Authentic Cuban Mojito (with or without alcohol)

Ingredients to make an authentic Cuban Mojito (with or without alcohol):

1. 30 milliliters of lime (juice of half a lime)
2. 2 sprigs of mint (the leaves and the stem)
3. 1 tablespoon of white sugar
4. 60 milliliters of Havana Club 3 rum (or 2 ounces) (if we want it with alcohol)
5. soda water

To decorate (optional):

1. 1 long cocktail spoon
2. 1 sprig of mint

How to make an authentic Cuban Mojito (with or without alcohol):

• To make a good original Cuban mojito we take a Collins-type glass because it is the best for mixing and in which everything is better stylized, and we pour the sugar and lime juice into it in that order. It is better to use freshly squeezed lime juice and not to crush the fruit so as not to add the bitter connotations of the lime peel to the drink.
• Tip: No brown sugar added? Not because it dissolves worse and because it gives a “dirty” appearance to the mojito.
• Immediately afterwards we add the mint and crush its stem with a pestle or a macerator (without crushing or chopping).
• Trick: ‎Don’t you crush the mint? Not because it can give more flavor than we want and because when drinking the Cuban mojito it can be annoying to come across the pieces of mint.
• Then we add the rum (or the same amount of sparkling water if we want it without alcohol) and stir, letting the sugar dissolve, and we crush again so that everything takes on flavor.
• Tip: Is Havana Club 3 rum used? Yes because it is the Cuban rum that is originally used in the recipe in Cuba.
• Then we add ice cubes until they overflow the glass and we finish filling the glass with sparkling water. If the mojito is made with Sprite it will not be an authentic Cuban mojito.
• Trick: 7up/Sprite/similar is not used because they alter the taste of a good mojito and provide artificial flavors that do not go well with the Cuban cocktail. Are you using ice cubes and not crushed ice? Yes because it is more difficult than with the ice cubes to melt.
• We decorate the authentic Cuban mojito with the sprig of mint and with the cocktail spoon. If we want more flavor to this aromatic herb, we must crush the mint more with the spoon to obtain more flavor.