What Is a Cantarito?

The Cantarito (Cantaritos is the plural) is a tequila-based Mexican drink made with orange, lemon, and lime juice and grapefruit soda. It’s traditionally served in a clay cups at restaurants, bars and markets throughout Mexico. It’s similar to a Paloma, with a few added ingredients. The ingredients you’ll need to make Cantaritos are:

• Tequila: blanco or reposado, both work (more on that below)
• Fresh orange juice: Squeeze it fresh if you can, but bottled juice also works
• Fresh lemon juice and lime juice: Always use fresh lemons and limes for the best flavor
• Grapefruit soda: Some brands you can try are Squirt, Jarritos Grapefruit Soda, Ting, Sprindrift, Q Mixers, Fevertree, or Sparkling Italian Grapefruit Soda (many stores have brands like Whole Foods, Simple Truth, etc).

Cantarito vs Paloma vs Margarita

Here’s my simple breakdown of the differences between these drinks:

• A Paloma is just tequila, grapefruit soda, and lime juice, usually served with a salt rim.
• A Cantarito uses the same base ingredients but adds fresh orange and lemon juice, which gives it a more nuanced, citrusy flavor. It tastes more complex than a Paloma.
• A Margarita is tequila, lime juice, and either triple sec or Cointreau. It’s shaken with ice and usually served up or on the rocks with a salted rim.

All About Clay Cantarito Cups

Cantarito cups are the traditional clay cups (jarritos de barro) used for drinking tequila in the state of Jalisco, Mexico. They’re great for drinking straight tequila or other Mexican drinks like Cantaritos or Micheladas. Why drink out of traditional Cantarito cups?

• The traditional clay cups keep Cantaritos cold. A traditional glass becomes warm in your hands, but the clay Cantarito cups help to keep the drink extra cold.
• The mouthfeel of the clay cups adds to the experience. The sensation of the chilled clay at the beginning of each sip is much like drinking a Moscow Mule out of a chilled copper mug. It just tastes better!
• Where to find Cantarito cups? Buy them from artisans online. We bought our Cantarito cups on Etsy.
• Do you have to soak Cantaritos cups? Soak the clay Cantaritos cups in cold water for 10 minutes before making the drink, which makes for an optimally chilled drink.

How to Make Cantaritos

Once you’ve tracked down your Cantaritos cups, tequila and grapefruit soda, this drink is a breeze to make! Here’s what to do:

• Soak the Cantaritos cups for 10 minutes. This helps to chill the drink. Or, use a highball glass!
• Add tequila, orange, lime and lemon juice to the cup. Add a pinch of salt to bring out the flavors. (Go to the recipe for quantities.)
• Top off with grapefruit soda. Add some citrus wedges as a garnish.

More Mexican Cocktails To Try

Here are a few more Mexican cocktails to try:

• Try the classics: a Classic Margarita or Paloma
• Opt for a Michelada, like a beer-based Bloody Mary
• Try the refreshing Chelada
• Grab a Carajillo (Mexican Spiked Coffee)

Ingredients You’ll Need

This blueberry cobbler recipe is so delicious and it only uses 6 ingredients! You’ll be amazed at how the blueberries sink from the top of the dough to the bottom. A crust appears and forms neatly over the top. This recipe is handy because the batter uses ingredients you’ll likely already have on hand. All you need to find is ripe blueberries! Here are the ingredients you need for this tasty summer dessert (plus salt):

• Fresh blueberries: This is best with ripe, fresh blueberries.
• All-purpose flour, granulated sugar, and baking powder: These are the typical ingredients that form that cobbler layer.
• Milk: I usually use 2%, but you could use oat milk for a dairy-free version with vegan butter.
• Butter: Butter is the key here: I wouldn’t substitute oil in this case.

The Magic Trick: How the Blueberries Sink

In this recipe, you’ll mix up the simple batter and place the fresh blueberries on top of it before placing it in the oven. How do they end up on the bottom? The blueberries are more dense than the batter. So during the 1 hour that the blueberry cobbler bakes, they’ll settle to the bottom. A beautiful golden brown crust of the batter forms on top!

