Mimosa
A Mimosa is 75ml of fresh orange juice poured into a cold flute, then 75ml of cold prosecco added slowly and stirred once. About 0.8 UK units. Those are the IBA’s measures, and the IBA lists an orange twist as an optional garnish. Difford’s Guide, a secondary source, says many books credit Frank Meier at the Ritz in Paris in 1925, though it puts the creation between 1921 and 1923, and the name is commonly said to come from the bright yellow flowers of the mimosa tree; we have found no primary record. The IBA also lists it as Buck’s Fizz. Difford’s defines the Buck’s Fizz as two parts champagne to one of juice and thinks it was created in 1921 by Malachi “Pat” MacGarry, the bartender at Buck’s Club in London. Half the glass is juice, so squeeze it the same day. Carton juice makes a dull Mimosa.
Glassware: Champagne Flute
Garnish: Orange twist (optional)
Ingredients
75ml
Brut and cold, at our working figure of 11% ABV. The IBA names prosecco. Champagne is the wine of the original story and still works, though its finer points are lost under the juice.
75ml
Squeezed the same day and chilled. It is half the drink, and carton juice turns jammy and dull beside dry wine.
Instructions
Squeeze the orange juice the same day and chill it with the flutes.
Pour the orange juice into a chilled flute.
Top slowly with the cold prosecco, down the side of the tilted glass.
Stir once, gently, and serve straight away.
Source: the IBA (Official IBA specification (Contemporary Classics), which also gives Buck’s Fizz as a name for it; method ours). Last checked 9 October 2026.
Expert Tip
Juice first, wine second, and pour the wine slowly down the side of the tilted flute. Poured fast onto juice it foams over and loses its bubbles. Squeeze the oranges the same day and chill the juice with the flutes. Fresh juice settles and separates if it stands, which is the case against a jug. Choose the wine for dryness, not price. Any brut prosecco, crémant or cava will do; a vintage champagne is wasted under the juice. Avoid anything off-dry, since the juice brings sugar of its own.
Behind the Mimosa
Flavour Profile
Two Cities, One Drink
The name is commonly said to come from the bright yellow flowers of the mimosa tree; we have found no primary record. The Oxford Companion says the drink was reputedly created in 1925 and attributed to Frank Meier, head bartender at the Ritz in Paris, and that its first appearance in print was in Dominique Migliorero’s L’art du shaker, published in 1925 or before. Difford’s Guide says many books give 1925, puts the creation between 1921 and 1923, and notes that Meier’s own 1936 book does not mark the Mimosa as his.
Difford’s Guide thinks the Buck’s Fizz was created in 1921 by Malachi “Pat” MacGarry, the bartender at Buck’s Club in London, and defines it as two parts champagne to one part orange juice. That makes it drier and stronger than an equal-parts Mimosa.
For the IBA the two names mean one drink. British habit uses them for two ratios, and our Buck’s Fizz keeps the two to one.
Mimosa Against Buck’s Fizz
Mimosa and Buck’s Fizz side by side
Mimosa (ours, and the IBA’s)
- Wine
- 75ml prosecco
- Orange juice
- 75ml
- Ratio
- Equal parts
- UK units
- 0.8
Buck’s Fizz (ours)
- Wine
- 100ml champagne
- Orange juice
- 50ml
- Ratio
- Two to one
- UK units
- 1.2
| Drink | Wine | Orange juice | Ratio | UK units |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mimosa (ours, and the IBA’s) | 75ml prosecco | 75ml | Equal parts | 0.8 |
| Buck’s Fizz (ours) | 100ml champagne | 50ml | Two to one | 1.2 |
The Equal Split
Equal parts is what makes a Mimosa. It keeps the glass at about 5.5% ABV and lets the juice lead.
Lean towards the wine and you have a Buck’s Fizz. Lean towards the juice and the wine is only there for the bubbles.
The Juice
Half the glass is orange juice and nothing else is there to cover it. Carton juice has been heat-treated, which dulls the fresh aroma and leaves a flat, jammy sweetness that dry wine shows up.
Squeeze it the same day, strain out the pulp if you want a cleaner glass, and chill it. Fresh juice settles if it stands, so pour as you go.
