Kiwano Sour

Horned melon looks like a small orange weapon and tastes like cucumber that went to art school. We had one on the counter for a week as decoration before somebody finally cut it open, and the drink existed by the end of that shift.

Build: two ounces fresh kiwano juice, three-quarters of an ounce lime, half an ounce simple, and aquafaba for the foam. Dry shake hard for a full fifteen seconds — this is the step everyone skips and the step that makes it — then shake again with ice and double-strain into a coupe. Three drops of angostura on the foam, dragged into a line with a pick.

It arrives looking like a proper sour, holds its head for the length of the conversation, and nobody has to explain to anybody why they are not drinking.