Floridita Bar
There are men who make certain places, who build its fame. They leave their mark for posterity, and this is the case with El Floridita, a bar that cannot be mentioned without also mentioning the Spaniard Constantino Ribalaigua Vert and the writer Ernest Hemingway.
Constante, as he was commonly known, was more of a magician than a bartender, a cautious and meticulous alchemist; he began to work in this bar, part of a restaurant managed by a French chef who was well-known in Havana at the time, Lapont, during the First World War.
The Spaniard bought El Floridita a few years later, in 1918, while his fame, and that of the bar, located on the corner of Obispo and Monserrate, continued to grow. Articles from that time show that one of its selling points was its “doors open to the passing crowds, in view of the streetcar that crossed with its odd little bell”. This is why it became a required watering hole for locals who turned the bar into a salon, where people came to “drink in the morning” or “drink in the evening”, and to argue passionately about important topics, while "at the bar they alternated between shrimp, scallops, and oysters, thanks to our abundant marine life, while huge servings of ham, pork loin and thirst-inducing cheeses gave way to olives of varying color and taste”, as a writer described at the time. Cultural forums or salons were held here, and they included all sorts of people representing all sorts of professions, where all sorts of topics were discussed.
The wide range of cocktails served, along with the attentive service of the bartenders and waiters, served to increase the bar’s renown, even crossing national borders, as evidenced in a book by Joseph Hergersheimer, and in French newspapers by André Demasíen.
In 1932, the other great character connected to this story arrived in Havana: Ernest Hemingway. On one of his long walks he discovered the bar, its atmosphere and its cocktails, and from then on he made the first stool at the bar his. He wrote, impressed, “The drink couldn’t be any better, not even close, anywhere else in the world”.
Hemingway and El Floridita would forever be linked from this moment on.
It was in El Floridita that he felt at home, and he shared this “home” with the Dukes of Windsor, Gene Tunney, Jean Paul Sartre, Gary Cooper, Dominguin, Tennessee Williams, Charles Scribner, Spencer Tracy, Rocky Marciano, Ava Gardner, Samuel Eliot Morison, Buck Lanham, and Herbert Matthews, among many others. His circle of friends was all welcome at his corner of the bar.
The spirit of Constante can still be felt at the bar, presiding over just the right combination for over 150 cocktails: lemon juice, with lemons grown by Constante himself, white rum, and the essential sugar. On some other occasions other tropical fruits are used, like grapefruit, oranges, and pineapple.
Hemingway said of the daiquiris that Constante prepared: “I had a double daiquiri, the great ones prepared by Constante, that didn’t taste like alcohol”. If you visit Havana, don’t forget to visit this magical spot, and you’ll see for yourself what Esquire described: "The bar El Floridita, in Havana, is an institution of integrity, where the spirit of man can be elevated by conversation and company. It’s an international crossroads”.
A brief history of the Daiquirí.
Daiquirí
The daiquiri is a Cuban invention, and was born during the Spanish-American War in 1898 in the village of the same name, as a way of combating malaria, especially among those with high fever.
People debate whether it was doctors, American engineers, or other neighbors of the town of Daiquiri who had the idea to add lemon and sugar to rum to make it more agreeable to the taste buds of the sick, as well as adding the ice of distilled water, which was ground up with the other ingredients.
Original recipe of the traditional daiquiri:
- 2 ounces Cuban White rum
- 1 ounce lemon juice
- 1 tablespoonful of sugar
- Lots of crushed ice
Mix all the ingredients in a blender until the ice is foamy.
Serve in a cocktail or martini glass, and garnish with a lemon slice.
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