When I first made this, I turned on the oven light and watched the berries. At 20 minutes, the blueberries were still on the top. But as luck would have it, after another 40 minutes a lovely golden crust had formed over the top of the blueberry cobbler. It worked! I pulled it from the oven and served it warm with melty vanilla ice cream. As I watched my son and his friends smear the blue goo all over their charming faces, I was convinced: this blueberry cobbler is now my family’s tradition, too.

More Blueberry Recipes To Try

• Easy Blueberry Crisp
• Lemon Blueberry Pancakes
• Blueberry Cake
• Blueberry Baked Oatmeal
• Blueberry Waffles
• Banana Blueberry Muffins
• Blueberry Smoothie
• Blueberry Juice

What Is a Jungle Bird Cocktail?

The Jungle Bird is a tropical cocktail made with rum, pineapple juice, and Campari. The story goes that it was invented in 1978 at the Aviary bar of the Kuala Lumpur Hilton. The telltale sign it’s that it’s modern: it fuses the Italian bitter Campari with the tropical flavors.

This drink recently surged in popularity, fueled by the Negroni craze. The drink is often garnished with pineapple leaves to mimic the feathers of a bird.

A Word on Campari

Campari is an Italian bitter with a bright red color! It’s easy to find, most famously used in the Negroni and other classic cocktails like the Americano and Boulevardier.

What does Campari taste like? It’s tastes bitter, fruity, and spicy all at once. It’s infused with different herbs and fruits, part of a secret recipe. Fun fact: Campari was originally colored so brightly red due to a dye made of crushed insects! That’s no longer in the modern recipe, so it shouldn’t deter you from grabbing a bottle.

More Campari Cocktails To Try

Here are some great Campari cocktails to test out:

• Negroni Sbagliato A spin on the classic cocktail using sparkling wine instead of gin. It’s bitter, sweet, and bubbly all at once.
• Old Pal Cocktail A three ingredient cocktail that’s sleek and sippable, balancing bitter and sweet with fiery whiskey.
• Mezcal Negroni The way the smoke of mezcal balances the bitter Campari makes an even better drink.
• Campari Spritz Bitter and bubbly, this cocktail mixes the popular aperativo with sparkling wine and soda water.

What Is a Cortado?

The Cortado is an espresso drink of equal parts espresso and steamed milk. It’s Spanish in origin: “cortado” means “cut” in Spanish, indicating that the espresso is cut with the milk. In contrast to other coffee drinks, a Cortado is always the same volume: one doubleshot of espresso and 2 ounces milk.

A Cortado is always served in a 4.5 ounce glass cup, making it easy to pour in the exact quantities. When it’s served in a special glass called a Gibraltar glass that tapers at the bottom, it’s called a Gibraltar. This tradition started at a coffeehouse in San Francisco and persists to this day! Some people say there are slight differences but the drinks are essentially the same.

Ingredients You’ll Need

• Espresso roast coffee: The roast is important to get the right dark, bitter flavor. Use a fine grind on the espresso beans. Some brands I recommend: Illy Intenso Bold Roast, Starbucks Espresso Roast or Intelligentsia Black Cat.
• Whole milk: Whole milk has the ideal richness for pairing with the bittersweet coffee, and it steams the easiest. For a a vegan cortado, oat milk is your best bet: it’s the best dairy-free milk for steaming.

How to Make a Cortado

Ready to get sipping? Here’s the outline of how to make a cortado at home:

• Make a double shot of espresso. Go to How to Make Espresso for instructions: you can make it with or without a machine. Our favorite espresso machine is this one, but it’s pricey. A manual espresso maker is much cheaper and portable, or French press espresso also works well.
• Steam or froth ¼ cup whole milk using the instructions below.
• Pour the espresso into a small glass, then top with the milk.

Below are a few notes on the methods for how to make espresso and how to steam or froth the milk.

Tips for Steaming or Frothing The Milk

One advantage to the cortado over the latte is that the quality of the steamed milk is less important. You don’t need the perfect microfoam texture like you need when making latte art. The milk is steamed but not textured. You can use the frothing process here and it works great! Here’s what to do:

• Froth the milk with a hand-held frother, French press, or whisk. The best tool is a frother if you have it, but a French press also works well. (We’d advise against a whisk here, but use it if it’s all you have.) Go to How to Froth Milk.
• Steam the milk using an espresso machine. Of course, the best cortado uses milk that’s steamed with an espresso machine! Go to How to Steam Milk and use the instructions for stretching the milk to 20 to 25% in height.