Anatomy of a Classic Cocktail: The Mojito

Summer calls for the Cuban refresher, featuring mint, lime, rum, and sugar—and a muddled history

Put an abundance of summertime mint to good use in a fresh, fizzy, perfectly balanced mojito. plov_mlov/Shutterstock

If you have mint growing in your garden, you’re likely swimming in it right now. This summery cocktail tops the list of what to do with it.

The mojito has uncertain origins, but one of the most popular theories is that in the 1580s, Sir Francis Drake—commissioned by Queen Elizabeth I to plunder the Spanish to try to get at their horde of looted gold—arrived in Havana with an ill crew. His cousin proposed a mix of lime, mint, and cane sugar liquor as medicine, which became known as El Draque. Rum took over the liquor role, and it became the “mojito,” a name with its own share of origin stories. Regardless of whodunnit first, the birthplace is generally reported as La Habana, Cuba.

Mojito Myths

But other myths spread, much like mint left untended. The mojito’s ingredients—lime, mint, sugar, and rum—are well-suited for island life, but despite common claims, none of them are actually native to Cuba. Limes hail from Asia, mint from the Mediterranean, and sugar had been grown for thousands of years in what is now New Guinea before humans carried it around the globe. While rum is fermented and distilled from plantation cane sugar juice and molasses, it can be said to be a Caribbean creation, at least.