Cranberry mimosa also called poinsettia drink is a simple but delicious champagne cocktail made with only 3 ingredients – champagne, cranberry juice, and orange liqueur. It’s really tasty and makes a great alternative to drinking plain champagne! It would be lovely for the holidays!
What is mimosa?
A classic mimosa is a simple drink made with just 2 ingredients – champagne and orange juice. This recipe makes a twist on the classic recipe by replacing the orange juice with cranberry juice. I also added a small amount of orange liqueur to the drink – it adds a subtle orange flavor and increases a bit amount of alcohol since there’s a lot of fruit juice in this cocktail.
This drink is also called a poinsettia cocktail which comes from the bright red color of the drink that resembles the color of poinsettia flower.
You can also try out grapefruit mimosa!
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make this delicious cocktail:
Champagne
How to choose champagne: There are following types of champagne which differ in their sweetness: Brut Nature, Extra Brut, Brut, Extra Dry, Dry, Demi-Sec, and Doux (Brut Nature being the lowest in sugar and Doux being the sweetest). I used ‘demi-sec’ type of champagne for this recipe, which is more on the sweet side. It works well combined with tart cranberry juice. You can use brut champagne if you’d prefer a drink that is less sweet.
Instead of champagne, which is a sparkling wine produced in the Champagne region of France, prosecco (Italian sparkling wine), Cava (Spanish sparkling wine), or any other sparkling wine will also work very well. You don’t need to buy an expensive champagne since we’re mixing it with fruit juice – all the flavor nuances of the wine won’t be noticeable.
Cranberry Juice
The recipe calls for cranberry juice that is a blend of cranberry juice and other fruit juices. You can also use a cranberry juice cocktail (100% cranberry juice sweetened with sugar). Do not use unsweetened 100% cranberry juice which would be too tart for this recipe. If this is what you have, you can add some simple syrup to the drink.
How to use up leftover cranberry juice
You can make these cocktails: Cranberry Martini, Sea Breeze Cocktail, Cosmopolitan Cocktail, Malibu Bay Breeze. Check out all my cocktail recipes with cranberry juice to see how you can use up the leftovers.
Orange liquor
My favorite orange liqueur is Cointreau and this is what I recommend for this recipe. It has a great balance of bitter and sweet. Other brands, like Triple Sec, can have a more harsh flavor.
Orange liqueur is a great liqueur to have in your pantry. It is so delicious and you can use it to make many drinks such as Cosmopolitan, Sidecar cocktail, or Apple Cider Sangria.
Instead of orange liqueur, you can use orange juice.
Garnish
For garnish I used sugared cranberries and rosemary sprigs. You can also just use fresh cranberries. To do that, first pierce cranberries with a toothpick then push a rosemary sprig through the hole in the cranberries.
For a non-alcoholic cranberry mimosa use non-alcoholic sparkling wine or sparkling water instead of champagne/prosecco.
What kind of glass to use
Mimosas are served in champagne flutes. Champagne is a sparkling wine so the long and narrow shape of a champagne flute is best to preserve those lovely bubbles. If you don’t have champagne glasses at home use any narrow and long glasses that you have.
Step by step instructions
STEP 1: Measure out the orange liqueur and add it to the a champagne glass.
STEP 2: Measure out the cranberry juice and add it to the glass.
STEP 3: Top with champagne (make sure to not pour it to the brim or the bubbles will overflow the glass).
Enjoy right away!
Make sure your ingredients are chilled, but they don’t have to be completely cold, the best temperature to drink champagne is 47-50°F (8-10°C).
How to make it ahead
This drink is very quick to make but if you want to make it ahead you can pour orange liqueur and cranberry juice into champagne flutes and store them in the fridge. Top with champagne just before serving.
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 it’s just better to fill each glass separately.
Top Tips
- your ingredients should be chilled
- first pour the juice and liqueur, following with champagne at the end (to retain the bubbles)
- be careful while pouring the champage so it won’t overflow the glass
- you can totally just eyeball the ingredients!
Did you make this recipe? RATE THE RECIPE or tell me in the COMMENTS how you liked it! You can also add a photo of your dish. It would make me very happy and will help other readers. Thank you!!
Cranberry Mimosa (Poinsettia Drink)
Ingredients
- 1/2 ounce orange liqueur such as Cointreau, 15ml
- 3 ounces cranberry juice 90ml
- champagne to top
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Instructions
- Add orange liqueur and cranberry juice to a champagne flute.
- Top with champagne (make sure to not pour it to the brim or the bubbles will overflow the glass).
- Enjoy right away!
Notes
- The recipe calls for cranberry juice that is a blend of cranberry juice and other fruit juices. You can also use a cranberry juice cocktail (100% cranberry juice sweetened with sugar). Do not use unsweetened 100% cranberry juice which would be too tart for this recipe. If this is what you have, you can add some simple syrup to the drink.
- For garnish, I used sugared cranberries and rosemary sprigs. You can also just use fresh cranberries. To do that, first, pierce cranberries with a toothpick then push a rosemary sprig through the hole in the cranberries.
- I used a demi-sec type of champagne for this recipe. Champagne should be chilled. Instead of champagne, you can also use prosecco (Italian sparkling wine). You can use brut champagne if you’d prefer a drink that is less sweet.
- Instead of orange liqueur, you can use orange juice.
- Calories = 1 cocktail (the whole recipe). This is only an estimate!
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