Ingredients
Drink
- 45 mlaged Cuban rum
- 20 mlfresh lime juice
- 15 mldark crème de cacao
- 5 mlsugar syrup, optional
Also
- crushed ice, or ice for shaking
Garnish
- a lime wheel
- grated dark chocolate
Directions
- The name refers to the drink’s colour, and the word it comes from is now widely considered offensive in English. It remains the drink’s name in the Cuban cocktail canon and is recorded here as that.
- Use an aged rum, not a white one. The drink is essentially a daiquiri with chocolate, and it needs the vanilla and oak of an añejo behind it.
- Squeeze the limes fresh, immediately before mixing.
- There are only three ingredients and nothing to hide behind, so bottled lime juice shows immediately.
- Use dark crème de cacao rather than white, both for the colour and because it is less sweet.
- Go carefully with the cacao. Fifteen millilitres is plenty, and more turns the drink into a chocolate liqueur with rum in it.
- Chill a coupe glass in the freezer while you mix.
- Fill a shaker with ice and add the rum, lime juice and crème de cacao.
- Taste before you shake and add sugar syrup only if your limes are very sharp, because the cacao is already sweet.
- Shake hard for 12 to 15 seconds until the tin frosts.
- Shake it properly. The drink needs both the chill and the small dilution that hard shaking gives.
- Double strain into the chilled coupe, or serve it over crushed ice in a rocks glass.
- Double straining catches the lime pulp and the ice shards, which matters in a drink this dark and glossy.
- It should be a deep coffee brown with a faint foam on top.
- Grate a little dark chocolate over and add a lime wheel.
- Serve immediately, because the foam falls within a minute.
- It is a Cuban cantinero creation of the mid-twentieth century and it sits in the official Cuban cocktail canon alongside the daiquiri and the mojito.
- Havana bars serve it frappé, poured over crushed ice, as often as straight up.
Technique
- Chocolate and lime is an unexpected pairing and it works because the rum bridges them.
- A frozen blended version is common in Havana bars.
- Aged rum of seven years or so is the usual choice.
Substitutions
- Any good aged rum.
- Dark chocolate liqueur in place of crème de cacao, using slightly less.
Variations
- Served frappé over crushed ice.
- Blended frozen.
- With a dash of coffee liqueur alongside the cacao.
History
A Cuban cantinero creation of the mid-twentieth century, named for its colour and part of the island’s official cocktail canon.
Frequently asked questions
What is Mulata?
Mulata is a cocktail from Cuba: aged rum shaken with lime juice and cacao liqueur. A Cuban cantinero creation of the mid-twentieth century, named for its colour and part of the island’s official cocktail canon.
How long does Mulata take to make?
Mulata takes 5 min of preparation and no cooking at all. The recipe makes 1 drink. It is rated easy to make.
What can I substitute in Mulata?
Yes, within limits. Any good aged rum. Dark chocolate liqueur in place of crème de cacao, using slightly less.
What is the most important thing to get right in Mulata?
Use dark crème de cacao rather than white, both for the colour and because it is less sweet.
