Mimosa Recipe: Champagne and Fresh Orange Juice

Ingredients

2½ oz champagne well chilled; dry sparkling wine also workse.g. Moët & Chandon · Veuve Clicquot · Taittinger · Laurent-Perrier · Pommery
2½ oz orange juice freshly squeezed and cold

Garnish: Orange twist (optional) · Ice: Served up, no ice

Method

Chill the flute, the champagne and the orange juice well in advance.
Pour the orange juice into the flute.
Top slowly with champagne, tilting the glass so it does not foam over.
Do not stir; if you like, garnish with a thin orange twist.

Watch it made

Mimosa

Taste

Fresh, juicy and lightly sweet with soft acidity and a lively sparkle. Low in alcohol and very easy to drink.

History and origin

Orange juice and sparkling wine is such an obvious pairing that it is hard to credit anyone with inventing it. The story most often told places the Mimosa at the Ritz in Paris in the mid-1920s, where bartender Frank Meier is said to have served it; the name refers to the yellow mimosa flower. A close relative, the Buck's Fizz, is usually traced to the Buck's Club in London in 1921 and uses more sparkling wine and less juice.

In the decades since, the Mimosa has become the defining brunch drink, above all in the United States, where it sits alongside the Bloody Mary on weekend menus. The International Bartenders Association lists it among its Contemporary Classics with equal parts champagne and fresh orange juice.

Bartender tips

Freshly squeezed juice makes the biggest difference; strain out the pulp so the bubbles last.
Pour juice first and champagne second, slowly, to keep the foam under control and mix the drink naturally.
A dry cava, crémant or dry sekt is a fine and cheaper stand-in for champagne.

Variations

Buck's Fizz: The British cousin: about two parts sparkling wine to one part orange juice, drier and more wine-led.
Blood Orange Mimosa: An easy twist: use freshly squeezed blood orange juice for a deeper color and a berry-like note.