Margarita's New Toy

Early this week, Tea Leaves' industrious panel of dedicated tasters converged on Mad Mex in Oakland to try a variety of wonderful tequilas. I’ll be writing about that in detail, in the next few weeks.

In addition to discovering some new favorite tequilas, I got a peek at the best hand-held lime juicer I’ve ever seen. Half of a lemon or lime goes in, you give it a quick squeeze, and the juice just flies out in under a second. “I have to get one of those,” I said. “You like it?” said our host. “Williams-Sonoma. About $15.”

Now I own one. It’s heavy enamel-coated aluminum, is easy to clean, and works like a charm. I am in love. I thought my previous lime juicer was convenient, but I now see that I was a deluded fool.

You might ask “What’s the big deal? How good can a lime juicer possibly be?”

Worth. Every. Penny.

(In answer to some questions I’ve received: that’s half a key lime being juiced, the reason you should care is that this makes making mixed drinks with fresh lime juice infinitely easier, and they also sell a larger juicer “for lemons,” although this one worked just fine on the small lemons I tend to prefer).