National Mimosa Day

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Mimosa is a kind of plant that can have lovely yellow flowers, such as the silver wattle. The color of a mimosa drink, usually made with equal parts orange juice and champagne (or other sparkling wines), is said to resemble the plant’s color, hence the name.

Crocus.co.uk

The term mimosa is recorded in 1936 in The Artistry of Mixing Drinks by Frank Meier, a bartender sometimes credited with first concocting and naming the drink, which is actually a take on a Buck’s Fizz and historically called an orange champagne, in Paris since the 1920s. Legendary director Alfred Hitchcock is also said to have popularized the drink as a brunch beverage when he served it to guests at a luncheon as a hair of the dog.

National Mimosa Day is found by 2014, though many clever imbibers crafted their own one-off references to National Mimosa Day before then.

It’s not to be confused with the Croatian Mimosa Day, an annual event held since 2007 to raise awareness about cervical cancer and the importance of getting regular PAP smears; it uses a mimosa plant as a symbol.

Mimosa on National Mimosa Day… How about an orange wedge on a handcrafted cocktail instead? It is #Friday after all.

— TGI Fridays (@TGIFridays) May 16, 2014