How to make a mojito that’d make Hemingway happy

Food & drink
The mojito, a classic Carribean rum and mint cocktail

‘Mojito’ means ‘something wet’.  It’s a perfect summer drink, long, cool, refreshing and sweet.

Unsurprisingly, the mojito has it’s origins in the Caribbean, in Cuba, specifically.  Legendary drinker Ernest Hemingway was a fan, and wrote “mi mojito en la Bodeguita”, which translates as ‘my mojito at the Bodeguita’, on the wall of his favourite Havana bar.

Not his greatest literary work, but Hemingway’s graffiti is still there.

Tip a teaspoon of white cane sugar into a highball glass and add a good squeeze of lime juice.  Add a small handful of fresh mint leaves to the glass and gently mash them into the sugar using a fork or the handle of a wooden spoon.

The idea is to gently pound the leaves so that they start to get bruised and release their essential oils.  A bartender would use a special stick for this, called a ‘muddle’.  You can just muddle* through with whatever’s to hand.

Fill the glass nearly  to the top with crushed ice and pour in 50ml of white rum.  Let’s not kid ourselves here.  You’re not going to measure it out, just give the bottle a nice, long pour.

Mix everything around a little more, lifting the mint and sugar mix up into the ice and fill the glass up with soda water.

Garnish with some more mint leaves and drink on a beach somewhere hot.

*I’m sorry, I do apologise for that. It was uncalled for.