The Cuba Libre recipe
for your table
Fill a highball glass with ice cubes.
Squeeze the lime wedges over the glass and drop them in.
Add the rum and stir briefly.
Top up with cold cola and stir gently once more.
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The story
Havana, around 1900. American soldiers celebrated the end of Spanish rule with Cubans, and the latest American import, Coca-Cola, flowed freely. A captain is said to have mixed rum, cola, and lime and toasted with the battle cry of free Cuba: '¡Por Cuba libre!' The drink became a symbol of a new era and later, through The Andrews Sisters' song Rum and Coca-Cola, a worldwide hit. The difference from an ordinary rum and cola? Fresh lime juice. Without it, Cubans say, it simply isn't a Cuba Libre.
The right glass
For a Cuba Libre, choose a classic highball glass of 40 to 55 cl: tall enough for a generous amount of cola and ice, and wide enough for the lime wedges. A glass with facets or relief catches the light beautifully in the dark cocktail. Serve with a straw or swizzle stick, so the lime at the bottom can continue doing its work. Would you like a taller glass with even more room for ice? Take a look at our mojito glasses.
Bormioli Rocco Diamond Highball Glass 47 cl (6 pieces)
Onis Icon Highball Glass 47 cl (6 pieces)
Both sets together € 57,90.
The right tools
For a Cuba Libre, besides the glass you use a long bar spoon, a jigger for precise measuring, a citrus juicer, and long ice sticks. These are the bar tools we use ourselves; you can find everything in our bar tools & cocktail sets.
Glass set (our choice 01) + 4 bar tools together € 75,75.
What do you use to make a Cuba Libre?
For a Cuba Libre, you need rum. Well-known bottles include Captain Morgan and Bumbu. On each drink page, you can read the alcohol percentage, what it tastes like, which cocktails it works with, and which glass you need.
Variations & twists
With golden rum and a dash of Angostura, it becomes surprisingly layered. Also try a 'Cuata': half cola, half soda water for a drier version. And for those who dare: gently pressing a lime slice with the peel in the glass gives exactly that bitter undertone that makes the original so good. Looking for more inspiration? Browse more than 100 cocktail recipes.
Servingtip
Use a rum with character. A golden or lightly aged rum makes the difference compared with a standard baco. Cola from a glass bottle has the best bubbles.
Good to know
The rum-to-cola ratio
Five centiliters of rum to twelve centiliters of cola is about 1 to 2.5, and that is deliberately a little stronger than the standard bar baco. In a 47 cl highball glass with plenty of ice, that comes to around 10 percent alcohol. If you want it lighter for a long evening, use 4 cl of rum to 14 cl of cola. More important than the precise ratio is the amount of ice: really fill the glass to the top, because when it is only half full, the ice melts faster and after ten minutes you are left with lukewarm, watery cola.
Cuba Libre or baco: the difference
The difference lies in one ingredient: 1 cl of fresh lime juice plus two squeezed lime wedges. A baco is rum with cola, nothing else, which is exactly why it so often tastes flat. The acidity of the lime cuts through the sweetness of the cola and brings out the vanilla and cane sugar notes in the rum. Squeeze the wedges over the glass and drop them in, so the oil from the peel comes along too. According to Cubans, it simply isn't a Cuba Libre without lime, and after one side-by-side tasting, you'll understand why.
Which rum do you choose
White rum disappears almost completely behind the cola, so reach for a golden or lightly aged rum. A Cuban rum aged for three to five years is the classic choice and keeps it dry; a heavier Jamaican rum gives more banana and woody notes. Dark rum works too, but then its character comes close to a Dark 'n Stormy. For 5 cl per glass, you don't need to open an expensive bottle: a good mid-range rum costing around twenty euros already makes a noticeable difference compared with standard white rum.
Alcohol-free with 0.0 rum
Alcohol-free rum has noticeably improved in recent years and works well here, because the cola and lime do much of the work. Use 5 cl of 0.0 rum, the same 12 cl of cola, and keep the amount of lime juice unchanged. If you don't have 0.0 rum, make a version with cola, plenty of lime juice, and a few drops of vanilla extract; it surprisingly closely approximates the rum notes. In both cases, use cola from a glass bottle and pour it in just before serving, because without alcohol, flat bubbles are especially noticeable.
Cuba Libre meaning in brief
What does Cuba Libre literally mean? 'Cuba libre' is Spanish for 'free Cuba', the slogan used around 1900 in Havana when toasting the end of Spanish rule. That meaning explains why the name has stuck: it is not a brand name or a made-up word, but a rallying cry that became attached to a drink. In the Netherlands, people usually say baco, which literally means rum and cola. If you order the Cuba Libre cocktail by name, it should contain fresh lime juice and two squeezed lime wedges.
Bacardi Cuba Libre: which bottle should you choose
Bacardi is the brand most people name first, and that is no surprise: the house began in 1862 in Santiago de Cuba. The white Carta Blanca is the best-known bottle, but it gets lost behind the cola. Choose the golden Carta Oro or another lightly aged rum instead, so you retain the vanilla and woody notes that lift the cola. Measure out the 5 cl with a jigger rather than free-pouring, because a generous pour makes the drink so strong that the lime gets lost.
Frequently asked questions
What is in a Cuba Libre?
A Cuba Libre consists of 5 cl golden or dark rum, 12 cl cola, 1 cl fresh lime juice and two squeezed lime wedges, over a glass full of ice. That fresh lime juice is not optional: it is precisely what distinguishes the cocktail from a simple rum and cola.
What is the difference between a Cuba Libre and a Baco?
A baco is rum with cola, nothing more. A Cuba Libre also gets fresh lime juice and the squeezed lime wedges in the glass, adding acidity and a slight bitterness from the peel. According to Cubans, without that lime it simply isn't a Cuba Libre.
What is the best rum for a Cuba Libre?
A golden or lightly aged rum with character. White rum gets lost behind the cola, while an aged rum brings vanilla and woody notes that lift the cola. A dash of Angostura makes the whole thing a little more layered without making it heavy.
Which glass do you serve a Cuba Libre in?
In a highball glass holding 40 to 55 cl, tall enough for plenty of ice, cola and two lime wedges. A faceted or textured glass catches the light beautifully in the dark drink. Serve with a stirrer or a straw, so the lime wedges at the bottom can keep doing their job: see our highball glasses.
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