Things to know about Tequila Sunrise
Today, the Tequila Sunrise is probably the most popular of all Tequila cocktails, next to the Margarita and the Paloma and no cocktail menu can be imagined without it.
Today, unfortunately, the drink is far too often disfigured as a tangy juice-tequila* slush and offered and drunk more for its effect than for its taste. At the same time, a well-built sunrise is an exciting and fresh after-work drink. Just try it out. The choice of ingredients and their quality are crucial to the taste of Tequila Sunrise, whether in its modern version with orange juice or in its classic version.
Freshly squeezed juice is crucial
When you walk into a bar, order a Tequila Sunrise, and you see the bartender start to squeeze an orange, you know there’s a true expert at work. Freshly squeezed orange juice is a whole different world in terms of taste, compared to that from the bottle. Store-bought OJ often causes the Sunrise to degenerate into a sticky, sweet sugar concoction.
If he then reaches for a ripe lime and adds a dash of lime juice to your glass, you shouldn’t skimp on the tip. The lime juice provides the necessary acidity, which counteracts the sweetness of the organgenic juice and gives the drink an animating sweetness-acidity interplay. But beware: too much acid quickly makes the long drink tip over.
Ice cubes instead of crushed ice
Tequila Sunrise is built in the glass and not shaken. Only the orange juice-tequila part can be shaken in a shaker* with ice and chilled. It is then poured through a bar strainer* into a fresh glass with ice cubes. This ensures that the ice cubes melt more slowly and the drink is not watered down. At home, you can save this step by putting the ingredients in the fridge beforehand. Ice cubes do not cool as well as crushed ice, but melt significantly slower, thanks to their smaller surface area. For this reason, they keep your drink from resembling diluted orange juice after 5 five minutes.
The right glass for the long drink
The title says it all: as a long drink, Tequila Sunrise is served in a tall long drink glass with a smooth exterior. This has no effect on the drink taste-wise, but provides a nice stage for the color gradient that gave the drink its name.