Margarita
50 ml Tequila blanco, 20 ml Triple sec, 25 ml Lime juice, 1 pinch Salt, 1 Lime wedge
Photo: TequilaPaloma · All credits
Ingredients
- 50 ml Jigger The large side of a standard jigger, filled to the top: 50 ml, with 25 ml on the other side. Tequila blanco
- 60 ml Jigger One large side (50 ml) of a standard jigger, plus two teaspoons. Grapefruit juice - Pink is sweeter, white is sharper
- 15 ml Spoons A tablespoon. Lime juice
- 10 ml Spoons Two teaspoons. Simple syrup - Leave it out if your grapefruit is sweet
- 60 ml Jigger One large side (50 ml) of a standard jigger, plus two teaspoons. Soda water
- 1 pinch Spoons A pinch taken between finger and thumb - about a quarter of a teaspoon. Salt - For a salted rim, if you like (optional)
Measured in Millilitres (UK). Sign in to read these in American measures. Print a kitchen card at this size.
What the jigger, the spoons and the jug hold, in millilitres and in fluid ounces, is on the measures reference.
Quick version
- Build over ice with the juices, top with soda, and stir once.
Method
- If you want a salted rim, rub the rim of the glass with a lime wedge and dip it in salt.
- Fill the glass with ice, then pour in the tequila, grapefruit juice, lime juice and syrup.
- Top with soda water and stir once, gently.
- Add a wedge of grapefruit on the rim.
Serve it
Paloma
In Mexico this is probably drunk more often than the Margarita, which will surprise anybody who has only met it in a bar in another country - it is the everyday drink of a hot afternoon, made with grapefruit soda from a corner shop and drunk in the shade. The name means dove, and nobody is entirely sure why.
Getting it right
Grapefruit soda - Squirt, Jarritos, or whatever you can find - makes the most authentic version, and a grapefruit juice and soda mix is the more grown-up one. If you go the juice route, taste before you sweeten: a good pink grapefruit needs no syrup at all, and the drink is better slightly bitter. The salt rim is traditional but genuinely optional; if you are sceptical, leave it off and salt just one side.
Tasting notes
Dry, bitter and grapefruity, with the agave coming through the middle and the soda lifting it all up. The most refreshing long drink in the book, and the one to make when the sun is finally out.
More Tequila blanco cocktails
Tequila Sunrise
45 ml Tequila blanco, 90 ml Orange juice, 15 ml Grenadine, 1 Orange slice, 1 Maraschino cherry
Tommy's Margarita
60 ml Tequila blanco, 30 ml Lime juice, 15 ml Agave syrup, 1 pinch Salt, 1 wheel Lime