3 Classic Cuban Daiquiri Recipes, Explained by an Expert
“If you want to check the bartender, you get the Daiquiri,” says Julio Cabrera, of Miami’s Cafe La Trova. “Not every person will make a good Daiquiri: It appears to be uncomplicated, but it’s not.”

But mastering the composition of the three-component classic—rum, lime, sugar—can unlock the format’s singular flexibility. For Cabrera, a single of the most forgotten factors in the Daiquiri is the sweetener.


“I like white sugar,” he says—not very simple syrup, which, if created with incredibly hot drinking water, can have a slight caramelized taste. “That impacts the high quality of the Daiquiri,” he clarifies.


For his Daiquiri Clasico, the property Daiquiri served at La Trova, Cabrera shakes a fifty percent-tablespoon of white granulated sugar with two ounces of white rum (his preferred manufacturer is Bacardí Superior, which has an ABV that is “not as well sturdy, not also higher, not also overproof”) and a few-quarters of an ounce of refreshing lime juice—the exact same way it is been designed in Cuba considering the fact that 1898. “In Cuba, almost no one particular employs very simple syrup,” he claims, a tradition he’s taken care of at Cuba-impressed La Trova, in which all the beverages are made with white sugar for its “fresh, clean” flavor.

By comparison, a consume built with the exact same proportions, but with a 50 percent-ounce of straightforward syrup as a substitute of granulated sugar, would have a different outcome. Apart from the subtle caramelization that takes place if the syrup has been heated, the further h2o added by using the syrup final results in a extra diluted drink.
Instead than altering the sweetener, Cabrera prefers to incorporate small quantities of liqueur to modify his Daiquiris. For his refreshingly slushy Daiquiri #4 (or Daiquiri Floridita), the white rum is decreased to one and a 50 percent ounces, though a quarter-ounce of maraschino liqueur health supplements the white sugar and the requisite lime juice, all blended with crushed ice and served in a significant coupe glass.

This frozen version of the Hemingway Daiquiri resembles the 1 developed in Havana in the 1920s, and is nevertheless served at Havana’s legendary bar La Floridita, where by author Ernest Hemingway popularized the consume. “It’s popular all all over the globe because of Hemingway,” states Cabrera. “That Daiquiri is a lot more well-known than the common in Cuba.” Even though the original specified two to three dashes of maraschino, Cabrera prefers a complete quarter-ounce, which stands up perfectly in the blended variation. (For individuals retaining track: The #1 is the Clasico #2 is sweetened by orange juice and Cointreau #3 with maraschino and grapefruit juice and #4, aka the Hemingway, with maraschino by yourself.)

Yet another delicate variation adds a splash of absinthe (or pastis) to the classic shaken Daiquiri, yielding the Greta Garbo. The splash of anise plays well with each the lime juice and the rum. “It’s a contact of a thing else, a touch of flavor that can make it much more complex, extra pleasant, more ‘aperitif.’”

This model is woefully underrated, Cabrera claims, and he’s additional it to La Trova’s menu as an instance of a rescued “forgotten” Cuban classic. “I really do not know why persons do not make it far more generally,” he says. “For me, it’s even superior than the Clasico.”
