The dry January drinks that are actually DELICIOUS: Wine expert HELEN MCGINN recommends the best teetotal tipples you can try at home

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Now, if you’d told me a year ago I’d be writing a book about not drinking, I’d have laughed so hard I would have definitely spilt my wine.

After all, I write, talk and taste wine as a wine columnist for the Mail. I spent a decade as a supermarket wine buyer, travelling the globe and sniffing out the good stuff. A bit like the man from Del Monte, minus the white linen suit and Panama hat.

I love wine. Always have. It all started at university when joining the wine society (primarily as a way of getting four half glasses of wine really cheaply) made me realise just how wonderful this stuff could be.

Helen McGinn spent a decade as a supermarket wine buyer, travelling the globe and sniffing out the good stuff

I found it fascinating how a grape could create something so gorgeous in the glass depending on where it was grown and how it was made. So I decided to make a career out of it.

Fast forward 20 years and I’m still like a child in a sweet shop when I’m in the wine aisle. Making a decision about what to try can take hours (but I promise to be as quick as possible if we’re in a restaurant).

Point is, take the sweets away and suddenly life isn’t quite as much fun. So why on Earth did I write a book about booze-free drinks?

It all came about when I decided to do a dry January to test the theory about the effects wine had on your skin. I’d read about so-called ‘wine face’ — droopy eyes, redness and puffy skin — and decided to see what difference not drinking for a month would really make to my skin.

We’ll come back to that in a moment, but what really surprised me about the whole experiment was that the toughest thing wasn’t really the not drinking. Rather, it was finding something interesting and vaguely grown up to drink in the evening instead of my usual glass of plonk.

Happy as I was to drink mineral water all day, when it came to the evening I wanted a drink with a sense of occasion to it.

It had to be something that could be sipped rather than gulped — and definitely not full of sugar either. It seemed crazy to kick the alcohol and replace it with fizzy drinks.

Alcohol-free wines were largely disappointing with no real flavour, let alone no alcohol. Some of the lagers were ok, but really, they didn’t quite hit the spot. And having spent years on the elderflower when pregnant, syrupy shop-bought cordials weren’t really cutting it, either.

So I started experimenting with making my own mocktails at home, using simple ingredients I had to hand in the kitchen.

The base of many of these was simple enough — things like sparkling water or tonic water, ginger ale or fruit juice — but what I really wanted was a drink that, like wine, had real flavour and balance. Most of all, I wanted to feel like I wasn’t missing out.

Over the years I’ve gradually changed how I drink. Generally speaking, I drink less than I used to but I also drink a little better. I spend a bit more on the bottles I buy and make a glass last longer. I also stick to at least two dry days a week, more if it’s been a boozy weekend.

But although I was quite used to not drinking for a few days a week, to do it for a month was quite a daunting task. The booze-free drinks had to be good. Seriously good.

So, here are some of my favourite recipes for teetotal tipples to try at home. Oh, and as for ‘wine face’? It definitely made a difference. Cheers!

COFFEE TONIC

• 1 shot hot espresso
• Handful of ice cubes
• 200ml tonic water

Method: While getting ready a shot of espresso, fill a tall glass with ice. Pour in the tonic water and once ready, pour the coffee over the top and give it a stir with a long spoon. It’s weird but wonderful, I promise.

COFFEE TONIC - While getting ready a shot of espresso, fill a tall glass with ice

POMEGRANATE SPARKLER

• Handful of ice cubes
• 1 part pomegranate juice
• 2 parts sparkling water
• Slice of fresh lime
• Sprig of fresh mint

Method: Put the ice into a long glass and pour over one part pomegranate juice to two parts sparkling water. Add a slice of fresh lime and a sprig of fresh mint to serve. By the way, pomegranate juice is said to increase your sex drive. Just saying.

POMEGRANATE SPARKLER - Put the ice into a long glass and pour over one part pomegranate juice to two parts sparkling water

ELDERFLOWER CORDIAL

Makes a large jug.

• 20 elderflower heads (no stalks)
• 1.5 litres water
• 1kg sugar
• Juice and zest of 3 lemons and 1 orange
• 1 tsp citric acid (optional)

Method: Gently rinse the elderflower. Pour the water into a large pan, add the sugar and bring to the boil. Turn off the heat and add the elderflower, and juice and zest of the lemons and orange. Add the citric acid if using (it makes the liquid less cloudy), stir and cover. Leave in a cool place for four days, stirring once daily. Pour through a muslin-lined sieve into a jug before pouring into sterilised bottles. I use two 1-litre Kilner clip-top bottles. The cordial will keep in the fridge for four weeks.

