Cocktail recipe
Daiquiri
Rum, lime and sugar in razor-sharp balance—three ingredients, nowhere to hide.
Ingredients
- 60 ml (2 oz) lightly aged or white rum
- 25 ml (⅚ oz) fresh lime juice
- 15 ml (½ oz) simple syrup (1:1).
- Garnish: Small lime coin, optional.
Preparation
Chill a coupe until the glass is frosted. Add rum, fresh lime and syrup to a shaker; pack with firm ice and shake energetically until the tin turns cold. Fine-strain straight up. The finished drink should be vivid and brisk, never slushy: this is the classic shaken Daiquiri, not the frozen resort version.
Glassware
Chilled coupe
History
The drink is associated with the Daiquirí area near Santiago de Cuba and American mining engineer Jennings Cox around the turn of the twentieth century, although Cuban rum-lime-sugar combinations are older than any named inventor. Later Havana bartenders, including Constantino Ribalaigua at El Floridita, developed influential variations and helped carry the drink internationally. Hemingway-related versions are distinct descendants rather than the defining classic. Precise early proportions and the neatness of the Cox narrative warrant primary-source review.
Mixology View
The Daiquiri is the bartender's calibration test. If the rum disappears, the sugar is too high; if the lime dominates, the drink is unfinished. Keep the canonical recipe separate from Hemingway Special and frozen versions.