I tried a chocolate martini for the first time in 2003 at the Apple bar in downtown Austin, Texas, after performing in a Go Dance showcase. I loved this drink. I figured I absolutely had to learn how to make it at home. Ladies loved this drink, too, and I needed to entertain the female guests at my house.

The recipe I found on the interwebs was absolutely atrocious. It did not taste anything like the drink I tried at the bar. I needed to develop my own recipe. Finally my Master's degree in Chemistry can be put to a good use.

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I have already posted this recipe once at my friend's food blog Alcoholian, but decided to reproduce it here for my own audience.

For one portion, you'll need a 12 oz mixing bartender's glass. Put in it 2 oz freshly squeezed lime juce. 2 oz 100% Blue Agave Tequila Blanco. Any brand will do. Just don't use the cheap stuff. They are not required to use only Blue Agave, so cheap Tequila is made with a little bit of Blue Agave and whatever else crap they have on hand. Look for the 100 % Blue Agave text on the label. Next we need orange liqueur. Don't use triple sec. I've tried these 3 options and all of them work great. Bauchant is the cheapest.

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This recipe has been stolen from the Havana Central restaurant in
Manhattan, just off the Times Square.

I stopped by to get a drink on a hot summer day and it was so good, I
ordered another one and this time I watched the bartender like a hawk.
As soon as I got back home from that trip, I made sure I made enough
of those mojitos to burn the recipe into my brain forever. I'm quite
sure if one day I lose half of my brain, I'll still be able to make a
good one.

And when I say it's the best mojito recipe ever - believe me, I know
bad mojitos. One time, at one place in Houston, the bartender put a
crushed mint pill into my mojito. But Palm D'Or of bad mojitos goes to
a guy at TGI Friday's in Arboretum in Austin, Texas. When I got my
mojito it was suspiciously red in color. I asked him politely what was
in it. His answer: "Bloody Mary mix, of course!"

Anywhooo....

1. In a tall glass place a generous handful of fresh spear mint leaves
2. On top of the leaves place 1 ripe juicy lime, quartered, skin up
3. Two teaspoons of sugar
4. A few drops of Angostura bitters
5. Muddle with a nice long wooden muddler
6. Fill up the glass with cubed ice
7. Two ounces of good, high quality rum
8. One half ounce of orange juice
9. Fill up the glass with cold club soda. If you used the right kind
of glass, it should not take more than a couple of ounces of soda.
10. Shake in the shaker
11. Pour everything, ice, mint, lime, into the serving glass, put a
straw in, serve.

Notes:

a) The bartender at Havana Central actually used grapefruit juice. I
have orange juice on hand a lot more often.
b) In Austin and Houston you can cheaply buy a very nice wooden
muddler at Z Gallery
c) The rum does not have to be a white rum. Golden rum works very
well, too, and is actually my favorite. A very dark rum, on the other
hand, can give the drink an unappealing color. Avoid very sweet rums.
d) Recommended rum brands: Havana Club of Cuba; Matusalem of Dominican
Republic/Cuba; Ron Centenario of Costa Rica; Ron Abuelo of Panama;
Flor de Cana of Nicaragua - if you cannot find anything better;
e) NOT recommended rum brands: Bacardi; and absolutely not Myers's
(for spelling if not the terrible taste)
f) The art of picking a ripe juicy lime is not covered in this
tutorial, but is absolutely essential to making a great mojito.