The Real Cuban Mojito

Mojito at Hotel Ambos Mundos, Havana

If you're looking for the classic Cuban Mojito, the way Ernest Hemingway drank it in Old Havana, you've come to the right place!

For starters, a real mojito is a very simple and delicious cocktail, if you make it the right way. One trick is the sequence in which you add the ingredients; the other is the addition of the sprigs as well as the mint leaves (or yerbabuena) Aside from that, it consists of 5 simple ingredients, sugar, limes, mint, soda water, good rum (make mine Bacardi!) and ice cubes, NOT crushed ice. Use a tall cylindrical glass. To make several mojitos, line up the glasses and follow this sequence.

Ingredients

2 Tsps Sugar

1/2 Lime

2 Sprigs of Mint

1 Part Soda Water

2 Parts Bacardi Rum

Ice Cubes

To the glass, add the sugar and coat with the juice of the 1/2 lime (save the wedge). Add the mint, leaves and sprigs, soda and leftover lime wedge. Muddle well with a pestle. Add the rum and top with ice cubes.


The craddle of the Cuban Mojito is a place in Old Havana named La Bodeguita del Medio. Originally an old warehouse in the middle of a side street near the cathedral, it later became a bodega and eventually a restaurant in the 1940's. There is an old saying of Hemingway's on a wall, "Mi mojito en La Bodeguita y mi daiquiri en El Floridita," another legendary Cuban establishment. Hollywood celebrities such as Errol Flynn, Nat King Cole and Ava Gardner where notable visitors in the 50's.





I have enclosed a link to La Bodeguita del Medio in Old Havana which is wonderful. I have to take my hat off to the Cuban government. Sometimes it takes a bit to load (It is a Cuban link!) but wait..you will be delighted you did. Make sure you click on the link to the bar and watch a Cuban bartender make a real mojito! Unfortunately, the chain of Bodeguitas that you find around the world, including one in Miami and another in California, have nothing to do with the old place. They are just tourist traps with bad food and horrendous prices.

I hope you enjoy your mojitos and your visit to La Bodeguita del Medio!



http://www.havana-mojito.com/en/la_bodeguita_del_medio