Hi, Friends of Cocktails! I’ve been preparing you for a cocktail competition focused on minimizing waste and maximizing flavor for the last 4 years–and it might just bring you and me to France. That’s right, I’m talking about the Cointreau Margarita Challenge. It’s back and the 2025 edition will be right down your alley.
So today we’ve partnered with Cointreau to go over everything you’ll need to know before you submit your Margarita recipe, and I’ll show you an example of a cocktail that I think checks all the boxes for the evaluation criteria. But most importantly, I’ll try to give you a few ideas on how to approach this year’s theme of the No Waste Margarita Challenge: from Fruit to Leaf.
For my cocktail I went with the orange, and in one way or another, I’ll end up using its flesh, the pith, the peels, but also the leaves, and even the blossoms–but you can choose any other fruit as long as you use it from flesh, to peel, to leaves. I won’t be competing, but I’ll be there for the finals, presenting one of the challenges, and I’d love to see some Friends of Cocktails there.
Last year’s challenge sparked a wave of creativity with nearly 2,000 unique recipes being submitted from almost 80 countries for the theme of Flavor of Your City. That’s when I made the Love Road Margarita, inspired by a breathing landscape and flavors of my surroundings in beautiful Slovenia. But if you want more Margarita inspiration I’ve also made a carrot-juice Margarita back in 2021.
The countdown to the 2025 Margarita challenge has already started, with the registrations now open and you can find out all the key dates here. But before we get into all the details about how you can become one of the bartenders competing for the finals and a trip to Cointreau’s historic mansion in France, let’s go over the ingredients I’ll use in my 2025 Margarita, called the Orange Tree Margarita.
Alongside blanco tequila, lime juice and the key ingredient, Cointreau L’Unique, I’ll also be adding orange leaf tincture and lacto-fermented orange blossom soda and for the final touch, lacto-fermented marmalade, made with orange pith and leftovers of fermentation, that would otherwise have been thrown out. A sprinkle of Fleur de sel or salt flower will be the icing on the cakem, but how did I come up with these ingredients?
I did what you should always do when competing in a cocktail competition - I carefully studied the theme and competition criteria. This year’s competition is all about sustainability, with a theme inspired by the natural world. More on the theme and rules of the competition after I create the first part of the ingredients, the lacto-fermented orange starter. It’s Margarita Cocktail Time!
Lacto-fermented Orange Starter
● 4 Organic Oranges
● 12g Salt
Start by thinly peeling the oranges. Make sure they have food-grade peels and that you washed them well, but don’t use antibacterial soap–we don’t want mold, but we still need the good bacteria for the fermentation process. We’ll use the flesh and some of the peels with their essential oils in the fermentation process for their flavor, but to align with the zero-waste theme let’s store the pith and the rest of the of the peels in the freezer as we’ll need it later on once the fermentation is done.
The flesh of our 4 oranges plus the peels from one of them ended up being 600g, which we’ll combine with 2% of that weight in salt, or in my case 12g. Now give everything a good mix and a gentle muddle, so the salt covers the oranges and the peels evenly. I’ll then place this in a sous vide bag and use a vacuum chamber to release all of the air.
As covered in the Fermented Grapefruit Soda post, air is the enemy of fermentation so the vacuum chamber will do a great job, but you can do this using a classic vacuum sealer or even a jar–just try to fill it up as much as possible and remember to burp the jar regularly, to release the buildup of CO2. That happens when the bacteria starts eating sugars in the oranges, converting it into lactic acid, hence lacto-fermentation.
When using a sealed bag you’ll see it inflate once that happens. It should take around 5-7 days, but if you see mold at any stage you’ll need to throw that batch out and start again. We’ll have a second fermentation while making the soda, so once this is fully inflated that’s done. So cut open the bag, give it a smell to make sure nothing has gone wrong, then strain out the fermented orange juice, which will be the starter for our fermented orange blossom soda.
Make sure to get all the juices out, but keep in mind that with the zero waste approach we’ll be using the leftover solids as well, in our case for the garnish, and plenty of delicious breakfasts from now on. But before we get to that let’s talk about what boxes your cocktail needs to check for you to have a chance at competing in Agnes, the home of Cointreau.
The judges will be looking for Margaritas that honor both the planet and the palate. And with the challenge being named “from Fruit to Leaf” you all will need to pick an ingredient that will not only elevate the timeless classic cocktail, but can do so with all of its parts. Along with showing a commitment to sustainability you’ll also need to use two key ingredients of the Margarita - salt and at least 25 ml or 0.75 oz of Cointreau L’Unique, as per the rules.
Next I’ll tell you what the evaluation Criteria is after we make the Fermented Floral Soda. For that I’ll use dried organic orange blossom, water, agave nectar, and the lacto-fermented orange starter we just made.
Fermented Floral Soda
● 650g Water
● 1g Dried Organic Orange Blossom
● 100g Agave Nectar
● 90mL · 3oz Lacto-fermented Orange Starter
Start by making orange blossom tea by bringin the water up to a boil, then add dried organic orange blossoms and let it steep for 5 minutes. Now strain out 620 grams of our orange blossom tea and combine it with agave nectar, and leave this to come down to room temperature before we add the fermentation starter, so we don’t kill off the good bacteria we worked so hard to grow.
