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Cocktail Academy

Mojito: the most drank cocktail in the world

Mojito: the world's most drunk cocktail

Raise your hand if you have never tasted a Mojito, perhaps on some warm summer evening: it is hard to find anyone, even among people less fond of cocktails. It is indeed one of the most popular drinks in the world, with legendary origins but still linked to the world of pirates.

The history of the Mojito is in fact linked to that of Sir Francis Drake, the famous English privateer, who in 1586 supposedly created a mixture of lime juice, water, cane sugar, distilled spirits and mint. This drink, known as El Draque, had two main purposes: to give pirates and sailors courage during assaults and, thanks to the vitamin C contained in the lime, to help fight scurvy, which was widespread among those who spent months on ships.

Paloma cocktail

The Mojito as a cocktail, on the other hand, began to spread in the mid-19th century, at the same time as the spread of rum, and entered into legend thanks to the writer Ernest Hemingway. A great drinker, as well as the author of some of the most famous novels in the history of literature, Hemingway was an avid frequenter of the Bodeguita del Medio, the establishment of the legendary bartender Angel Martinez. It was here that the writer left his famous saying: 'My mojito in La Bodeguita, my daiquiri in El Floridita'.

The origins of the name are also uncertain: Mojito might derive from mojo, a Caribbean sauce made of lemon juice and garlic, but according to another, more suggestive version, it comes directly from the world of voodoo, where mojo means 'spell'.

Tips

The Mojito is always too often 'mistreated': the mint should not be crushed and broken up, as this prevents it from benefiting from its essential oils, compromising the drinking pleasure.

The lime should be squeezed, preferably on the spot, in order to obtain the right acidity by balancing it with the aromatic part of the fruit itself.
Try to keep the soda cool: it may seem like a detail, but this will avoid over-dilution.

Make sure that the rum you are going to use in the Mojito has an aromatic richness that will bring you back to sugar cane. This cocktail has suffered from over-popularity, and all too often is prepared with very low quality rums, without any aromatic intensity: practically rums that, apart from the alcoholic charge, carry nothing.

The ice must be whole cubes, so as to maintain the temperature as well as possible. Often crushed or cracked ice is not stored properly, so it heats up quickly and dilutes the cocktail irreparably.

recipe

RIO NEGRO
  • 50 ml white rum
  • 30 ml fresh lime juice
  • fresh mint
  • 2 bar spoon of white cane sugar
  • Top Fever Tree Soda Water

Place fresh mint, a whole sprig complete with leaves and sprig, in the glass.

Add two tablespoons, barspoon size, filled with brown sugar.
Squeeze the lime on the spot and pour into the bottom of the glass. The lime should be massaged lightly before cutting it in half: this helps to soften the pulp and release the juice more easily. However, do not exaggerate with the pressure, you risk extracting bitter taste from the white part under the peel.

Add a small amount of soda.
Whirling the pestle in the glass, massage the mint without crushing it, so as to release all the essential oils of the mint. Do not exaggerate with the pressure, otherwise you will end up extracting the bitterness and herbaceous taste, which spoils the overall taste of the cocktail by bringing in smells of wet grass, and losing the fragrance of the mint.

Add ice, strictly in cubes.
Pour in the rum. You should look for a distillate with a medium intense flavour profile, such as ron might have been at the time this cocktail was invented.
Mix with barspoon. Top up with soda water, always cold, so as not to trigger unwanted dilution.
Mix quickly.
Garnish with a sprig of mint at the top, it is always very aesthetically pleasing and retains a good amount of essential oils.

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Mojito: the most drank cocktail in the world