Paloma (cocktail)

Paloma
IBA official cocktail
Type	Cocktail
Base spirit	Tequila;
Served	On the rocks: poured over ice
Standard garnish	slice of lime
Standard drinkware	Highball glass
IBA specified; ingredients†	50 ml 100% agave tequila; 5 ml fresh lime juice; pinch of salt; 100 ml pink grapefruit soda;
Preparation	Pour the tequila into a highball glass, squeeze the lime juice. Add ice and salt, fill up pink grapefruit soda. Stir gently.
	† Paloma recipe at International Bartenders Association

The paloma (Spanish for "dove") is a tequila-based cocktail. This drink is most commonly prepared by mixing tequila, lime juice,^[1] and a grapefruit-flavored soda such as Fresca, Squirt, or Jarritos and served on the rocks with a lime wedge. Adding salt to the rim of the glass is also an option.

Alternatively, the grapefruit soda can be replaced with fresh white or red grapefruit juice (jugo de toronja) and club soda (sugar optional).

A simple paloma is a two-ingredient cocktail consisting only of tequila and grapefruit-flavored soda.^[2] A more complex variant of the Paloma is the cantarito, which in addition to lime juice, also has lemon juice and orange juice.^[3]

The paloma is considered by some to be more flavorful than its closest relative, the greyhound,^[4] which consists of grapefruit juice and either gin or vodka mixed and served over ice, as the tequila present in a paloma adds an earthy note to the drink that both gin and vodka lack.

Some believe the name of the cocktail comes from the Spanish for "dove", but others suspect the name comes from a derivation of the word pomelo, which is the Spanish for "grapefruit".^[5]