Bar Classic · Rum & Mint Highball

Mojito

Photo: Ralf Roletschek / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0

Cuban bartenders make it with hierbabuena, a local spearmint that is milder than the peppermint often substituted abroad.

Fresh mint, lime juice, and sugar are muddled together, topped with white rum, soda water, and ice, then finished with a sprig of mint. Havana's old-town bars, including La Bodeguita del Medio with its disputed Hemingway connection, have poured it this way for decades.

Why it's made this way: Havana's rum bars turned a simple planter's-style drink into the city's signature cocktail, and it remains one of the most ordered drinks along the streets of Old Havana today.