Cocktail Photographs by Camille Wilson

Isolated yet glamorous, Belle da Costa Greene was the brilliant and enigmatic director of the Morgan Library & Museum, located in the heart of New York City. Inspired by her life, a blend of elegance, ambition, and secrets, this gin cocktail recipe is accompanied by a rich, in-depth overview of Belle da Costa Greene’s biography.

Let's Dive In!

• TL: DR Cocktail Breakdown

• Cocktail Recipe

• Detailed Inspiration Breakdown

• Conclusion

TL: DR Cocktail Breakdown

This cocktail is an approachable twist on the classic French 75 recipe and Bee's Knees drink, inspired by Belle's complex character and story. 

• Cocktail Name: 'The Grass Is Always Greener' highlights the irony of Belle’s choice to live in secret and pass as a White due to her visibly European features. It's also a nod to her original surname and the past she left behind to pursue a “better” future. 
• Bay Leaves: Used throughout this cocktail, bay leaves, point to the monumental moment in the Bay State of Massachusetts where Belle transitioned into academia, enrolled in the Northfield Seminary for Young Ladies, and claimed her new identity by officially changing her last name from Greener to Greene, soon after adding "da Costa," to obscure her Black heritage. The gold bay leaf garnish adds another layer of symbolism signifying her future wealth and high-profile career as financier J.P. Morgan’s personal Librarian during the Gilded Age from this critical decision. 
• Honey Simple Syrup & Lemon: Belle’s cocktail is modeled after the bittersweet Bee’s Knees cocktail, made with honey simple syrup, lemon juice, and gin. Symbolizing Belle as “a busy little woman, and a high flyer” while working as a librarian at Princeton thanks to her tireless work ethic and sharp intellect, much like a busy bee. The cocktail’s bittersweet profile also mirrors aspects of Belle's life story. The tartness of the lemon reflects the challenges she faced due to her hidden racial identity while the syrup reflects the sweet success of her career.
• London Dry Gin: The infused London Dry Gin, signifies the first of her major acquisitions for J.P. Morgan; English-centric medieval manuscripts that put Belle and the Morgan Library on the map. 
• Champagne: Topped with a float of champagne, this final ingredient points to Belle becoming one of the highest-earning women in America at the beginning of the 20th century. We salute her for working her way to the top of her field and being known as a witty, fashionable woman with "champagne taste."

The Grass Is Always Greener

 Made in Collaboration with Camille Wilson 

Ingredients

• 1 oz Bay Leaf-infused London Dry Gin 
• ½ oz Honey Simple Syrup 
• ½ oz Fresh-squeezed Lemon Juice 
• 3 oz Champagne or Sparkling Wine
• Garnish: Gilded Bay Leaf

Recommended Spirits

• London Dry Gin: Low-End- Beefeater, Mid-Range- Sipsmith (TOP CHOICE!), High-End- No.3
• Champagne: Low-End- Cheurlin (BLACK-OWNED), Mid-Range - Laurent-Perrier, High-End - Le Chemin (BLACK-OWNED) 

Syrups & Infusions

• Bay leaf-Infused Gin: In a mason jar, combine 1 cup London dry gin with a handful of fresh bay leaves. Deal and let steep for a few days. When ready to use, strain and discard the bay leaves. 
• Honey Simple Syrup: Combine 1 cup of warm water and 1 cup of honey in a mixing glass. Stir to combine. Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

Making The Drink

1. Add honey and gold flakes to the rim of a coupe glass and set aside
2. In a cocktail shaker, add bay leaf-infused London dry gin, honey syrup, lemon juice, and ice.
3. Shake until chilled
4. Strain into the prepared coupe glass
5. Top with champagne or sparkling wine
6. Add a light coating of honey to a fresh bay leaf. Then, add gold flakes on top of the honey.
7. Garnish with the golden bay leaf, and enjoy!

Detailed Inspiration Breakdown

Uncovering the Librarian's Secret

This cocktail is inspired by a woman who changed her name and burned her journals to hide her true identity. The brilliant librarian Belle da Costa Greene concealed her background for a lifetime opportunity. The truth of Belle's origins remained a closely guarded secret buried with her long after she died in 1950. It wasn't until 1999 that writer Jean Strouse unearthed undisclosed documents that pieced together Belle’s background. Startling revelations from Belle’s birth certificate and census records finally revealed the extraordinary truth of her lineage and the lengths she went to protect it. This discovery inspired much curiosity around Belle’s life story, leading to her being celebrated in exhibitions and numerous books, such as The Personal Librarian by Victoria Christopher Murray and New York Times bestseller Heather Terrell, formerly known as Marie Benedict.

