Section the orange, half lemon, and half lime — removing seeds and all tough membranes from each while retaining clean citrus pulp. Remove all white pith from each fruit. The pith removal note applies across all three with slightly different urgency: lime pith at lime's low pH is the most aggressive of the three; lemon pith is intermediate; orange pith is the most forgiving. In this combined preparation, removing all pith from all three citrus produces the cleanest result — each contributes its pleasant aromatic and acid character from the clean juice-sac pulp without the harsh limonoid dimension that any pith inclusion would add. Add all three citrus pulps to the large pitcher together. Muddle gently — a single slow press with the muddler applied once to the combined pulp pile, sufficient to break a portion of the segments and release juice and aromatic compounds from all three simultaneously. The combined mash creates an immediate citrus aromatic impression in the pitcher that is specifically more complex than any single citrus's aroma: orange's warm esters, lemon's sharp citral compounds, and lime's tropical terpenes present together in the combined medium.

Pre-dissolve any honey. Add with optional citrus juice (30–60ml total across all three citrus — a barely perceptible combined brightness rather than any citrus flavour; the lemon and lime fraction of this juice should be conservative given their more assertive acid character) and the optional salt.

Pour the 3 litres of ice-cold water into the pitcher. Add the thinly sliced orange, lemon, and lime rounds — the three colours providing the preparation's most visually appealing quality: the warm golden-orange rounds alongside the pale yellow lemon and vivid green-edged lime producing a specifically beautiful, multi-toned citrus visual throughout the cold water. Stir gently once or twice. Cover and refrigerate for 1–4 hours. The infusion develops as a progressively layered citrus character: at 1 hour the orange's warmer, sweeter aromatic register is most present; by 2 hours the lemon's bright notes are more specifically contributing; by 4 hours all three are at their maximum pleasant combined presence. The water's colour deepens from clear toward a pale, warm golden-tinted clarity. After 4 hours, remove all citrus slices and pulp. The binding constraint is lime's peel bitterness timeline — the fastest of the three. At 4 hours the lime, lemon, and orange rounds are at their combined maximum pleasant contribution; beyond this the lime begins contributing bitterness that is disproportionately more than the orange would at the same point. Serve well chilled directly from the pitcher, or over ice. Add fresh citrus slices to the pitcher or glasses at serving time for visual freshness.