Who’d like a Mojito with a Berry Blast to sip as the sun goes down?

Yes, yes, yes … that’s a big “YES PLEASE We’d love one!

We think this twist on the ever popular classic is fabulous.

Where did the Mojito begin?

According to Taste Cocktails, in the 1500s, Sir Francis Drake landed in Havana to sack the city of its gold. The invasion was unsuccessful, but luckily for us something good did come of it. His crew were suffering from dysentery and scurvy. Local South American Indians were known to have remedies for many diseases, so a small party went ashore to Cuba and came back with ingredients for a medicine. They used aguarediente de cana, mint leaves, and the juices from sugar cane and limes to put together a tonic which turned out to be effective. We know now that the lime juice was the helpful ingredient, but the others surely made it far more palatable!

So we see that long before celebrities started sipping on a long tall Mojito, the original Mojito was apparently a medicinal drink to curb disease on the island of Cuba. A moon shine rum-type alcohol was mixed with mint, lime, and sugar cane syrup to ward off illness.

The story then goes that when pirates invaded Cuba they promptly used rum in place of the Cuban moonshine (not surprising). It was first named La Drake after the first pirate to experience the Cuban Mojito but later become the Mojito.

The popularity of the Mojito began to rise with Ernest Hemingway during his time in Cuba. Although there is conjecture about this too – perhaps the Mojito invokes mystery wherever it goes …

The Mojito increased in popularity far more recently than Sir Drake or Hemingway when it was featured in a James Bond Film and later in a Johnny Depp film.

Where did the name come from?

The name Mojito comes from ‘Mojo’ which is an African word for magic, which we all know can happen after a cocktail or two …

To be honest, the history is fun.  But that doesn’t take away from the fact that we love any excuse to muddle ourselves a mojito and settle into our favourite chair to watch the sun go down.

So there’s your new favourite drink sorted. Enjoy!