Daiquirí Clásico Recipe (Classic Cuban Daiquiri)

Three ingredients — rum, fresh lime juice, and sugar — make up one of the most famous cocktails ever created: the Daiquiri. The 19th-century cocktail is one of the original templates for the sour category of drinks, which includes the Margarita and Gimlet. 

The simplicity of a classic Daiquiri is its superpower. The tension of sweet and sour, alongside the heady tropical notes of an unaged white rum, make this cocktail a minimalist masterpiece. But it all has to be balanced on a knife’s edge. Though the drink has few ingredients, the margin for error is vast.

The classic Daiquiri, a favorite of craft bartenders, is often a litmus test for a serious cocktail bar.

“The Daiquiri is a true reflection of a good bartender and is so iconic,” says legendary bartender and Cuba native Julio Cabrera, maestro cantinero and founder of Cafe la Trova in Miami. “Like a Dry Martini, it seems simple, but it’s difficult to get just right. You can have the same ingredients, but without balance and technique, it falls apart.” 

The Daiquiri originated in Cuba in the late 1800s, and early iterations were made with brown sugar and served over ice. When the drink made its way to the United States after the turn of the 20th century, it evolved into what we know today: brown sugar was switched to more mellow white sugar, and the drink was served “up” in a coupe glass instead of on the rocks.

Like its sour cousin, the Margarita, the Daiquiri has gone through bumpy, blended phases. Through the 1970s and ’80s, and well into the ’90s, the frozen Daiquiri — gigantic, overly sweet, and often of the strawberry variety — was the most recognized interpretation of the drink. Outside of craft cocktail bars (and rum-centric locales) where the classic recipe is required learning, the Daiquiri never fully recovered from its beach resort, fruit-slush association.

But the original is poised to make a comeback, in all its perfect, sippable glory, popping up more frequently on cocktail lists around the country.  

At Cafe La Trova, Cabrera’s lively Cuban restaurant in the heart of Miami’s Little Havana, the artful execution of their signature drink has made it a Daiquiri destination. It’s arguably the most authentic variation, outside of Cuba.

Why the Daiquirí Clásico works 

This recipe, honed by Cabrera over the course of his 36-year bartending career, is how a true Daiquiri should be made. 

“[The Daiquiri] demands precision and care,” says Cabrera. “The quality of the ingredients makes all the difference. Freshly squeezed lime juice, never bottled. White granulated sugar from sugar cane. No simple syrup, no substitutions. High-quality white rum. Some use dark, but that changes the flavor. A true Daiquiri should be clean and bright, and that’s what a good white rum delivers.”

Though more and more people are rediscovering the beauty of this 120-plus-year-old cocktail, for Cabrera, the Daiquiri is not just a drink. “It’s history. It’s my identity. It’s a symbol of our craft and cocktail culture. We carry the recipe with us all over the world.”

This recipe was developed by Julio Cabrera; the text was written by Prairie Rose.