Rum and Cola (Cuba Libre)
Dark Cuban-style rum poured over ice, brightened with fresh lime juice and topped with cola — the long, easy highball born in Havana. Simple to make, but the small details decide if it tastes like a bar's or like a real Cuba Libre.
Servings
Ingredients
Nutrition
Per serving
Steps
Chill the glass
Use a tall highball glass and fill it right to the top with ice cubes. A full glass of ice keeps the drink cold without watering it down too fast, which is the main difference between a good and a weak one.
- 150 g ice cubes
✅ Done when: the glass is packed with ice to the rim
Squeeze the lime
Squeeze the lime wedge straight over the ice so the juice drips down between the cubes before you add anything else. Squeezing it directly over the ice, not into an empty glass, spreads the citrus through the whole drink instead of leaving it pooled at the bottom.
- 15 ml fresh lime juice
✅ Done when: the juice has run down over the ice
Pour the rum
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Top with cola
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Stir and garnish
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Chill the glass
Use a tall highball glass and fill it right to the top with ice cubes. A full glass of ice keeps the drink cold without watering it down too fast, which is the main difference between a good and a weak one.
- 150 g ice cubes
✅ Done when: the glass is packed with ice to the rim
Squeeze the lime
Squeeze the lime wedge straight over the ice so the juice drips down between the cubes before you add anything else. Squeezing it directly over the ice, not into an empty glass, spreads the citrus through the whole drink instead of leaving it pooled at the bottom.
- 15 ml fresh lime juice
✅ Done when: the juice has run down over the ice
Pour the rum
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Top with cola
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Stir and garnish
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The Story Behind the Dish
The Cuba Libre is said to have appeared in Havana in the early 1900s, not long after Cuban independence, when American soldiers and sailors stationed on the island began mixing the newly arrived Coca-Cola with local rum over ice. The name comes from the old independence toast '¡Cuba libre!', meaning 'free Cuba', which was already a popular rallying cry at the time.
From a soldiers' bar order, the drink spread across Havana and then the wider Caribbean, becoming one of the most ordered highballs in the world. Its popularity rode alongside the growth of both the Cuban rum industry and Coca-Cola's expansion into Latin America.
⭐ Why It's Famous
It's famous for being disarmingly simple yet perfectly balanced: good dark rum, real cola and a bright hit of lime, built straight over ice in seconds.
💡 Fun Fact
Some bartenders insist a true Cuba Libre needs Cuban or Cuban-style rum and real cane-sugar cola to taste 'authentic'; without the lime, the same drink is simply called a 'rum and coke'.
Havana, Cuba
23.11°N, -82.37°W
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