Daiquiri
A Daiquiri is 60ml white rum, 20ml fresh lime juice and two bar spoons of caster sugar. Stir the sugar into the rum and lime in the shaker until it dissolves, then add ice, shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strain into a chilled coupe. About 2.4 UK units. Those are the IBA’s measures, and its method dissolves the sugar first too. The name belongs to Daiquirí, an iron-mining district and beach near Santiago de Cuba. Difford’s Guide credits Jennings Stockton Cox, an American engineer who led one of the first mining parties into Cuba’s iron-ore country after the Spanish-American War of 1898; the Oxford Companion has him making or supervising the first Daiquiri in 1896, and a Santiago bartender naming it in 1908. Difford’s says Constantino Ribalaigua Vert of Havana’s El Floridita made the frozen version famous. With three ingredients and no liqueur or bitters, the Daiquiri hides nothing. A flat rum, tired lime or undissolved sugar shows in the first sip.
Variations
Glassware: Coupe Glass
Garnish: Lime wheel
Ingredients
60ml
A lightly aged white rum with some character, at 40% ABV. The IBA names white Cuban rum. A very neutral rum leaves a drink that tastes only of lime and sugar.
20ml
Juice it on the day, as close to shaking as you can. In our experience lime juice turns flat and slightly bitter as it stands, and nothing in a Daiquiri covers for it.
2 bar spoons
Caster sugar, as the IBA specifies, stirred into the rum and lime until it dissolves. Without the water a syrup brings, the drink stays at full strength and tastes sharper than its measures suggest.
Instructions
Chill a coupe in the freezer or with iced water.
Squeeze the lime juice no more than three hours ahead, as Difford’s Guide advises.
Add the white rum, lime juice and caster sugar to a shaker and stir until the sugar dissolves.
Fill with cubed ice and shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds.
Double strain into the chilled coupe.
Float a lime wheel on the surface and serve straight away.
Source: the IBA (Official IBA specification, with a floated lime wheel where the IBA has no garnish; method ours). Last checked 9 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Dissolve the sugar before the ice goes in. Stir the caster sugar into the rum and lime in the shaker tin until no grains are left. Undissolved sugar stays gritty in a drink served this cold and leaves the last sip sweeter than the first. Taste the lime and adjust. Limes vary in sharpness with the season, so with a very sharp batch add a little more sugar, half a bar spoon at most; with mild limes, use a little less. Shake hard for 10 to 12 seconds and double strain. Sugar adds no water the way syrup does, so the shake supplies all the dilution, and the fine strainer keeps out ice chips that would go on melting in the coupe.
Behind the Daiquiri
Flavour Profile
Where It Comes From
Difford’s Guide credits Jennings Stockton Cox, an American engineer who led one of the first mining parties into the iron-ore country of south-eastern Cuba after the Spanish-American War of 1898. Daiquirí, a small town and beach there near Santiago de Cuba, gave the drink its name.
The Oxford Companion says people in the Caribbean had been combining rum, lime and sugar for over two hundred years before Cox made the first Daiquiri, or supervised its making, in 1896, so it is a stretch to call him the drink’s father.
Difford’s Guide says the US Admiral Lucius Johnson visited Cox in Daiquirí in 1909 and later introduced the drink to the Army & Navy Club in Washington, where a plaque in its Daiquiri Lounge records him. The Oxford Companion says the blended version was originally popularised by Constantino Ribalaigua at Havana’s Floridita bar.
Why It Is the Test
Like the Gimlet and the Caipirinha, the Daiquiri leaves three ingredients wholly responsible for the glass. There is no liqueur for interest, no bitters for depth and no wine for body.
That makes balance, dilution and temperature easy to judge. If the drink is sharp, hot or thin, the cause is in the rum, the lime, the sugar or the shake.
Rum Selection
The white rum shapes the drink more than any other choice.
A very neutral rum gives a drink that tastes of lime and sugar. A light rum with some fermentation character comes through every sip without crowding the lime.
The IBA asks for white Cuban rum, and a Havana Club white fits that brief. Any lightly aged white rum with a little body works; avoid bottles sold on their neutrality.
The Lime Variable
Lime does not keep. Squeeze it the same day. Difford’s Guide says lime juice more than three hours old should not be used, particularly in a Daiquiri. In our experience it turns flat and slightly bitter past that, and in a drink this bare the change shows at once.
Sharpness also varies with the fruit and the season, so taste the juice before you build and nudge the sugar to suit it, by half a bar spoon at most.
The Daiquiri and Its Relatives
The Daiquiri beside two relatives
Daiquiri (IBA)
- Spirit
- 60ml white rum
- Citrus
- 20ml lime
- Sweetener
- Two bar spoons caster sugar
- Other
- None
- UK units
- 2.4
Hemingway Daiquiri
- Spirit
- 60ml white rum
- Citrus
- 15ml lime, 40ml grapefruit
- Sweetener
- 15ml maraschino
- Other
- None
- UK units
- 2.9
Canchánchara
- Spirit
- 60ml aguardiente
- Citrus
- 15ml lime
- Sweetener
- 15ml raw honey
- Other
- 50ml water
- UK units
- 2.4
| Drink | Spirit | Citrus | Sweetener | Other | UK units |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daiquiri (IBA) | 60ml white rum | 20ml lime | Two bar spoons caster sugar | None | 2.4 |
| Hemingway Daiquiri | 60ml white rum | 15ml lime, 40ml grapefruit | 15ml maraschino | None | 2.9 |
| Canchánchara | 60ml aguardiente | 15ml lime | 15ml raw honey | 50ml water | 2.4 |
How to Serve It
Double strained into a well-chilled coupe, with a lime wheel floating on top, served at once. The IBA uses no garnish; the wheel is ours.
It is at its best in the first few minutes, while it is coldest and the lime sharpest. It does not improve for standing.
Make it at home
The Spirit
White RumWhite rum is clear rum, usually bottled at 40% ABV, either unaged or rested in oak and then charcoal-filtered back to clear. It is the light, dry rum of the Daiquiri, the Mojito and the Cuba Libre, and the rum most of our recipes mean when they want rum that sits under lime rather than over it.
Master the Techniques
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is in a Daiquiri?
How strong is a Daiquiri?
Where does the name come from?
Does the rum matter in something this simple?
Sugar or sugar syrup?
How fresh does the lime juice need to be?
Is a frozen Daiquiri the same drink?
Sources.
Correct as of 19 October 2026.
- The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (Jeff Berry), “The Daiquiri” (secondary source: Jennings Stockton Cox Jr. made the first Daiquiri, or supervised its making, in 1896; rum, lime and sugar combined in the Caribbean for over two hundred years before; named in 1908 at the San Carlos Club in Santiago; Ribalaigua and the blender).
- Difford’s Guide, “Daiquiri cocktail history” (secondary source: Admiral Lucius Johnson visited Jennings Cox in Daiquirí during 1909 and introduced the cocktail to the Army & Navy Club in Washington D.C.).
- Difford’s Guide, “Daiquiri cocktail: best recipe and method” (secondary source: lime juice more than three hours old should not be used, particularly in a Daiquiri).
- The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails, “Frozen Daiquiri” (secondary source: a blended variation of the Daiquiri, originally popularised by Constantino Ribalaigua at Havana’s Floridita bar).
- Difford’s Guide, “Daiquiri (frozen)” (secondary source: Emilio Gonzalez is said to have adapted a shaken Daiquiri to make a frozen one at the Plaza Hotel in Cuba; Ribalaigua of El Floridita made the drink famous).
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El Floridita Daiquiri
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Hemingway Daiquiri
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Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 19 October 2026