Welcome to paradise! And the best drink to bring to your Cinco de Mayo celebration!
It’s finally warming up here and I am excited for summer…bonfires, cookouts, and cocktails.
I’ve always enjoyed drinks called tonic. I love the simplicity and the ingredients get their time to shine.
One of my favorite spots in Cleveland was Old City Libations, they served awesome cocktails all made with their own hand-crafted soda! Their cocktail menu was proof that sometimes minimal is best. Unfortunately, they recently closed, but they’re still making their hand-crafted sodas, Old City Soda. (If you live in Cleveland or Columbus, you can pick it up at your local grocery store!)
I love (and I hope you will, too) the natural ingredients in the drink! No sticky artificial flavors here. The natural fruit juices are sweet, plus the rim is rimmed with sugar. As for the pineapple and starfruit juice, the whole fruit is pureed, and you’re done!
If you notice, my drink looks a bit foamy. For ease of quickness, I threw my pineapple in the food processor and it turned out foamy and airy. It sounds weird, but I was happy with the results! I’d imagine the pineapple would be different if you used a blender, juicer, or store-bought pineapple juice (all natural is best).
Thanks to the lady behind me in the grocery store check-out, I now know how to prep a starfruit. It looks a bit intimidating (though maybe not as intimidating as a dragon fruit…) but it’s easy, no need to peel the skin, just cut it into thin stars.
Originally, I wanted to plan a cool margarita drink, but they’re not my favorite. I’ve had too many over-the-top sugary margaritas before. So, I decided to follow the simplistic approach, plus I think the tropical fruit makes this drink fun enough to drink all summer.
What are your plans for Cinco de Mayo?? Besides making cool tropical drinks, of course.
Pineapple Starfruit Tequila Tonic

Yield: Makes 1 drink |
Pineapple & starfruit juice mixed with tequila and topped with tonic water.
You'll Need...
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon paprika
- 2 ounces tequila
- 1 ounce starfruit juice
- 2 ounces pineapple juice
- 3 ounces tonic water or hard tonic water (I like Fever Tree or Truly)
- 1/2 of a lime, cut into 2 wedges
- ice
- pineapple wedges & starfruit slices (for garnish)
Directions
- Mix sugar and paprika in a shallow dish. Rim the glass with 1 lime wedge, then rim with sugar mixture.
- Pour tequila and starfruit juice in the glass. Stir to combine.
- Add pineapple juice, stir to mix.
- Top with tonic water. Squeeze remaining lime wedge into drink, toss lime in the drink.
- Add desired amount of crushed ice. Top with garnishes.
Additional Notes
images and text © North Coast Eats
inspired by Bon Appetit
This looks great, I’ll be in Playa del Carmen for Cinco de Mayo! Unfortunately it’s more of an Americanized holiday, but I’ll be celebrating down here all the same. Maybe I can even get one of the bartenders down here to serve me up a rendition of this drink!
Hi Rob, that’s interesting, I should have known it was an Americanized holiday! That would be awesome, enjoy Playa del Carmen.