Virgin Mojito with a dried lime wheel.
The virgin mojito is proof that a drink doesn't need spirit to be worth making. Mint, lime, sugar, and soda over crushed ice, built tall and cold and lifted with herb. Done properly it's every bit as good as the rum version, and you can make a jug of it for the whole table, drivers and all.
The lime is where most non-alcoholic drinks quietly fall down, with a squeezed wedge dropped in to go soggy and grey. A dried lime wheel floats clean on the surface, holds its colour against the mint, and gives you the rind aroma without the pith bitterness that creeps in as the ice melts.
What you'll need
- 10 fresh mint leaves
- 20ml fresh lime juice
- 15ml sugar syrup (1:1 sugar to water)
- 120ml soda water, to top
- 1 dried lime wheel
How to make it
- Put the mint leaves in the bottom of a tall glass with the sugar syrup. Press gently with a muddler or the back of a spoon, just enough to bruise the leaves. Don't shred them; you want aroma, not bits.
- Add the fresh lime juice and fill the glass with crushed or cubed ice.
- Top with soda water and stir gently from the bottom to lift the mint through the drink.
- Add a little more ice to crown it if there's room.
- Float a dried lime wheel on top to finish.
Why dried beats fresh here
A fresh lime wedge waterlogs and turns the glass cloudy, and in a clear, herbal drink that's exactly what you don't want. A dried lime wheel keeps its oil in the rind, sits crisp on the surface among the mint, and looks sharp at the last sip instead of grey and sunken at the first.
Because there's no spirit doing the heavy lifting, the garnish matters more here, not less. The dried wheel carries real lime character on the nose, which is half of what makes a good mojito taste finished rather than flat.
Use the Lime jar, about 25 wheels, enough for a long summer of mojitos, virgin or otherwise.