How to Make the Best Mimosa: 11 Mimosa Variations

1. 1. Pour the sparkling wine first. Mimosas are all about the fizz (also called carbonation), so you want to make sure you lose as few precious bubbles as possible while you’re making them. If you pour the wine first—especially if you do it slowly and at an angle—you’ll avoid overflowing the glass and losing half of the fizz to the floor.
2. 2. Use fresh-squeezed orange juice. Fresh orange juice has the most flavor and will give you the best-tasting drink. If fresh isn’t possible, make sure to at least buy orange juice that is 100% orange juice, rather than from concentrate. One quick note: the bubbles of the wine will cause pulp to rise to the top of your drink—if you’d prefer a smooth drink, opt for pulp-free orange juice.
3. 3. Don’t stir. Since mimosas are meant to be bubbly, you want to avoid agitating them too much before you drink them—any agitation will cause bubbles to pop. Pouring the orange juice into the wine will mix the drinks plenty, so don’t do any extra stirring afterward.

There are plenty of variations on the mimosa cocktail recipe:

1. 1. Poinsettia: Substitutes cranberry juice for the orange juice
2. 2. Lemosa: Substitutes lemonade for the orange juice
3. 3. Soleil (or pineapple mimosa): Substitutes pineapple juice for the orange juice
4. 4. Megmosa: Substitutes grapefruit juice for the orange juice
5. 5. Vermosa (also called a crisp or an apple cider mimosa): Substitutes apple cider for the orange juice
6. 6. Buck’s fizz: Rather than an equal-parts mixture, uses twice as much champagne as orange juice
7. 7. Pomegranate mimosa: Substitutes pomegranate juice for the orange juice
8. 8. Watermelon mimosa: Substitutes watermelon juice for the orange juice
9. 9. Sunrise mimosa: Includes grenadine syrup for a red-to-orange gradient effect similar to a tequila sunrise
10. 10. Grand mimosa: For more kick, substitutes orange liqueur for the orange juice
11. 11. Mimosa sangria: Includes fresh fruit (like strawberries, raspberries, or pineapple) for even more flavor