The Wine
Dry and cold matter more than prestige. The IBA names prosecco, and a brut crémant or cava works as well. Champagne is where the story starts and is never wrong, but its finer points are lost under the juice.
Avoid anything off-dry. The juice is sweet already.
How to Serve It
Cold flutes, juice first, wine poured slowly, one gentle stir. Make it by the glass rather than by the jug, and serve it at once.
More to explore
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the correct Mimosa ratio?
Champagne or prosecco in a Mimosa?
Mimosa or Buck’s Fizz?
How strong is a Mimosa?
Can I batch Mimosas in a jug?
Does a Mimosa have a garnish?
Why is it called a Mimosa?
Sources.
Correct as of 19 October 2026.
- Difford’s Guide, “Buck’s Fizz & Mimosa Cocktails: history & recipes” (secondary source: Buck’s Fizz thought created in 1921 by Malachi “Pat” MacGarry at Buck’s Club; Mimosa said created between 1921 and 1923 by Frank Meier at the Ritz; many books say 1925; Meier’s 1936 book does not mark the Mimosa as his; Buck’s Fizz two parts champagne to one of juice, Mimosa equal parts).
- The Oxford Companion to Spirits and Cocktails (Anistatia R. Miller and Jared M. Brown), “The Mimosa” (secondary source: a variation on the Buck’s Fizz of about 1921; reputedly created in 1925 and attributed to Frank Meier; in Meier’s 1936 book without his monogram; first in print in Migliorero’s L’art du shaker, 1925 or before).
- IBA, “Mimosa” (official specification: 75ml orange juice, 75ml prosecco, stirred gently; note: also known as Buck’s Fizz; optional orange twist).
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Buck’s Fizz
A Buck’s Fizz is two parts champagne to one of orange juice: 50ml cold, freshly squeezed orange juice in a chilled flute, topped slowly with 100ml brut champagne, with no garnish. At two to one it is drier than a Mimosa and tastes first of the wine, and Difford’s Guide gives that drier two to one as the Buck’s Fizz ratio. Difford’s Guide, a secondary source, says it is thought to have been created in 1921 by Malachi “Pat” MacGarry, the bartender at Buck’s Club in London, which opened in June 1919, on only sketchy evidence. It is sometimes said that some older recipes list grenadine and that the club’s own recipe holds extra ingredients known only to its bartenders; we have found no primary record of either. The International Bartenders Association treats Buck’s Fizz as another name for its Mimosa, at equal parts orange juice and prosecco. Ours keeps the British two to one. A flute holds about 1.2 UK units.
Bellini
A Bellini is 100ml prosecco over 50ml white peach purée: the purée goes into a chilled flute, the cold prosecco is poured over in stages and folded in, and it is served straight away. About 1.1 UK units. It sits on the IBA’s Contemporary Classics list at these measures. The Oxford Companion says Giuseppe Cipriani, the founder of Harry’s Bar in Venice, created it around 1945, and named it for the fifteenth-century Venetian painter Giovanni Bellini because its peach hue resembled one characteristic of his work. Cipriani’s own Bellini page gives 1948 and says he was inspired by that painter. White peaches decide it. They are paler, more floral and usually milder than yellow ones, and they give the soft blush; yellow fruit makes a sharper drink of the wrong colour.
Screwdriver
A Screwdriver is 50ml of vodka and 120ml of fresh orange juice, built over cubed ice in a highball, stirred once and finished with an orange slice. About 2.0 UK units. It is not on the IBA’s current list. Older IBA lists gave 50ml of vodka to 100ml of orange juice; our extra 20ml of juice makes a longer, softer drink. The Oxford Companion, in an entry by Robert Simonson, calls the drink a product of the Second World War, when American troops and technicians in places such as China and Turkey cut neutral spirit with orange juice, and says the name first turns up in Ankara in 1943, apparently coined by interned American airmen. The usual explanation, that someone stirred the drink with a screwdriver for want of a spoon, has no source attached. With two ingredients, the juice decides the drink. Squeeze it the same day. Carton juice is heat-treated and loses much of the fresh fruit’s scent, and there is nothing else in the glass to make up for it.
Where this one sits
Recipe by Jerry Can Spirits · Updated 19 October 2026