Mojito

The Mojito: Havana in a Glass

Ernest Hemingway was famously a devotee of the Mojito at Havana’s La Bodeguita del Medio. The drink itself goes back to 16th-century Cuba, when mint, lime and cane sugar were used to make rough rum drinkable.

What a good Mojito tastes like

Fresh mint and lime on the nose, a clean cane sweetness in the middle and a dry, sparkling finish. It should taste like a cold, herbal limeade with rum behind it.

Mojito measures in ml and oz

The house spec is 2-1-0.75, topped with soda.

Technique: muddle less, ice more

Press the mint and the syrup five or six times with a muddler in a highball: gentle pressure releases the aromatic oils without the bitter chlorophyll from the stems. Add the lime juice, fill to the top with crushed ice, pour in the rum, lift it twice with a bar spoon, then top with soda and a slapped mint sprig.

Alcohol and calories

Rum at 40% and roughly 175 ml of liquid put a Mojito near 14% ABV before the crushed ice and around 10% in the glass: roughly 180 kcal.

Substitutions

• No white rum: A light Cuban-style rum works best — Bacardí Superior or Havana Club 3 Year.
• No simple syrup: Two teaspoons of caster sugar muddled with the lime juice.
• No soda water: Plain sparkling water works; sparkling wine makes a Mojito Royale.

Common mistakes

• Over-muddling. Shredded leaves release chlorophyll and the drink turns bitter.
• Cubed ice. It cannot chill a tall drink fast enough, so the soda dies.
• Bottled lime juice. It flattens the drink and leaves a metallic edge.

Variations with their own names

• Queen’s Park Swizzle — Trinidad’s rum, lime, syrup, mint and Angostura, swizzled over crushed ice.
• Southside — gin, lime, syrup and mint, shaken and served up.
• Caipirinha — cachaça, muddled lime and sugar, no mint and no soda.

When to serve it

Hot weather, with food that has lime and chilli in it: grilled fish, ceviche, jerk chicken, plantain chips.

Mojito FAQ

Why does my Mojito taste bitter?

Either the leaves were shredded during muddling or the mint was old.

Should you muddle the mint or just slap it?

Muddle it lightly; the sprig goes in whole at the end, slapped once, for the aroma.