One of the things I like about brunch—apart from being able to serve foods that straddle breakfast and lunch—is the opportunity to serve crisp, sparkling fruity cocktails such as the Mimosa. A Mimosa is a cocktail made of equal parts sparkling wine and chilled fruit juice, orange juice being the more traditional option.
A sparkling wine is a wine that has in a lot of fizz/bubbles. Champagne is a sparkling wine, and sparkling wines come in both alcoholic and non-alcoholic form. The non-alcoholic ones include the very familiar Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider, Welch’s and Chamdor among others. If serving Mimosas it is good to have both varieties (alcoholic and non-alcoholic). Sparkling wines can be sweet and dry, and given our penchant for sweet wines here in the Caribbean, have both sets so that your guests can choose which they prefer.
While the traditional Mimosa comprises of equal parts ingredients, I believe that to each his own; some people might like more of the wine with a small amount of juice or vice versa. Though a classic Mimosa is made with orange juice, grapefruit and tangerine juices can work too. Actually, I think it’s fun to mix it with whatever juice you like, although not all flavours play well together.
There is no strictness to making Mimosa but there are some guidelines that yield excellent results and they are:
- Ensure that the wine and juice(s) are well chilled.
- While you can use store-bought juices, freshly
squeezed is preferred. Pulp is good with our
morning juice but for a cocktail like this, you
want to strain it to remove the pulp.
- Add the sparkling wine first to the glass or jug
and then pour the juice on top. This way, the
cocktail mixes on its own making stirring
unnecessary.
- Once everyone is served, put the ingredients
back into the refrigerator to keep cool until you
are ready to serve round two.
Planning brunch for the holiday weekend coming up? Be sure to make Mimosas a part of the festivities.
