I Tested Mimosas To Find The Best Combination

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How It Started

Everyone loves a good mimosa. It’s the only reason we brunch, I’m sure of it. But after a while mimosas can get, well, a little boring. Did I just hear you gasp? I know, I know, calling mimosas boring is like breaking a basic bitch rule. Obviously brunching from 11 in the morning until well into the afternoon isn’t boring but once you realize the mimosa possibilities are endless, you’ll never want to go back. It was a couple of years ago that I accidently discovered this for myself. One Christmas morning I’d accidentally grabbed Mango OJ to mix up a mimosa and it wasn’t until I went to drink it that I realize the genius of my mistake. I was tasting heaven.

Upon further investigation, and by that I mean searching Pinterest, I found that mimosa bars and twists on mimosa were… very popular. Welcome to the party Morgan! I did feel as if mango OJ was very underrepresented for how amazing it tasted. However, there were so many other varieties I’d never thought of that I decided it was MUST to test them out and find the best variations. I grabbed a few friends, set up my bar, and we got to work.

Mimosa Fest

I called it Mimosa Fest. As I greeted my guests, I reminded them of one very important thing: We were gathered for a reason, to find the BEST mimosa. I showed them to the makeshift bar, which was my kitchen island because it was not going to fit at the built-in bar, bittersweet I guess. Due to the large volume of juices, champagne, and garnishes I had to use, the kitchen was the best option for mimosa station.

I had stemless and traditional champagne flutes to choose from. I realized, after there were none left, that the stemless ones were the way to go because they held a lot more mimosa. I won’t repeat that mistake next time. My traditional champagne glasses came from Ikea, one of my favorite places, and the stemless champagne glasses came from TJ Maxx, my actual favorite place. My mom found them for $9.99 (set of 6) and bought 4 boxes for my wedding. Now she, my sister, my aunt, and I all have a set.

The Set Up

To start, I had them pour their champagne. I think it’s best to measure out the alcohol first, then the mixers; also champagne is bubbly so the more room it has to fizzle out, the better. We started with Chandon Brut Champagne from Costco. We also broke into a bottle of rose champagne leftover from the wedding and some guests showed up with champagne (bless you!) and we eventually opened that up; all Brut Champagne but all different brands.

I had a lot of juices to concoct the best mimosa. I had the traditional orange juice, wouldn’t it be ironic if that’s the one that wins in the end, the classic mimosa? Don’t worry, it’s not, but you gotta give the people what they want. I also had pineapple juice and grapefruit juice, passion fruit juice blend and mango juice blend, as well as 3 already mixed fruit juices: Orange Peach Mango, Pineapple Orange Banana, and Guava Pineapple. Having options was very important but I do admit I can get carried away.

The last addition to the perfect mimosa, the cherry on top if you will, was the fruit garnishes. I had an assortment of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, mangos, oranges, and blood oranges. It was *chefs kiss*.

My husband prepared a breakfast casserole and set up a charcuterie board. Normally that would be my job but for mimosa fest, he was in charge of food. We weren’t really sure about food. What we should have? If we should have any food at all? The breakfast casserole was almost completely gone by the end of the party and the charcuterie disappeared in what felt like a few minutes but was a couple hours, I’m sure. It ended up being the perfect amount.

Instructions For Scoring

Also on the island were strips of paper, a jar of pens, and a glass bowl. Each strip of paper had 3 sections to complete: juices, garnishes, rating out of 10. I had each of our guests make their mimosas then fill out the first 2 parts of the paper. They could rate the drink at anytime and after completing the mimosa questionnaire they had to return the paper to the glass bowl. Like I said earlier, I meant business. I needed the data.

I had our guests arrive at 11am, except for my best friend because Best Friend rule #5 Invite Them Over 1 Hour Early. I’m not sure if that’s the right number but I know it’s on the list! In total we had 8 friends over, the more people, the more combinations, the more chances of finding the perfect mimosa! I had become consumed by the mission. In total I had 31 mimosa surveys completed. I was overwhelmed by the amount; why did I think with 10 of us there would be any less than 30? I decided the best way to track them was in a spreadsheet… that was also color-coded (you can check it out below).

The Final Results

Out of 31 mimosas rated, I had 4 perfect 10’s. Before I reveal the 10’s I will say, by the end of the event, we started to get a little creative. You’ll notice a column in my chart below labeled “Extras” this was meant to distinguish between the regular champagne and the rose champagne. It ended up included alcoholic ice pops, you know, the ones from Costco. Apparently they really elevated the mimosa. So without further ado here are the 4 perfect mimosa combinations, in no particular order:

1. Pineapple Orange Banana juice, with Rose Champagne, and Mango garnish
2. Pineapple Juice, with Brut Champagne, a Watermelon Hibiscus Ice Pop, and Strawberry garnish
3. Orange Juice and Passion Fruit Juice Blend, with Brut Champagne, a Strawberry Ice Pop, and Blueberry and Strawberry garnishes
4. Guava Pineapple Juice and Mango Juice Blend, with Brut Champagne, and Strawberry and Mango garnishes

While I can’t say which combination is the actual best, I can say that pineapple juice and strawberry or mango garnish seem to get the highest ratings. You can check out the other combinations and their scores in my chart below.

So what do you think? What makes the best mimosa? Go forth and test! And then share your results with me!!