Mojito

Why This Recipe Works

Origin stories for the mojito range from it being invented during Sir Francis Drake's attempted plunder of Cuba in 1586 to it being concocted in a Havana bar that Ernest Hemingway frequented in the 1950s. But while the origins of the mojito are unclear, the deliciousness of this king of muddled drinks is not. Fresh and herbaceous from muddled mint, sweet yet tart from fresh lime juice and sugar, and with a kick of white rum and a fizzy splash of seltzer, the mojito is perennially popular, and it's easy to see why. Yet there are some versions of a mojito that we'd rather not drink again: those with a crunchy layer of undissolved sugar at the bottom, and those where we have to strain out shreds of muddled mint with our teeth. To solve the first problem, we muddled a generous amount of mint with Simple Syrup instead of granulated sugar to ensure that the sweetener was fully dissolved in the cocktail. Muddling the mint for a full 30 seconds, until it was fragrant, extracted maximum mint flavor even without the help of abrasive granulated sugar. To avoid shreds of herb clogging up our straw or our teeth, we did all the muddling in a cocktail shaker, added the remaining ingredients and ice to shake, and then strained it all into a chilled serving glass over ice. Topped with chilled seltzer and garnished with a fresh sprig of mint, our drink was both refreshing and easy to drink.