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Bajarita de Damiana Sudcaliforniana
Created by
Baja California Sur's herbal margarita, built on damiana liqueur from Todos Santos instead of triple sec, with reposado tequila and fresh Mexican lime. The drink that may have come first, before Texas claimed the recipe.
Beverages
Mexican
Date Night
Romantic
Special Occasion
10 min
Active Time
0 min cook•10 min total
Yield2 cocktails
This is from Baja California Sur. Specifically from the corridor between La Paz and Todos Santos, where damiana grows wild in the scrub and the women have been infusing it into liqueur and tea for generations before tequila ever showed up in a coupe.
Damiana is Turnera diffusa, a small flowering desert plant the indigenous Pericu and Guaycura peoples used as a tonic. The Jesuits learned about it. The ranchers carried the tradition forward. By the 20th century, damiana liqueur from Baja Sur was on every cantina shelf from La Paz to Cabo San Lucas, sold in those distinctive bottles shaped like a kneeling Indigenous woman. The folklore is that the first margarita was built on damiana, not triple sec, in a Baja bar in the 1930s or 1940s, and that the Texas version of the story is a later import. I am not here to settle the argument. I am here to tell you that the damiana version is more interesting, more rooted, and more honest to the peninsula it comes from. Cada estado, su propia cocina, even in a cocktail glass.
The reposado tequila matters. Blanco is too sharp against the herb. Anejo is too oaky and crowds out the damiana. Reposado, aged just enough to soften the agave, is the only one that holds its ground next to the liqueur. Use 100 percent agave or do not bother. The Mexican lime, the small green one with thin skin, is what every cantinero in La Paz uses. Persian lime works if you cannot find Mexican, but the drink loses a little of the bite that makes a margarita a margarita. Saber cocinar es saber vivir, and that includes knowing what to pour.
Damiana (Turnera diffusa) is endemic to the dry scrublands of Baja California Sur, and its use as a medicinal and ceremonial infusion is documented in Jesuit mission records dating to the 18th century, building on far older Pericu and Guaycura traditions. The commercial damiana liqueur industry centered in Todos Santos and La Paz dates to the late 19th century, and the local claim that bartender Don Javier Delgado Corona or earlier Baja Sur cantineros created the original margarita with damiana, predating the more famous Texas and Tijuana origin stories of the 1930s and 1940s, remains a point of regional pride and unresolved historical debate. The bottle shape that became iconic, modeled on a kneeling Indigenous fertility figure from Pericu iconography, was registered as a commercial trademark in the mid-20th century and is still produced in the peninsula.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
reposado tequila
Quantity
3 ounces
100 percent agave
damiana liqueur
Quantity
1.5 ounces
Guaycura or Damiana de Baja California
orange liqueur
Quantity
0.5 ounce
Naranja or a dry triple sec
fresh-squeezed Mexican lime juice
Quantity
2 ounces (about 6 to 8 limes)
light agave syrup
Quantity
0.5 ounce, adjusted to taste
coarse sea salt from Guerrero Negro
Quantity
for the rim
fresh lime
Quantity
1
halved, for the rim and garnish
wide strips of orange peel
Quantity
2
for garnish
fresh damiana sprig (optional)
Quantity
1 small
for garnish
ice cubes
Quantity
for shaking
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| reposado tequila100 percent agave | 3 ounces |
| damiana liqueurGuaycura or Damiana de Baja California | 1.5 ounces |
| orange liqueurNaranja or a dry triple sec | 0.5 ounce |
| fresh-squeezed Mexican lime juice | 2 ounces (about 6 to 8 limes) |
| light agave syrup | 0.5 ounce, adjusted to taste |
| coarse sea salt from Guerrero Negro | for the rim |
| fresh limehalved, for the rim and garnish | 1 |
| wide strips of orange peelfor garnish | 2 |
| fresh damiana sprig (optional)for garnish | 1 small |
| ice cubes | for shaking |
Equipment Needed
- •Cocktail shaker with built-in strainer
- •Fine-mesh strainer for double-straining
- •Mexican lime squeezer (the hinged metal press)
- •Two heavy margarita coupes or rocks glasses
- •Sharp paring knife for cutting wide orange peel strips
Instructions
- 1
Salt the rim
Pour the Guerrero Negro sea salt into a shallow saucer. Run a cut lime half around the outer rim of each margarita coupe or rocks glass. Press the rim into the salt, turning the glass to coat only the outside edge. Salt on the outside, not the inside. The drink does not need salt in it. The lip needs salt to wake up the tongue.
Guerrero Negro on the Baja peninsula is one of the largest salt works in the world. If you can find their coarse sea salt, use it. The mineral edge belongs in this drink. Kosher salt is a compromise. - 2
Build the cocktail
In a cocktail shaker, combine the reposado tequila, damiana liqueur, orange liqueur, fresh lime juice, and agave syrup. The damiana liqueur is the soul of this drink. It is herbal, slightly bitter, faintly sweet, with a quality the desert women of Todos Santos describe as warming. It is not a substitute for triple sec. It is what made the margarita what it is, if you believe the Baja Sur version of the story.
- 3
Shake hard
Fill the shaker with ice. Seal it and shake hard for 12 to 15 seconds. You want the metal of the shaker to frost in your hand and the liquid inside to chill all the way through. A weak shake gives you a warm margarita. No me vengas con atajos.
- 4
Strain and serve
Strain the cocktail through a fine-mesh strainer into the two prepared glasses. The pour should be the color of pale amber tea, not the radioactive yellow-green of a mix-based margarita. Twist a wide strip of orange peel over each glass to release the oils, then drop it in. Lay the sprig of fresh damiana across the rim if you have it. Serve immediately.
- 5
Taste and adjust
Take a sip before you serve. The drink should taste of agave first, lime second, herb third, with the orange in the background. If it tastes too tart, add a quarter ounce more agave syrup to the shaker and shake again. If it tastes flat, the lime juice was old. Squeeze fresh limes and start over. Asi se hace y punto.
Chef Tips
- •Damiana liqueur is not optional and there is no substitute. If you cannot find Guaycura or another Baja Sur brand, order it. Using a plain triple sec instead gives you a fine margarita, but not a bajarita. The herb is the whole point of the drink.
- •Mexican lime, sometimes labeled key lime in the United States, is what every bar in La Paz uses. Persian lime is a compromise. Bottled lime juice is not a compromise, it is a different drink entirely. Squeeze the limes the same day you pour the cocktail.
- •Salt the outside of the rim only, not the inside. A salted rim is a tasting tool. You touch your lip to it before each sip and it brightens the agave and the lime. Salt floating in the drink turns the cocktail into a science experiment.
Advance Preparation
- •Fresh lime juice can be squeezed up to four hours ahead and refrigerated in a sealed jar. Past four hours, the juice oxidizes and loses its brightness.
- •Salt the rims of the glasses and refrigerate them up to one hour ahead. The cold glass keeps the cocktail cold longer once poured.
- •The cocktail itself cannot be batched and held. Damiana liqueur loses its herbal lift if it sits in a pre-mixed cocktail. Build each round when you are ready to drink it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 150g)
Calories
220 calories
Total Fat
0 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
0 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
200 mg
Total Carbohydrates
14 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
13 g
Protein
0 g
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