Set aside 300g strawberries for the second infusion. Slice them thinly and refrigerate. Roughly chop the remaining 900g strawberries and place them in a large bowl. Add the sugar and the pinch of salt. Mash gently but thoroughly until the strawberries release a lot of juice. Let sit for 20 to 30 minutes. The strawberries should look glossy, juicy, and syrupy before straining. If they still look dry, give them more time. Sugar and salt together draw moisture out of the strawberries' own cell structure through osmosis, and watching for that specific glossy, syrupy visual cue is the most reliable way to confirm the maceration has actually released enough juice before moving forward.

Take about 10 to 12g basil leaves and tear them lightly by hand. Add them to the strawberry pulp. Mash very gently for 20 to 30 seconds — just enough to release the basil aroma into the strawberry juice. Do not grind the basil into a paste. Basil becomes dull and grassy if it is crushed too hard or left in the pulp too long. Keep this extraction short and gentle. That specific, brief window — 20 to 30 seconds, no longer — is calibrated precisely to release basil's aromatic oils into the surrounding strawberry juice without pushing past that point into the territory where the herb's own cell structure breaks down enough to introduce bitterness.

Set a fine-mesh sieve over a large pitcher or bowl. Pour in the strawberry-basil pulp and press gently with a spoon to extract the juice. Do not force every bit of pulp through. You want a clean, drinkable base, not a thick smoothie texture. Discard the solids. Pressing only gently here, rather than firmly, keeps the finished base genuinely drinkable rather than thick with strawberry pulp — a distinction that matters specifically because this base still carries the recently mashed basil, whose own bitter compounds would be more likely to release under firmer pressure than a plain strawberry mash alone.

Add the fresh lemon juice to the strained strawberry-basil base. Stir well. Add 3.2 liters cold filtered water and taste. Add more cold water if needed, aiming for about 4 liters total. The drink should taste bright, strawberry-forward, lightly herbal, and refreshing. This tasting checkpoint matters directly given how much strawberry ripeness and sweetness can vary — building in that adjustment stage accounts for that natural variability rather than assuming a fixed recipe always lands at the same balance.

Add the reserved sliced strawberries to the pitcher. Take the remaining 8 to 10g basil leaves, lightly rub or clap them between your fingers, then add them to the drink. Stir gently. Refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours so the sliced strawberries and basil lightly infuse the pitcher. The basil should smell fresh and aromatic, not dominant. If the basil flavor is strong enough before 2 hours, remove the leaves. This second, separate basil addition — handled even more gently than the first, with only a light rub rather than any mashing — layers in a fresh, distinct herbal note on top of the base's own already-established basil character.

Add ice to the pitcher just before serving, or fill individual glasses with ice. Pour the strawberry basil drink over the ice, making sure each glass gets a few strawberry slices and basil leaves. Adding the ice only at this final stage, rather than earlier, protects the drink from being diluted before the second infusion has had its full window to actually develop.