Peach mojito

This peach mojito is a deliciously fruity twist on the classic cocktail. It's easy to make, full of fresh summery flavors and easy to adapt into a mocktail, too.

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Mojitos were probably one of the first cocktails I actually enjoyed, thanks to a small Cuban bar in Madrid. I say bar, but it was more of a couple rooms up some stairs in a residential building. I'm not sure how my friend ever first came across it. But their mojitos were perfect, and the music was great, too.

While variations like this might not be approved of in that more traditional-style bar, they can be great to change things up, and to appeal to different tastes. The peach in this, just as with my watermelon mojito, makes the drink that bit brighter, lighter and perfect for summer.

What is a mojito?

Mojitos are a classic Cuban cocktail that as with many classics, have a bit of a mysterious past. It most likely dates back to 16th century Havana, but beyond that is debated. 

One argument suggested it evolved from a drink called "El Draque" after Francis Drake who visited the island. His doctor apparently made a drink to help fight off scurvy, which is often cited as the origin of many drinks with citrus. 

Whatever the exact origins, it's now very much a classic cocktail and found at bars across the globe, both in it's original form and various variations. 

To make a classic mojito you start by muddling mint in a glass with lime and sugar, then adding white rum, ice and topping up with club soda. The balance of sweet and citrus, a bit of a kick but still a refreshing longer drink make it perfect for warmer weather.

This peach version simply adds fresh peaches in with the mint to add a lovely extra fruity flavor and color in the mix. Plus, it's a great excuse to add in extra garnishes with a peach slice or two as well.

Choosing and preparing the peaches

Just as I'd always say use fresh lime for your cocktails, and in this case fresh mint, I also highly recommend using fresh peaches here. Peach nectar or other prepared juice just doesn't have quite the same bright peach flavor as juicy fresh sweet peaches.

Make sure you choose ripe peaches, and ideally when in season relatively locally so they have the best flavor possible. Underripe fruit doesn't have as strong a flavor and is less sweet. Yellow peaches are maybe slightly prettier color-wise, but white also work.

Cut the peach into slices before using to make them easier to break up. If you have time, I highly recommend grilling the peach slices first as well. As I mention in my grilled peaches with mascarpone, grilling really brings out the flavor in the fruit and I feel it makes them easier to muddle.

If you'd like to make a frozen cocktail, you could use frozen peach slices and blend all the ingredients together. Grilling your own peaches and freezing will be slightly better flavor-wise that using ready frozen, but it is of course a little more work and you need to plan ahead.

To strain or not to strain

One of the things I always associate with drinking mojitos is having little bits of mint as you drink. Traditionally, you muddle the mint directly in the bottom of the glass you drink from so you have little pieces of mint floating in the end drink. It gives more flavor, and is more colorful, but you can feel like you are straining them with your teeth. 

For this drink, you have a couple of choices. You could muddle the peaches with the mint in the glass, which will give you a few more "bits" of both mint and peach. They are tasty, but I understand not to everyone's taste.

Alternatively, you can muddle in a cocktail shaker then strain it before serving. This will give you a drink that's easier to drink but you will get a little less peachiness (and mint) coming through as a result. 

A third option is you could blend the peaches to make a peach puree, then mix that in with everything else. I wouldn't blend the mint as muddling is what brings out the oils better than blending. But blending to me feels more work than needed unless you are making a batch.

Making a batch or mocktail variation

As hinted above, you can prepare this ahead a little to make a batch if that suits your needs. For a batch, you simply scale up all of the ingredients equally. For a batch, I'd suggest maybe using simple syrup rather than sugar which will blend in a little easier (this is true for any quantity, but it becomes more obvious in a batch).

To batch, it's probably easier to muddle the mint with a pestle and mortar, and separately blending the peaches, sugar, lime and rum together. Combine then store this in a pitcher ready for when needed. Then if you want ot remove the mint, strain first, otherwise just divide into glasses with ice and top up with the club soda, as usual. You don't want to add the soda too early or it loses it's fizz.

If you're looking for a tasty mocktail, this is definitely a good drink to just skip the alcohol on as the other flavors are tasty enough to hold their own. For a little extra flavor boost, you could use part soda water, part ginger beer.

This fresh peach mojito is one you can adapt a little to taste in how you prepare it, but all are delicious and easy to do. It's bright, wonderfully fresh with that nice balance of aromatics from the mint and peach. Perfect summer sipping.

Looking for more fruity cocktails? Try these!

• Frozen pineapple daiquiri
• Mango margarita
• Raspberry collins cocktail
• Strawberry caipirinha
• I also love the sound of this blueberry pineapple mojito from The Gastronom
• Plus get lots more ideas in the cocktail recipes archives.

See some of my favorite cooking tools and ingredients in the Caroline's Cooking Amazon store.

This post was first shared in July 2019 and has been updated, primarily with new photos and additional information.

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