The Orange Daiquiri is a shaken rum sour built on light gold rum, fresh orange and lime juice, and sugar syrup, served up in a coupe. Fresh orange sweetness leads, lime keeps it tart and lively, and a light rum warmth settles underneath into a clean, citrus-bright finish.
Ingredients
1
Servings
Garnish
Instructions for 1 serving
- Pre-chill a glass
- Shake all ingredients with ice: Light gold rum 60 mlOrange juice 20 mlLime juice 15 mlSugar syrup 10 ml
- Fine strain into the chilled glass
- Express an orange twist over the cocktail and use as garnish
Tips
- Pre-chill the coupe before you start — a fine-strained drink with no ice warms quickly in a room-temperature glass.
- Juice the orange and lime fresh just before shaking; bottled juice loses the brightness this build depends on.
- Shake hard and briefly, just long enough to chill and aerate, then fine-strain to keep pulp out of the glass.
- Express the orange twist directly over the drink before dropping it in — the oils carry more aroma than the peel alone.
History
The Orange Daiquiri has no separate creation story of its own; it is essentially the citrus-forward Daiquiri No. 2, one of several numbered variations that bartender Constantino "Constante" Ribalaigua Vert created at Havana's La Florida bar, later renamed El Floridita, and listed in the bar's 1934 recipe book, Bar La Florida Cocktails. That version added orange curaçao and orange juice to the classic lime-and-rum formula, giving the drink its fruitier, orange-accented profile.
The Daiquiri itself is generally credited to Jennings Cox, an American mining engineer working near the Cuban town of Daiquiri around the turn of the twentieth century, though the exact year and the precise circumstances of its creation and naming are disputed among several accounts. Ribalaigua later built his reputation at El Floridita on refining and multiplying Daiquiri styles, of which the orange-juice-and-curaçao version is the direct ancestor of today's Orange Daiquiri.
FAQ
What is a classic Daiquiri made of?
A classic Daiquiri is rum, fresh lime juice, and sugar syrup, shaken with ice and served up. The Orange Daiquiri builds on that same three-part frame, adding fresh orange juice alongside the lime for a sweeter, citrus-forward variation, as this recipe does.
How do you make an Orange Daiquiri?
Shake light gold rum with fresh orange juice, fresh lime juice, and sugar syrup over ice, then fine-strain into a chilled coupe. Finish by expressing an orange twist over the drink and dropping it in as garnish, which releases the citrus oils across the surface.
What's the secret to a perfect Daiquiri?
Fresh citrus and a well-chilled glass make the biggest difference. Bottled orange or lime juice reads flat next to the fresh version, and shaking hard but briefly before a fine strain keeps the texture clean instead of watery or pulpy.
What are some common Daiquiri mistakes?
The most common mistakes are using bottled citrus instead of fresh, over-diluting by shaking too long, and skipping the fine strain so pulp and ice shards end up in the glass. Under-chilling the glass beforehand also lets the drink warm faster once it's poured up.
What is a good orange cocktail?
The Orange Daiquiri is a great pick, layering fresh orange juice over a light gold rum base for a bright, citrus-forward drink served up in a coupe.
