Mojito #1

Put juice and sugar into glass, stir until dissolved. Rub mint leaves on inside of glass and discard. Fill with crushed ice and rum, stir. Top with soda water and garnish with a sprig of mint.

Right now, one of the most popular and trendy drinks is the Mojito. In fact, your chances of being in a bar and hearing someone near you order one is pretty darned good, especially during the warmer months.

Unlike many drinks that have been around for years but are just reemerging as popular menu items, the Mojito has been around for a relatively short amount of time, at least in the United States.

The conventional Cuban cocktail, which is often compared to a mint julep, has been a favorite in Cuba for decades. Rumor has it that Ernest Hemingway loved a good Mojito and enjoyed the minty drink on occasion.

Miami residents have been enjoying Mojitos for a while now, mainly because of its large Cuban populace. However, it wasn’t until the late 1980s that the Mojito began to catch on elsewhere in the United States. It seems that in the last few years the cocktail really began to grow a fan base and become a popular choice in trendy clubs and bars.

When creating a Mojito, a traditional recipe calls for only five ingredients, which are sugar, rum, mint, lime, and carbonated water. Some might not enjoy rum because it packs such a potent punch, but in this cocktail, the heavy flavor is nicely masked by the refreshingly sweet flavors of the mint and lime. Should you order a Mojito in Havana, you might find that your drink is prepared with an additional ingredient, Angostura Bitters, to help cut a bit of its sweetness.