Cuba Libre
💧IBA0
Three ingredients perfectly balanced: rum, cola and lime. Often dismissed as 'rum and coke', but the lime is the whole point — without it you have a less interesting drink. With it you have one of the most-poured cocktails of the 20th century.
The Cuba Libre took its name from the Cuban rebel slogan during the Spanish-American War of 1898 — '¡Cuba libre!' meaning 'free Cuba'. The drink itself emerged shortly after the war ended, when American soldiers in Havana started mixing the newly-arrived Coca-Cola with local rum and lime. By 1902 it had a name and a fixed place in bar lexicon. The IBA lists it among the Contemporary Classics.
Method
Built
Glass
highball
Difficulty
Easy
Flavor Profile
Available as alcohol-free version
See the mocktail recipe →
Recipe Variations
🌱 Vegan🌾 Gluten-free
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AdInstructions
- Squeeze the juice of half a lime into a highball glass.
- Drop the spent lime shell into the glass.
- Fill with ice.
- Pour in 50 ml light rum.
- Top with chilled cola until the glass is nearly full (~120 ml).
- Stir gently with a bar spoon to combine without losing carbonation.
- Garnish with another lime wedge if desired.