What is the drink of the summer? What's a Batanga?
Sip sip hooray!
There's nothing like a refreshing cocktail in the summer.
The Aperol Spritz has garnered the title of the "drink of the summer" after being named the most popular cocktail according to a study released by Coffeeness.
But there's another bubbly drink that mixologists say is in fact "THE Cocktail of 2024"; a tequila drink known as "The Batanga".
The bubbly cocktail was created in the 1950s by Don Javier Delgado Corona in Tequila, Mexico (need we say more).
Batanga meaning "thick in the middle", in Spanish, is reminiscent of a traditional rum & coke mix.
Even Martha Stewart says it's the cocktail "we'll be quaffing all season long."
PHOTO: CHAS53 / GETTY IMAGES
The drink only requires three ingredients---and a knife.
The Batanga is refreshing and citrusy like an Aperol Spritz, with a Spanish flare.
Instead of an Italian summer, think a summer in Mexico.
Many restaurateurs say that the Aperol Spritz is popular because of its color, fruity taste and its bubbles.
The Batanga arguably has all three of these characteristics.
The contrast of the bright green colored lime garnish paired with the crisp darkness of a Mexican coke makes for an alluring appearance.
How to make a Batanga:
- Use a tall glass
- Take a lime wedge to coat the rim of the glass (preferably a Mexican lime, of course)
- Coat rim in salt
- Squeeze the juice from ½ a lime into the glass
- Add ice to fill the glass (preferably with large ice cubes)
- Add a generous shot of blanco tequila (about halfway)
- Top off the glass with Coca-Cola (preferably coke in a glass bottle)
- To honor Don Javier, the drink's creator, stir with the same knife used to cut the lime (the secret to its flavor)