Highball · Party · Summer

Cuba Libre

Rum, cola, ice, and a squeeze of lime that does more work than it looks. Built in the glass in under a minute.

Base: Rum
Glass: Highball glass
Method: Build
Strength: 9% ABV

Ingredients

50 mlWhite Rum1 swap
Any light rumhigh
Little change
120 mlCola
10 mlFresh Lime Juice1 swap
Fresh lemon juicemedium
Slightly less floral, more tart

How to make

Technique

Build · 10–15s

Building straight in the glass keeps it simple and preserves any fizz.

Build all ingredients in a highball glass filled with ice.

Serve

Glass

Highball glassAlso fine: Collins glass, Tall tumbler

Garnish

Garnish with lime wedge.Squeeze it over the glass before dropping it in.

Taste & nutrition

9%ABV

160kcal

1.43Drinks

StrengthLight

Sweet to dryBalanced

Estimated from ingredient amounts and assumed ABVs — not a lab measurement.

Good to know

Use freshly squeezed juice — bottled tastes flat.
Add the fizzy mixer last so it keeps its bubbles.

History

Year1900

PlaceHavana, Cuba

Created byUnknown (US soldiers in Cuba)

Rum, cola and a squeeze of lime, the Cuba Libre came together in Havana around 1900, soon after Coca-Cola reached the island and American soldiers arrived during the Spanish-American War. Its name — "Free Cuba" — echoed the independence rallying cry of the time. Simple and endlessly popular, it is the highball that made rum-and-cola a global staple. The lime is what lifts it above an ordinary mixed drink.

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