The Alcohol-Free Margarita recipe
with green tea and agave
Steep a bag of green tea for three minutes in 10 cl of water at 80 degrees, remove it, and let the tea cool completely in the refrigerator.
Make a salt rim: run a lime wedge around the outside of the rim and dip the glass into a saucer of sea salt.
Add the tea, lime juice, orange juice, agave syrup, and strip of orange peel to the shaker and fill it with ice.
Shake hard for 12 seconds so the peel releases its oils into the shaker.
Double strain into the glass, straight up or over fresh ice, and garnish with a lime wheel.
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The story
Who came up with the Margarita has never been established. Stories mention bars in Mexico and along the American border in the 1930s and 1940s, but hard evidence is lacking. It is more likely that it evolved from the Daisy, an older cocktail style made with spirits, citrus, and liqueur; margarita is Spanish for daisy. The IBA lists tequila, triple sec, and lime juice as the official recipe. There is no alcohol-free version with its own history. This is the classic reimagined, with the same question each time: what exactly did the tequila and liqueur contribute, and what can take over that role without alcohol? Agave syrup, like tequila, comes from the agave plant, preserving the connection to the original.
The right glass
The margarita glass, with its broad, curved bowl, is just as suitable here as it is for the original. That wide rim is made for salt: with every sip, you get just enough, and without alcohol in particular, that salty contrast is important. A glass of 27 to 33 cl provides room for a straight-up serving and for the version served over ice. If you prefer to serve it smaller, a coupe works too. View our margarita glasses.
Arcoroc Elegance Margarita Glass 27 cl (6 pieces)
Bar Professional Margarita Cocktail Glass 28.5 cl
Both sets together € 59,90.
The right tools
For an alcohol-free margarita, besides the glass you’ll need a Boston shaker, a jigger for precise measuring, a cocktail strainer, a fine-mesh strainer for double straining, and lime salt for the rim. These are the bar tools we use ourselves; you’ll find everything in our bar tools & cocktail sets.
Glass set (our choice 01) + 5 bar tools together € 175,70.
Variations & twists
For a spicy version, shake along with two thin slices of jalapeño, as with the Spicy Margarita: the pepper adds a warmth that the alcohol lacks here. If you leave out the orange juice and use 2 cl agave syrup, you will get close to the Tommy's Margarita. Blend it with 1.5 cups of crushed ice to make an alcohol-free Frozen Margarita. And with 6 cl grapefruit juice and a splash of sparkling water, you can make a 0.0 version of the Paloma.
Serving tip
Brew the tea a day in advance and refrigerate it, so it is ice-cold when you start shaking and the drink gets less diluted. For the rim, mix a pinch of chili powder into the sea salt and salt only half the rim, so everyone can choose for themselves.
Good to know
Why green tea instead of tequila
Tequila brings three things to a margarita: a spicy, grassy flavor, alcohol that makes the drink feel dry, and a little bite. Green tea reasonably replicates the first two. The tannins give your tongue a dry grip, and the grassy note is close to that of a blanco tequila. Brew the tea at 80 degrees and for no longer than three minutes: hotter or longer mainly draws out bitterness. One tea bag per 10 cl of water is enough for two glasses. For children, use decaffeinated green tea or cold water, as regular green tea contains caffeine.
Replacing triple sec without alcohol
Triple sec such as Cointreau is made from the peels of sweet and bitter oranges. The aroma is therefore in the peel, not the juice. That’s why this recipe adds a strip of orange peel to the shaker: during twelve seconds of shaking, the ice releases the oils from the peel, and you can smell them in the glass. Cut the strip with a vegetable peeler and keep the white pith underneath as thin as possible, because it is bitter. The orange juice mainly provides fruitiness and a little sweetness. Together, they come close to what the liqueur contributes in the original.
Alcohol-free tequila: what works
Alcohol-free agave-based alternatives are now available, usually made with extracts or distillates in water instead of alcohol. If you have one, replace the green tea with 4 cl of that alternative and keep the rest of the recipe the same. Taste it neat first. Some are sweetened, in which case you can reduce the agave syrup to 1 cl; others use pepper to imitate the warmth of alcohol, and for those a salted rim without chili powder is enough. It remains an approximation: it cannot restore the body of real tequila.
The salted rim does more work without alcohol
In a regular margarita, the tequila adds excitement; without alcohol, the salt partly takes on that role. Salt tempers bitterness and makes sour and sweet flavors taste fuller, so a sip from the rim tastes rounder than a sip without it. Use coarse sea salt, because fine table salt dissolves immediately and makes the first sip too salty. Run the lime wedge only along the outside of the rim so no salt falls into the drink, and let the glass dry for a minute before pouring. With a glass rimmer, you can prepare several rims at once.
For a group or a children’s party
For each glass, use 4 cl tea, 3 cl lime juice, 3 cl orange juice, and 1.5 cl agave syrup. For eight glasses, that is 32 cl tea, 24 cl lime juice, 24 cl orange juice, and 12 cl agave syrup; you’ll need about ten limes for the lime juice. Mix everything except the peel in a pitcher ahead of time and chill it, but don’t squeeze the juice until no more than a few hours beforehand. Shake two glasses at a time with a strip of peel and fresh ice. For children, use caffeine-free tea; find more ideas among the children’s cocktails.
Alcohol-free margarita ingredients at a glance
What is in an alcohol-free margarita? Five things in the shaker and salt on the rim: 4 cl cold green tea, 3 cl fresh lime juice, 3 cl fresh orange juice, 1.5 cl agave syrup and a strip of orange peel. The lime juice makes all the difference, so squeeze it yourself: bottled juice tastes flat. Agave syrup is sweeter than sugar, so measure it instead of pouring by eye. If it is too sour, add 0.5 cl agave syrup; if it is too sweet, add half a centiliter of lime juice.
Frequently asked questions
How do you make an alcohol-free margarita?
Shake 4 cl cold green tea, 3 cl fresh lime juice, 3 cl orange juice, 1.5 cl agave syrup and a strip of orange peel with plenty of ice for twelve seconds. Double-strain into a margarita glass with a salted rim and garnish with a lime wheel. The tea provides the grip that would otherwise come from the tequila.
What do you use instead of tequila in a margarita?
Cold green tea is the easiest substitute: the tannins provide a dry grip and the grassy flavor is close to blanco tequila. An alcohol-free agave alternative can also work, in the same 4 cl amount. Extra juice alone does not work, because then you are drinking lemonade with a salted rim.
Can you make an alcohol-free margarita frozen?
Yes. Put the tea, lime juice, orange juice and agave syrup with 1.5 cups of crushed ice in the blender and blend for 15 to 20 seconds until smooth. Leave out the strip of peel and add a little grated orange zest instead. Add 0.5 cl extra agave syrup, because cold dulls sweetness.
Which glass do you use for an alcohol-free margarita?
The same margarita glass as for the original, from 27 to 33 cl. The wide rim holds the salt, so you taste salt and sour together with every sip, and there is room for a serving straight up or over ice. A coupe is a good alternative if you want a smaller glass.
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