ELDERFLOWER CORDIAL - Gently rinse the elderflower. Pour the water into a large pan, add the sugar and bring to the boil

FELLINI

• Sprig of fresh rosemary
• 1 part white peach puree (Funkin is good, around £3 for a 120g pack)
• 1 part soda water
• 1 part lemonade
• Dash of sugar syrup

Method: Place a sprig of rosemary in a chilled glass. Fill with the peach puree, soda water and lemonade, pouring slowly so that it doesn’t bubble up too much. Add sugar syrup to taste and stir with the rosemary sprig.

FELLINI - Place a sprig of rosemary in a chilled glass. Fill with the peach puree, soda water and lemonade, pouring slowly so that it doesn’t bubble up too much

COS-NO

• Ice cubes
• Juice of ½ an orange
• Juice of 1 lime
• Juice of 1 lemon
• About 30ml cranberry juice

Method: Fill a Martini glass (and yes, it does have to be a Martini glass) with ice cubes and put it in the fridge. Meanwhile, squeeze the juice of half an orange, one lime and one small lemon into a small jug. Pour in approximately 30ml of cranberry juice (the mixture should be roughly equal parts of the four ingredients) and mix together. Remove the ice from the glass and pour in the ingredientsfrom the jug, through a tea strainer if you don’t want any bits. Serve with cranberries or orange.

COS-NO - Fill a Martini glass (and yes, it does have to be a Martini glass) with ice cubes and put it in the fridge

FRESH LIME SODA

• 200ml sparkling water
• ½ to 1 fresh lime (reserving a small wedge for garnishing)
• Pinch of salt flakes
• Dash of sugar syrup

Method: Pour the sparkling mineral water into a glass. Add as much juice of the lime as suits you (I go for pretty much all of it) and then add a pinch of salt flakes and a dash of sugar syrup. Or normal sugar if easier. Bung in the wedge of lime to serve, stir and sip.

FRESH LIME SODA - Pour the sparkling mineral water into a glass. Add as much juice of the lime as suits you and then add a pinch of salt flakes and a dash of sugar syrup

WATERMELON & COCONUT SURPRISE

• 150ml fridge-cold watermelon juice (about 3 big hunks of watermelon put through the juicer)
• 50ml coconut water
• Squeeze of fresh lime
• Handful ice cubes

Method: Blitz the watermelon in a juicer, chill and pour into a jug through a sieve. Pour 50ml of coconut water into a glass and add roughly one to three parts watermelon juice along with a squeeze of lime and a handful of ice cubes.

WATERMELON & COCONUT SURPRISE - Blitz the watermelon in a juicer, chill and pour into a jug through a sieve

WARM APPLE PUNCH

• 1 litre apple juice
• 1 cinnamon stick (plus more for garnish)
• 6 cloves
• 4 strips of orange peel
• 1 knob of stem ginger in syrup plus 1 tbsp of the syrup
• Small pinch of ground allspice

Method: Put all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Turn it down to the lowest heat and leave for about 15 minutes before straining through a sieve into a heatproof jug or straight into glass mugs. Garnish with a cinnamon stick if you don’t mind using up a whole jar in one go.

WARM APPLE PUNCH - Put all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally

PINK LEMONADE

• Handful of ice cubes
• Sparkling mineral water
• Juice of half a lemon
• Dash of grenadine

Method: Put the ice into a tall glass and fill it two-thirds full with sparkling mineral water. Add the juice of half a lemon and a dash of grenadine (the red berry syrup that manages to add both sweetness and tartness all at the same time). Stir with a straw.

PINK LEMONADE - Put the ice into a tall glass and fill it two-thirds full with sparkling mineral water

SEEDLIP & TONIC

Seedlip is, according to its creator Ben Branson, a non-alcoholic distilled spirit. By infusing some of the same botanicals often used to make gin, it creates an aromatic, savoury drink to be mixed with tonic as you would with normal gin.

So it delivers the reassuringly bitter/sweet hit of a G&T but without the alcohol. (seedlipdrinks.com, £28 for a 70cl bottle)

• Handful of ice cubes
• 1 part Seedlip Spice 94
• 2 parts tonic water
• Slice of fresh lemon or twist of lemon peel

Method: Put the ice cubes into a tumbler or tall glass. Pour in Seedlip and tonic water. Serve with either a slice of fresh lemon or with a twist of lemon peel.

SEEDLIP & TONIC - Put the ice cubes into a tumbler or tall glass. Pour in Seedlip and tonic water

Helen McGinn’s Teetotal Tipples, for January and Beyond by Helen McGinn is published by Robinson, priced £9.99.

To order a copy for £7.99 (20 per cent discount) visit mailbookshop.co.uk or call 0844 571 0640, p&p is free on orders over £15. Offer valid until January 9.