How to Serve Flavored Sugar Cubes to Guests: When the Drinks Do the Hosting

There is a moment at almost every gathering when everybody ends up in the kitchen. Someone is opening wine. Someone is lingering over the Spinach dip. Someone else is telling a bad Dad joke with sweeping hand gestures.

This is why we have people over. To be in the middle of it all. I do not want to miss it because I’m searching for the cocktail shaker or scraping something sticky off the counter.

At Storied Goods, we make gourmet Sugar Cubes to sweeten, flavor, and beautify drinks. But when friends come over, the Cubes can do one more thing: give people something to choose, share, compare, and talk about. Here are some of our favorite ways to bring on the celebration. 

Let your guests choose a Cube for someone else.

Put out two or three tins beside drinks at your bar, on the counter, or wherever you are gathering. Invite a friend to choose a flavor for the person beside them. Maybe  Cinnamon Vanilla for her coffee? Rose Petal for his sparkling wine? 

Maybe your friend chooses Orange Cherry because you always order an Old Fashioned. Maybe you choose Celebration Sparkle for the person who loves wearing sequins. The Cube becomes a tiny, edible version of Oh, I know you! 

You can do this with hot tea or coffee, too. Let each guest choose a tin and make the next person’s cup. No bar skills required.

Make the first pour a little show.

For sparkling wine, put a Rose Petal Sugar Cube in the glass, then pour. The bubbles work their way through the Cube, releasing its sweetness and sending real rose petals floating upward. It is hard not to stop and watch.

Celebration Sparkle is our pink Cube with rhubarb bitters and edible glitter. Pour sparkling wine over it and watch the glitter move through the glass. If you’ve ever wanted to make a toast for no particular reason, this is an excellent excuse.

Keep alcohol-free sparkling wine beside the other bottle. Everyone gets the same beautiful moment; each guest chooses what goes in the glass.

Try the same drink two different ways.

Here’s a very easy tasting party: pour the same sparkling wine into two glasses. Add Rose Petal to one and Celebration Sparkle to the other. Let two guests taste their own versions and compare notes. Which would you pour again? is a much better conversation-starter than What do you think of this weather?

You can try the idea with black tea, too: Rose Petal in one mug, Orange Cherry in another. Let people compare the floral and fruit notes. Or make two coffees, one plain and one with Cinnamon Vanilla, and see who can’t wait for a second cup. 

Give the cocktail a story of its own.

Our Orange Cherry Sugar Cube exists because people kept asking us for an easier Old Fashioned. For your guests who love bourbon, add a Cube and a few dashes of bitters to a rocks glass, muddle, pour in bourbon, add a large piece of ice, and stir. The orange zest and tart cherry are conveniently contained. 

Some more great conversation-starters: What does everybody order when they get to choose the restaurant? Who taught them to make a good cocktail? Who always makes the coffee at their house? Drinks have a way of carrying people into the conversation.

Bring out a second round when the party changes shape.

The arrival drink and the stay-a-little-longer drink do not have to be the same. Start with bubbles. Later, put the Cinnamon Vanilla tin next to a pot of hot coffee, or set Rose Petal beside the tea kettle. Add dessert, if you have it. If not, a good conversation is enough.

This is usually when the gathering gets good: shoes come off, somebody moves to the sofa, and a guest who was just popping in asks for another glass. Let them stir up their own fun!

A setup that leaves you free to be a part.

You only need glasses, two or three flavors, a spoon or tongs, and the drinks you’ve decided to serve. For a larger group, put hot drinks in one place and sparkling drinks in another. Set the tins where guests can reach them.

If people are new to Sugar Cubes, make the first glass together. After that, they’ll show each other. Rose with bubbles. Cinnamon Vanilla with coffee. Orange Cherry in an Old Fashioned. And whatever combination somebody invents next.

That’s what we’re after: drinks that are easy, beautiful, and delicious. And ways to help you host so you don’t miss your own party. Tell us what your guests created. We want to hear the stories!