Cocktail Recipes/ New Year's Eve/ Party/ Valentine's Day

Grapefruit mimosa with rosemary

17 December 2019 | Last Updated: 12 December 2021 By Aleksandra

Grapefruit mimosa is champagne mixed with grapefruit juice. Additionally, I flavored my grapefruit juice with fresh rosemary. This is an easy drink that is sure to impress! If you’re a fan of grapefruit you need to try this! You only need just 3 ingredients. This drink has a beautiful hue, it can be either orange (like on the photos) or light pink, depending on the color of the grapefruit juice.

Champagne is being poured over grapefruit juice in a champagne glass.

What is mimosa?

Mimosa is a simple drink made of 1 part of champagne and 1 part of orange juice. This recipe makes a twist on the classic recipe by replacing the orange juice with grapefruit juice. This variation of the drink is called megmosa. There are also other variations of this drink, where orange juice is replaced with cranberry juice (cranberry mimosa), pineapple juice, apple cider, or lemonade.

Ingredients:

Ingredients needed to make grapefruit mimosa with rosemary.

You only need 3 ingredients: champagne, grapefruit and fresh rosemary and optionally some sweetener like sugar or honey.

  • How to choose champagne: I used ‘brut’ type of champagne, which has medium sugar content. There are champagnes with less and more sugar content. This photo (link opens in a new window) illustrates nicely what types of champagne you can buy and their sugar content. Basically you can use any champagne type that you like but then you need to add more or less sugar to the drink. Instead of champagne, prosecco or any other sparkling wine will also work very well. You don’t need to buy an expensive wine since we’re mixing it with fruit juice – it will dilute its flavor.
  • Grapefruit juice: you can use store-bought grapefruit juice and freshly pressed grapefruit juice. When using store-bought juice you can make the recipe as is. I actually prefer store-bought juice for this recipe (sweeter taste + no pulp pieces + convenience). This juice is mostly more sweet than freshly pressed juice because it’s made with juice concentrate (don’t buy juice that has been sweetened with sugar, it may be too sweet). Freshly pressed grapefruit juice is quite tart (but this will also depend on how ripe the fruit is!) so I like to add 1 Tbsp of granulated sugar for 1 cup of juice. Instead of sugar, you can add honey. I like to strain freshly squeezed juice through a fine-mesh strainer to get rid of the pulp pieces that will float at the top of the drink.
  • Rosemary – only fresh rosemary can be used. You can also omit this herb completely but I really like its flavor here.
  • There is no need for ice in this drink. Just make sure that your ingredients are chilled.

Ingredients ratios:

  • Champagne to grapefruit juice ratio – for me 1:1 works best. The drink is very moderately sweet.
  • Rosemary to grapefruit juice ratio. I use 1 rosemary twig for 1 cup of juice. If you add less the juice won’t be properly flavored and if more it can be too herby (experiment what you like best!).

What kind of glass to use:

Mimosas are served in champagne flutes. Champagne is sparkling wine so the long and narrow shape of the champagne flute is best to preserve these lovely bubbles. If you don’t have champagne glasses at home use any narrow glasses that you have.

How to make it step by step:

A collage of three photos showing mimosa drink preparation steps.

STEP 1. Start with infusing the grapefruit juice with rosemary.

If you’re short on time you can just bruise thoroughly 1 sprig of rosemary and let it infuse 1 cup of grapefruit juice for 5 mins. I found that cooking the juice with the herb yields better results. I like to slowly cook it with the juice (it doesn’t need to boil) to really properly infuse the juice with the rosemary scent. The downside of this that you need to let the juice chill before making the cocktail. When your juice is cooled, discard the rosemary. When both the grapefruit juice and the champagne are chilled you can start to make the cocktail (they don’t have to be completely chilled, the best temperature to drink champagne is 8-10°C (47-50°F).

If you’re using freshly pressed grapefruit juice: add 1 Tbsp of granulated sugar to the juice and strain the juice through a fine-mesh strainer to get rid of pulp pieces.

STEP 2. Fill the champagne flute with champagne until it is a little less than half full.

STEP 3. Top with grapefruit juice (there’s no need to stir the drink). Cheers!

You can garnish the glasses with small grapefruit wedges.

(Note: it doesn’t really matter if you fill the glass with champagne or juice first. I like to start with the champagne because is less probable that you will overfill the glass with the champagne bubbles).

How to make it for a crowd: you can make this drink in a pitcher. Just bear in mind that this way you will lose some of the bubbles. I think this drink is so easy to make, that is just better to fill each glass separately.

Non-alcoholic grapefruit mimosa (grapefruit mimosa cocktail):

Use non-alcoholic sparkling wine or sparkling water instead of champagne/prosecco.

Two champagne glasses filled with grapefruit mimosa, grapefruit, rosemary and champagne in the background.

Grapefruit mimosa with rosemary

Champagne (or prosecco) mixed with grapefruit juice that has been flavored with fresh rosemary.
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two champagne glasses filled with grapefruit mimosa
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Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 0 minutes
chilling the juice (optional) 30 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Servings 3 drinks
Calories 93kcal
Author Aleksandra

Ingredients

  • 1 cup champagne 1 PART, or prosecco or any other sparkling white wine
  • 1 cup grapefruit juice 1 PART, store-bought or freshly pressed
  • 1 twig rosemary
  • 1 tablespoon granulated sugar optional

Instructions

  • With a handle of a knife lightly bruise the rosemary twig then add with the grapefruit juice to a small pot. Heat slowly until almost boiling. Leave to cool then discard the rosemary.
  • Fill the champagne flute with champagne until it is a little less than half full.
  • Top with grapefruit juice (there’s no need to stir the drink).
  • Cheers!

Notes

  • If you’re using freshly pressed grapefruit juice: add 1 Tbsp of granulated sugar to the juice and strain the juice through a fine-mesh strainer to get rid of pulp pieces. You can also add sweetener to the store-bought juice if it’s too tart for you. Instead of sugar, you can add honey.
  • You can garnish the glasses with small grapefruit wedges.
  • If you’re short on time you can just bruise thoroughly 1 sprig of rosemary and let it infuse 1 cup of grapefruit juice for 5 mins (the rosemary flavor won’t be unfortunately very noticeable).
  • Both grapefruit juice and champagne should be chilled (the best temperature to drink champagne is 8-10°C / 47-50°F). There is no need for ice in this drink. Just make sure that your ingredients are chilled.
  • The original mimosa drink contains 1 part of champagne and 1 part of orange juice. There are also other variations of this drink, where orange juice is replaced with cranberry juice, pineapple juice, apple cider or lemonade.
  • Champagne: I used ‘brut’ type. Instead of champagne, prosecco or any other sparkling wine will also work very well. You don’t need to buy an expensive wine since we’re mixing it with fruit juice – it will dilute its flavor.
  • What kind of glass should you use: Mimosas are served in champagne flutes. Champagne is sparkling wine so the long and narrow shape of the champagne flute is best to preserve these lovely bubbles. If you don’t have champagne glasses at home use any narrow glasses that you have.
  • It doesn’t really matter if you fill the glass with champagne or juice first. I like to start with the champagne because is less probable that you will overfill the glass with the champagne bubbles).
  • How to make it for a crowd: you can make this drink in a pitcher. Just bear in mind that this way you will lose some of the bubbles. I think this drink is so easy to make, that is just better to fill each glass separately.
Course cocktail, drinks and alcoholic beverages
Cuisine international
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