mojito

There's no drink more refreshing than the classic mojito. It's light, fizzy, tart, and herbaceous. The mojito was originally created in Cuba and was made with yerba buena, a type of spearmint. These days, variations and different flavors of the mojito can be found all over the world.

The ingredients are simple — rum, sugar, lime juice, sparkling water, and mint — but the resulting cocktail is absolutely sublime. The recipe featured here calls for light rum, but all I had was dark, so I used that instead; the mojito was still wonderful! Keep reading to kickstart your weekend with a tall cool glass of this popular beverage.

National Rum Day isn't until next Tuesday, but why not get the party started now? After all, it's the end of a work week, and there is no better time for a rum drink than Friday afternoon. There are tons of mojito variations out there, but the one I've been sipping lately is this refreshing and potent pineapple version. It's like a mojito that's decided to go on a tropical vacation!

The pineapple provides a nice sweetness, so no extra sugar is necessary. There's four ounces of alcohol in this drink, but thanks to the pineapple juice, it doesn't taste too strong! If you prefer a mojito with a little effervescence, top it off with sparkling water or soda. You've got to make this beverage: here's the recipe.

We've just passed the halfway mark for Summer, but that means at least several more weeks of scorching sun and humidity that's thicker than fog. The perfect remedy? None other than that classic Cuban favorite, the mojito. There's something impossibly refreshing about the combination of rum with soda, mint, and lime — although we've been known to shake things up with seasonally focused flavors. Here are a few of our top picks.

Ginger mojito	Cherry mojito	Raspberry mojito
Lemonade mojito	Piña colada mojito	Orange mojito

I love imbibing on a warm day — especially after a long run or outdoor workout. But I'm not trying to void my workout with a cocktail full of hidden calories. After doing a little research and experimenting with recipes at home, I found the perfect calorie-friendly cocktail: the mojito! And with rising temperatures on the way, it's becoming my new weekend cocktail.

Since a mojito is made with fresh ingredients and zero-calorie soda water, it ends up being a much better choice than cocktails like a gin and tonic or a rum and coke. You can also make the drink even fresher and more seasonal by muddling in some fruit from your local farmers market; I love adding strawberries or pineapple to mine. I also find that adding fruit means I can cut down on the amount of sugar I add to the recipe.

See the recipe and my calorie breakdown of the cocktail when you read more

This October, pumpkin puree is the hottest seasonal ingredient to stir into cocktails. After noticing it in a recent recipe, I've seen it in countless other concoctions. One that caught my eye is this Fall-themed orange mojito. The combination of spiced rum, muddled mint, brown sugar, lime juice, and pumpkin puree is wonderfully balanced and quite refreshing. The pumpkin doesn't overpower the drink, instead it enhances the flavor of the rum. It's made like any other mojito, so you will need a muddler. Since rum is the only spirit, select a high-quality one like Cruzan's aged spiced rum. To give this cocktail a try — I promise you won't be disappointed — keep reading.

Waiting for a table at a Caribbean joint a few weeks back, my friends and I were enchanted — possibly a bit too enchanted — by the ginger mojito on the cocktail menu. Fresh and crisp like the traditional rum drink but with a kick of aromatic ginger to balance the tang of the lime and the coolness of the mint, these mo'gingeritos were so good, I had to replicate the recipe.

While I have no idea how the restaurant made its cocktail, my at-home version tasted remarkably similar. So get gingery at your next Summer soiree with this delicious recipe

On a hot day, there's nothing quite like a tall glass filled with a tart mojito. Although the drink was created in Cuba in 1943, it's now considered a classic cocktail by America's top bartenders.

Since it's one of my favorite Summer sips, I'm serving them at my Independence Day party. While there's plenty of variations, from cherry to mango, I'm serving the traditional rum, lime, and mint version. The party is sure to last several hours, so don't forget to stock up on beer, soda, and wine.

For the mojito recipe, read more