My Original Mojito

½ cup sugar
½ cup water
10 fresh mint leaves, plus more for garnish
½ lime, plus lime slices for garnish
1½ ounces light rum*
1 drop Angostura bitters*
Ice and club soda as needed

Make a simple syrup: Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium and boil, stirring just until sugar dissolves, 1 to 2 minutes. Set aside to cool.*

Place 6 mint leaves and lime half in a cocktail glass. Muddle thoroughly, (watch video), by crushing to release lime juice and essential oils from mint. Add rum, 2 to 3 tablespoons simple syrup (to taste) and bitters. Blend well, using a cocktail shaker or spoon. Strain into a serving glass. Add 4 more mint leaves to glass.

Fill glass about 2/3 full with ice and top off with club soda to taste. Stir well. Garnish with mint leaves and lime slices and serve.

My Original Mojito

Here’s how this Mojito differs from Bacardi’s Original recipe and those I’ve sampled in Miami restaurants:

I strain the liquid after muddling and shaking to rid the drink of mint fragments and lime pulp that sticks in the teeth and makes you think you’re drinking something a bit too organic for a celebration. (And lets you enjoy every last drop without fighting aforementioned fragments in the final sips.)

And bitters, which is a trick I learned while sampling a lot of Mojitos in Key West and determining that something was special about one in particular. One bottle of bitters is likely to last a lifetime, and it’s not expensive. Totally worth it.

Finally, you’ll notice this recipe isn’t precise. Each Mojito is a work of art. One of a kind. All good. Make to taste on the syrup, rum, ice and soda front, so long as you muddle. And use the bitters.

My Original Mojito

When it comes to a Mojito, does anybody really care?

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