La Vida en Rosa, Cognac, Grenadine and Lime Frappé, 1939
Reader ratingsTwo ounces of cognac with a teaspoon of grenadine and half a lime, served frappé with a cherry: a daiquiri-style brandy drink from Havana’s Bar La Florida, printed in 1939.
- Recipe makes
- 1 drink, about 4 fl oz
- Prep
- Total
La Vida en Rosa over crushed ice with a cherry in a champagne saucer, beside half a lime.
The story behind the recipe
La Vida en Rosa is a daiquiri made with cognac: two ounces of brandy, a teaspoon of grenadine and the juice of half a lime, served frappé over fine ice with a cherry. Havana’s Bar La Florida printed it in 1939 in its bilingual booklet Floridita Cock-tails, with a name in brackets after the title: “(Juan Comellas).”
Juan Comellas
The booklet credits several drinks to named people this way, and gives no more about them. Who Juan Comellas was, a bartender or a customer, we don’t know. The name isn’t the song, either: “La Vie en rose” came in the 1940s, after the booklet. The drink shares its page with the Josephine Baker, and the bar’s habit of naming drinks for people is told in What Did Havana’s Cocktail King Pour in the 1930s?
Read more about this recipe
Making it today
The booklet’s “hielo frapé” is fine crushed ice, the same ice as the Daiquirí No. 4. Shaking it with the cognac and pouring it all into a wide saucer gives a pale rose drink over snowy ice.
LA VIDA EN ROSA (Juan Comellas)
2 Onzas Coñac Hennessy. / 1 Cucharadita de Granadina. / Jugo de medio limón verde. / Hielo Frapé. / Sírvase frapé y adórnese con una guinda.
2 Ounces Hennessy Brandy. / 1 Teaspoonfull of Granadine. / ½ Lemon Juice. / Ice Frappe. / Served frappe with cherry.
Recipe makes: 1 drink, about 4 fl oz
Ingredients
For 1 drink, about 4 fl oz. Quantities are shown as written.
Quantities as written here, for 1 drink, about 4 fl oz.
- Cognac2 fl oz
- Grenadine1 tsp
- Fresh lime juice (about half a lime)1/2 fl oz
- Crushed ice1 1/2 cups
- Cocktail cherry1
Measurement notes
Ingredients as written here
- 2 fl oz cognac
- 1 tsp grenadine
- 1/2 fl oz fresh lime juice (about half a lime)
- 1 1/2 cups crushed ice
- 1 cocktail cherry
Equipment
Cocktail shaker
Citrus juicer
Champagne saucer or wide coupe
Instructions
Chill a champagne saucer or wide coupe in the freezer.
Put the cognac, grenadine and fresh lime juice in a cocktail shaker with the crushed ice.
Close the shaker and shake hard for about 15 seconds.
Pour everything, ice and all, into the chilled glass, top with the cocktail cherry and serve with a short straw or a small spoon.
Nutrition
155calories per serving
- Recipe makes
- 1 drink, about 4 fl oz
Estimated from USDA FoodData Central values for 80-proof cognac, grenadine and lime juice, for one drink.
Recipe notes
When adjusting quantities
This is one drink. Shake no more than two at a time.
Notes
Quantities mentioned in these notes don’t change when you adjust the batch.
“Limón verde” is lime. The booklet names Hennessy; any cognac works. With the melting ice, the drink is about 21% ABV. For a smoother texture, blend it briefly with the ice, as for the Daiquirí No. 4.
The Shirley Temple keeps the grenadine’s pink and swaps the cognac for ginger ale.
Scaling changes the ingredients only; glassware, ice and timings need their own judgment. To adapt this recipe further, try the recipe tool at TuneMyRecipe (opens in a new tab), our sister site.
Sources and attribution
Floridita Cock-tails (Havana: Bar La Florida, 1939), p. 39, “La Vida en Rosa (Juan Comellas)”
Recipe details
- Drink family
- Cocktails & Mixed Drinks
- Region
- Caribbean
- Source decade
- 1930s
- Base
- Brandy
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Season
- Summer