Direct from Havana.

DON'T FORGET TO THANK HEMINGWAY. If it weren't for Papa, most bartenders might not stock fresh mint in their lowboys. We might miss the sound of mint mashed and muddled with raw sugar. Surely there'd be something wrong if that particular perfume were gone. That which moonlights as sweet and tart; a silent seducer inviting us to linger if only a moment longer. Mint: it's the cardinal of this Cuban cocktail, the mojito.

For Ernest Hemingway, the mojito was the second of two favorite drinks (the first, his dear daiquiri). This address, a familiar friend: 207 Calle Empedrado, belonging to La Bodeguita del Medio, located deep within the city's old quarter, just off the Plaza de la Cathedral. The joint is steeped in history (as evidence by the scrawl and carvings on the walls and tables). Once a carriage house and then bodegua, or 'Mom and Pop' grocery, in 1942, La Bodeguita became a restaurant just after WWII when Cuba was the hot spot for intellectuals, artists and Havana's bohemia who were trying to "fix the world" with ideas--ones that translated to some of the best poetry, fiction and music of the era. As Nicolas Guillen, Cuba's national poet said, La Bodeguita "overflowed with surges of aged rum", and of course, dressed with the most genuine inspiration of "soneros" and "troubadours."

It is in Habana Vieja, or old Havana, where mojitos have lined bars for decades. The drink can't be made fast enough today--mostly for its clientele of tourists who look to the swinging bar door at La Bodeguita hopeful Hemingway himself will appear. Certainly there are enough pictures to suffice. Tourists, flush with dollars, indulge in this, the sublimely cool cocktail served in a sultry climate that is considered cold, and its citizens depressed if the temperature drops anywhere under 90 degrees. Hemingway pledged his allegiance to the drink: "My mojito in La Bodeguita, my daiquiri in El Floridita" (the latter, another renowned Havana drinking establishment).

But the mojito has made its way out of the country--and the best thing about this Cuban import is there's no smuggling involved. Go to the trendiest or downtrodden bar and you're sure to get some version of the mojito. Perhaps not always mixed with the classic turn-of-the-century ingredients: sugar, mint, rum, sparkling water and lime juice--debatable are the bitters, but stick with the bar that serves it up with sugar cane. Go to 66 in New York, ask for a mojito and you'll be told about the house special--a version made with kumquats. Hemingway loyalists might insist this is defaming Papa.

What better way to experience the true flavor of the mojito than to drink them with someone who really knows them? And since Hemingway ceases to exist, AC looked up Sam DuVall, owner of Habana restaurant, "commodore" of Habana Yacht Club and perhaps the "mojito king" in the San Francisco Bay Area. Sam has made 29 journeys to Havana and has brought the flavors back with him, offering what he dubs, "the saveur de Cuba."

"In the United States, we have access to products that they just can't get down there. And we have the ability to do different things because we have the raw materials." "I have at least one mojito every trip ... okay, maybe two or three. That includes a lot of bad ones and a few good ones." On each trip he's sure to take careful notes from some of the older bartenders to record their recipes "for prosperity", so they won't be "lost treasures" and so "a new generation can get even more nicely drunk." Sam warns, "it's a strong drink--it just doesn't taste it."

Habana, in San Francisco, records sales of over a 1,000 mojitos each week. And when the number climbs significantly, Sam knows summer is near. This is, he says, "the perfect summer drink."

So what goes in a Habana mojito?

"We start by pulling the mint leaves from the stalk, leaf by leaf. (14 leaves go into each drink). We muddle the mint with ice to release the oil." Sam recommends using a good muddler (a small baseball bat-like bar tool). "We pour a special rum made in the Dominican Republic that was invented after the Revolucion in 1959--Brugal Rum. We infuse the mint stalks with water and sugar to make a simple syrup. For each mojito we use the juice from one whole lime--and a little of that green skin. It gets 2-ounces of soda before we shake it all up. Pour it in 12-ounce glass and serve it with a piece of sugar cane. I've never seen them use sugar cane in Cuba--not once in 29 trips."