From that moment on, I was sold. It became a small obsession for me to find perfect Mojito. Because of its popularity back in the day, you could find it anywhere. There was no need to go to a cocktailbar. However, in most normal bars, the ingredients were not fresh, it was made too fast so the mojitos were kind of crap. I also started making them my self but it was never really what I was looking for. There was no balance in the cocktail. Too much rum, too much lime, too much sugar. Too much of everything except the mint. Now at the time I always bought my ingredients in the local supermarket. Most of the fruits they sell aren't bad but the mint misses freshness.
In the summer of 2009 I visited Cuba with my parents. being in the birthplace of rum and mojitos, I was really excited. Tasting a real Cuban mojito is something else. Although the Cuban mojito looks a lot simpler, Cubans take their time too make a good mojito. The taste was amazing and really fresh. Perfect for hot Carribean weather. I payed good attention to the way the Cuban bartenders made their Mojitos so I could try the same at home. There was no crushed ice and they didn't use muddlers. The Cuban mojito was made very easily. They filled the bottom of the glass with sugar, then drowned it with limejuice and muddled it with the flat end of the barspoon. Next was the rum: Havanna Club 3 anejos was most commonly used. Since the I always used this rum as well. I tried Cachaça once after a bartender gave me this advice but me and Niklas both found the rum too sweet for a mojito. After the rum, the mint was added to the drink. Big and fresh leafs, with an amazing fresh scent. the leafs were gently crushed on the sugar and lime with the barspoon. The last part were the ice cubes and sparkling water to finish the drink followed by a good stir to mix everything. Delicious!
Back in good old Belgium I decided to give it another go. I looked up some more recipes on the internet and had some advice from other people. I learned that people here do the strangest things with a mojito. Some add a little bit of Sprite in it. Although I would never use it myself, I can understand this. There is however a fool who even gave me the advice too replace the sparkling water with Red Bull. I almost vomited after hearing this.
The most important thing I was still missing for the perfect mojito, I recently found here in Ghent. I found the perfect fresh mint that was still missing in a local fruit and vegetable store on the Vrijdagsmarkt. The size of the leafs, the smell, the color, simply perfect. I did change a couple of things to the Cuban recipe. Instead of using only limejuice, I threw is 3 small parts of lime, muddled them on the base of sugar. Next, i added the rum. 6,5 cl of the Havanna Club 3 anejos. I gave the whole a good stir with my barspoon so the sugar would disolve in the rum and the limejuice. Then the mint followed. I was quite generous with it and forgot to count the leaves. but the most important to me was the smell, the scent of the mint has to be there but not overwhelming. I muddled the mint in the rest of the ingredients and added a bit of sparkling water, gave it another stir and added some crushed ice. I took a few more mint leafs and muddled them on the ice which gave an extra freshness. Finally I added a bit more of sparkling water, gave it a last good stir and topped it with some more crushed iced. Too give it the finishing touch, I garnished it with a small mintsprig.
So the ingredients for my perfect mojito:
-a bottom of cane sugar
-3 parts of lime
-6,5 cl of Havanna Club 3 anejos
-sparkling water
-loads of fresh mint
-crushed ice
-1 small mintsprig
Salud!
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