We have enough to pour this in two 500mL plastic bottles. These will be able to withstand the pressure of a second fermentation with the CO2 forming and expanding the bottle. So squeeze out the air and leave them at room temperature until you see they’ve fully inflated back. This will give us a wonderful carbonated fermented orange blossom soda, and to stop the fermentation just place them in the fridge.
Our fermentation starter can also be frozen into 45mL cubes and used as needed, so the first stage of fermentation isn’t needed for each time you want to make this soda. So you have the skills to make a killer Margarita. Is that enough to win you a trip to France? No… you’ll need a few more things.
Your skills, including innovation, sustainability and creativity represents 40% of the total score. Ingredients used are 30%, the storytelling behind your cocktail is another 20%, and because every cocktail tasting experience starts with the eye, 10% of the score is down to the presentation. So pick the glass that suits your cocktail, add a garnish that complements it, and take a nice photo as well.
Speaking of garnish, let’s make that now, then I’ll tell you where and how you apply for the chance to become the Margarita Challenge 2025 winner. The garnish will be Lacto-fermented Orange Marmalade made from the leftovers from lacto-fermentation, water, sugar, lemon juice, plus the peels and some of the pith from when we started this whole process.
Lacto-fermented Orange Marmalade
● Lacto-fermentation Leftovers
● 300g Water
● 45g Orange Pith
● 30mL · 1oz Lemon Juice
● 500g Sugar
Add all of the leftovers from lacto-fermentation, and all of the peels we placed in the freezer to a blender along with the water. I’ll give it a few pulses to combine, and then we’ll place this orange puree in a pot and bring it up to a boil. Then we’ll add the finely chopped orange pith. This is a bitter component, so adding all of it would be too much. Remember, sustainability is the way, but a great tasting cocktail is the goal!
Pith has a high amount of pectin, around 30%, which is a great gelling agent. That means that when making citrus jams or marmalades, you don’t need powdered pectin, as it’s already present in this often discarded part of the fruit. Once you add the pith you’ll want to mix it in and leave to simmer for about 5 minutes before adding the lemon juice and sugar and leave it to simmer for another 30 minutes, or until our zero-waste marmalade reaches the temperature of 104°C or 220 °F.
You can test if it’s ready by placing a teaspoon of it onto a chilled plate and putting it in the freezer for 1 minute. Then push the marmalade with a spoon and if it forms wrinkles, it’s gelled enough. So once that’s done carefully spoon it into hot sterilized jars and seal it while it’s still hot. This will make way more than we need but it will be a deliciously bitter-sweet marmalade so it’s great for more than just Margaritas!
We’ve now covered everything you need to know before creating an amazing leaf-to-flower Margarita. So how do you apply? Once you have your recipe ready click here to go to the Margarita Challenge website where you’ll fill in your information, experience, and of course your margarita twist with ingredients, steps and photo.
We’ll get into what’s the prize for the selected finalists after we make the final ingredient, the orange leaf tincture. Here I’ll need just two things: orange leaves and 96% grain alcohol.
Orange Leaf Tincture
● 33g Orange Leaves
● 210mL · 7oz 96% Grain Alcohol
One thing that’s different with this tincture, compared to the other one’s I’ve made on the channel before, is that the leaves are thicker. So into a sous vide bag add the leaves, seal the bag, and cook it at 60°C or 140°F for 3 hours. After that, wait until it cools completely, then cut open the bag, strain the tincture and place it in a dasher bottle. That’s our final ingredient done!
Before we make the Orange Tree Margarita, let’s talk about what you’ll be competing for. 12 finalists, including one rookie spot for up-and-coming bartenders, will be selected to compete in the grand finale in Angers, where the story of Cointreau began–I’ll see you there.
And the grand prize for the winner? An additional trip to France for two, a sponsor budget for a tour to promote the winning Margarita around the world. Plus eternal glory, right? Now let’s make my Orange Tree Margarita.
Orange Tree Margarita
● 45mL · 1.5oz Blanco Tequila
● 22.5mL · 0.75oz Lime Juice
● 25mL · 0.75+oz Cointreau L’Unique
● 6 dashes Orange Leaf Tincture
● 45g Fermented Floral Soda
● Lacto-fermented Orange Marmalade
● Salt Flower
The prep work was long, so let’s make this quick. Into a chilled shaker add the tequila, lime juice, Cointreau L’Unique, and Orange Leaf Tincture. Shake with plenty of ice and strain into an ice-filled lowball glass. We’ll top it up with our fermented orange blossom soda water, mix the ingredients with a few lifts of a barspoon, then place the garnish on the cocktail - a teaspoonful of the zero waste orange marmalade and sprinkle it with salt flower, or fleur de sel. Perfection!
This is unmistakably a Margarita in its DNA, with a subtle fermented sparkliness and a nice floral aroma. Orange is showing itself through all the senses, making you feel like you’ve been transported under a real-life orange tree. Wonderful, unique, Cointreau.
With that we’ve made it to the Bottom of The Glass. Today’s recommended read isn’t a book, it’s to read up on the Margarita Challenge on the competition’s website here! Save the link and don’t forget you need to apply before February 28th. Cheers and remember to drink responsibly!
תגובות