and mixologists too!
Originally pinned by Aeternus.S.
Wine Glass Decorated With Flowers
I think, if I were to drink out of this wine glass, I would fell like I was sitting on top of Mount Olympus hanging with Zeus and his crew.
Originally by Secrets Color With Shahid.
Where To Buy Edible Flowers For Cocktails And Nonalcoholic Drinks
Looking for edible flowers near you?
You might have to do a little hunting and pecking. Edible flowers are not a common supermarket ingredient.
That said, you may be able to find edible flowers at your local Whole Foods.
You can also hit up your local florist and as if they carry edible flowers.
You can buy edible fresh flowers from certain companies online. They’ll ship the flowers to your door quickly so that you can use them as garnishes while they’re still fresh.
You can also ask mother nature herself. That’s right; go outside and forage, if you’re confident of your ability to find edible flowers in the wild.
Just be sure that your flowers are clean and haven’t been exposed to chemicals or treatments.
You could even plant your own edible flower garden! Read more about planting edible flowers to use as garnishes.
If You Can’t Find Fresh Flowers For Garnishes, Try These Tricks
If you can’t find fresh flowers for your drink garnishes, don’t worry! You’ve got options.
First, you can buy dried flowers like these at Amazon. They last much longer than fresh flowers and can be a cheaper alternative as well.
Second, you can use fresh fruit to create little replicas of real flowers, similar to the techniques used by some of the mixologists above.
Want Even More Inspiration For Flower Garnishes?
Check out this book!
I’m putting it on my wish list for sure! The beautiful flower photography is such an inspiration for mocktail creation!
Want Even More More Inspiration For Beverage Garnishes?
Check out this board I created on Pinterest.
It has TONS of ideas for using flowers to decorate beverages! I’m also including the different ways people use wine glasses for decorating with flowers!
It’s worth a look.
Enjoy!
