Lime in the Coconut Water

The other day we cracked open a coconut, which left us with quite a lot of coconut water to drink. It’s a delicious beverage on its own, but it can also be incorporated to cocktails. A lot of recipes pair coconut water with dark rum, or even with blackstrap rum. While dark rum and coconut are a good combination in general, dark rum overwhelms subtly nutty coconut water and can leave you with a rather one-dimensional drink. Instead of dark, we turned to a favorite white rum so that you can still taste the nuances of the coconut water in every sip of this cocktail, where we put the lime (juice, among other things) into our coconut.

The drink is light and flavorful, as our white rum doesn’t overpower the natural flavor of the coconut water, so you still get some of that natural nuttiness. Fresh coconut water – straight from the coconut – tends to have a bit more of a pronounced flavor than some bottled coconut waters, but they all work well here. The honey and lime are simply a good fit all the way around. We used Banks 5 rum, which has a complex and spicy character to it and blends well with the naturally sweet coconut water, as well as with the other ingredients in the drink. If you don’t have the Banks, a rum like Cana Brava or Selvary would also be an excellent choice, as would many other good quality white rums. Be sure to choose something smooth that has a little age on it for best results.

Lime in the Coconut Water
2 oz Banks 5 rum (or other good white rum)
1 oz lime juice
3/4 oz honey syrup
2 1/2 oz coconut water, pref. fresh

Combine all ingredients in a mixing glass and stir to combine. Pour into a highball glass filled with cubed or crushed ice. Add an additional splash of coconut water to top off the drink, if necessary.