Tropical Margarita Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
2 cups water (1 for simple syrup, add a second when mixing)
3/4 cup fresh-squeezed lime juice (6-8 medium-size limes)
1 cup fresh-squeezed orange juice (1-2 med-large oranges)
2 cups pineapple juice (fresh, frozen or canned)
equal parts coconut rum and tequila (Add as much as you like!)
coarse salt
lime for garnish
optional: 1 cup coconut water
optional: citrus reamer for juicing fruit

Instructions:

1: Create a simple syrup by combining equal parts water and sugar in a pot over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, till sugar has melted completely. Remove pot from heat and allow simple syrup to cool, then transfer mixture to a large pitcher.

2: If you have one, use a reamer to extract 3/4 cup fresh lime juice and 1 cup fresh orange juice. Save a few lime rinds for later rimming the glasses. Tip: Alternately, if you don't have a reamer, you can use this clever bartenders' trick for cutting a fresh lime to make hand-squeezing the juice much easier. Essentially, instead of just cutting the lime in half before squeezing (which creates very little juice), cut around the core to create 4 small sections that are much easier to squeeze. Then, you can wring even more juice out of the fleshy core by twisting it just like you would a wet towel. 

3: Add freshly squeezed juice to the pitcher, then top with 2 cups pineapple juice and 2 cups water (optional: replace 1 cup plain water with 1 cup coconut water). Stir to blend.

4: Run a leftover lime rind over the rim of each glass and dip rims in coarse salt.

5: Fill each glass 2/3 full of crushed ice, then add equal parts coconut rum and tequila to suit your taste. Note: I used 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) each coconut rum and tequila. Top with juice and simple syrup mixture, then stir. Finally, garnish each glass with a lime slice before serving.