Salted Watermelon Tequila Cooler

Before you start

Watermelon juice is sweet and light but can taste flat on its own. A small amount of salt does what it does on a wedge of melon: it sharpens the fruit, softens the bitter edge of the rind and makes the drink taste juicier. With blanco tequila, lime and soda, it becomes a tall, pink, easy summer highball that is lower in sugar than most fruit cocktails because the melon does the sweetening.

The juice is the whole drink, so blend it fresh from a ripe melon and strain it well. A saline solution measures salt more accurately than a pinch, and you want just enough to brighten the melon, not enough to taste. Build the drink in the glass after a quick shake so the soda stays lively.

Ingredients

• 250 g (about 1⅔ cups) cubed seedless watermelon — to yield about 120 ml juice
• 45 ml (1½ oz) blanco tequila
• 15 ml (½ oz) fresh lime juice
• 2 to 3 drops saline solution (20%) — or a small pinch of fine salt
• 60 ml (2 oz) chilled soda water
• as needed ice cubes
• 1 small wedge watermelon — garnish
• 1 pinch flaky salt — for the garnish wedge

Method

1. Blend the watermelon cubes for 15 to 20 seconds until completely liquid. Pour through a fine strainer, pressing lightly, to get about 120 ml of clear pink juice.
2. Make the saline if you do not have it: dissolve 20 g salt in 80 ml warm water and cool it. It keeps indefinitely in a dropper bottle.
3. Add the watermelon juice, tequila, lime juice and saline to the shaker with a handful of ice. Shake briefly, for about 5 seconds, just to chill and combine.
4. Fill the highball glass with fresh ice and strain the drink into it.
5. Top with chilled soda water and stir once from the bottom.
6. Sprinkle a pinch of flaky salt on the watermelon wedge, perch it on the rim and serve immediately.

Tips for success

• Choose a melon that feels heavy for its size and has a creamy yellow ground spot. Pale, underripe flesh makes thin, vegetal juice.
• Strain twice for a clearer drink. Pulp settles into a pink sludge at the bottom of the glass as it sits.
• Taste the drink before and after salting. You should notice brighter fruit, not salt; if you taste salt, use one drop less.

Substitutions

Blanco tequila

Mezcal adds smoke that is lovely with salty melon. Vodka makes a cleaner, more neutral cooler.

Soda water

Grapefruit soda turns it into a sweeter, paloma-like drink. Sparkling mineral water adds extra minerality.

Saline solution

A tiny pinch of fine salt dissolved in the lime juice works. Tajín on the rim adds salt, chile and lime at once.

Variations

Pitcher for six

Combine 720 ml watermelon juice, 270 ml tequila, 90 ml lime juice and 12 to 15 drops saline. Chill, pour over ice and top each glass with soda.

Alcohol-free

Skip the tequila and add 30 ml more soda and a few torn mint leaves.

Troubleshooting

The drink tastes watery

The melon was underripe or the drink was over-diluted. Use ripe fruit, shake briefly and use fresh, cold ice.

It separates into layers

Watermelon juice settles quickly. Strain it well, serve it right away and give it a stir before drinking.

It tastes salty

Too much saline. Add a splash more juice to rebalance, and measure salt by the drop next time.

Storage

Serve immediately. Fresh watermelon juice tastes best within a few hours; refrigerate it covered and use it within 1 day, stirring before use. Do not leave the juice or mixed drinks at room temperature for more than 2 hours.

Safety notes

Contains 45 ml of 40% ABV tequila, about 1 U.S. standard drink (a standard drink is roughly 14 g of pure alcohol). For adults of legal drinking age only, and never drink and drive.