Reproducing Theodore Marceau's portrait of Belle Greene reading. "A Princess of the Realm of Books" The Delineator, Vol. 79 (May 1912), p. 378

Belle refused to be limited by societal norms and became a pioneer in the antiquarian book world and one of the most famous librarians in American History, managing and developing the personal library of J.P. Morgan. In a 1912 New York Times interview, Belle states, "I'm simply a librarian," but that was a strategic understatement. Yes, she was a librarian, and in fact, it was in her blood. She was the daughter of Richard T. Greener, Havard University’s first Black student, who later became a librarian and a professor at the University of South Carolina in 1877. Book smarts were not the only thing she inherited. 

Becoming Belle da Costa Greene

Born Belle Marion Greener in 1879 to parents of African and European descent, Belle’s mixed-race features would prove to be one of her most valuable assets as it allowed her to cross the color line, and have access to opportunities that were inaccessible to Black people, especially Black women at the time. American society was immensely racist and sexist during the Jim Crow era, so passing as a White woman provided her social mobility. When Belle’s mother, Genevieve Ida Fleet Greener, separated from Belle’s father, she chose to reinvent her family’s background in hopes of opening doors, and boy did they open! The cocktail's name, 'The Grass Is Always Greener,' highlights the irony of Belle and her mother’s choice. It's a nod to her original surname and the past she paradoxically left behind to pursue a “better” future, which required her to conceal a fundamental part of herself and live in constant fear of potentially getting caught.

Amherst College Summer School, Fletcher Course in Library Economy, Class of 1900, 1900

In her adolescence, Belle was a clerk and mentee to Lucetta Daniell, a registrar at Teachers College. During this time, she also became a favorite of Grace Hoadley Dodge, one of the college’s founders. These two women were instrumental in enrolling Belle at the Northfield Seminary for Young Ladies in Massachusetts. In the exhibition and book Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian’s Legacy, Belle’s earliest surviving letter dated August 27, 1896 details her arrival to Northfield. It also reveals Belle’s transformation from “Greener” to “Greene.” The book dives deeper, analyzing the signature that reads “B. Marion Greene,” noting that “upon close inspection, Belle appears to have abruptly lifted her pen at the end of her surname, suggesting the drama of the moment she crossed the color line, as her mother had done before her.” She would continue to blur the lines by dropping “Marion” and replacing it with "da Costa," to obscure her African-American heritage and minimize questions about her olive skin tone. Citing this monumental moment in the Bay State of Massachusetts where she transitioned into academia and claimed her new identity, we have incorporated fresh green bay leaves throughout her “cocktale.”  The gold bay leaf garnish symbolizes her future wealth and high-profile career during the Gilded Age from this critical move. The gilded leaf serves as a potent reminder of the gilded cage Belle constructed by concealing her past. Seemingly preferable to the harsh realities, this self-imposed cage, however luxurious, ultimately restricted her freedom.

Bittersweet Success at the "Southern Ivy"

After three years, Belle left Northfield and embarked on her career as a librarian, eventually landing at Princeton University referred to as “the Southern Ivy” due to its large number of students from the former Confederacy. Belle spent four-and-a-half years walking past various statues that honored men who had owned and profited from enslaved peoples on her daily walk to work. It is clear that if Belle had not passed for White, she would have never been given a job at Princeton, especially if the university president, notorious racist, and eventually 28th U.S. President Woodrow Wilson had known about her background. Belle’s cocktail is modeled after the Bee’s Knees, made with honey simple syrup, lemon juice, and gin. Due to her tireless work ethic and sharp intellect, Belle’s doting supervisor called her a “busy little woman and high flyer.” The cocktail’s bittersweet profile also mirrors aspects of Belle's life story. The tartness of the lemon reflects the challenges she faced due to her hidden racial identity while the syrup reflects the sweet success of her career.

Photo by Kirstin Ohrt

Excelling at Princeton was only the beginning. While there, she met Junius Spencer Morgan, nephew of bibliophile, financier, and the wealthiest man in the world at the time J.P. Morgan. Belle began working for Junius as his assistant. Simultaneously, J.P. Morgan hired renowned architects McKim, Mead & White who constructed NYC’s first legendary Penn Station to design a library to house the numerous books and artifacts that he could no longer fit in his home. With the library nearly complete, Junius recommended Belle to his uncle, and in 1905, J.P. made her his librarian. 

Belle's European Coupes

“Fifty Thousand Dollars for that Book!” The World (New York, NY), May 21, 1911, World Magazine Sunday supplement, p. 1.

Belle made her mark by expanding his collection through savvy acquisitions from Europe. Belle and Morgan were both anglophiles and fans of the British Museum’s Library, so it is no surprise that her first major acquisition in 1908 came from England. During this infamous deal, Belle strategically negotiated the purchase of the first book printed in the English language, 1473’s The Recuyell of the Historyes of Trove. In 1911, she would make headlines by snapping up the only surviving 1485 medieval manuscript of Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur, centering around the epic folklore of King Arthur, for just under $50,000. These purchases earned Belle the reputation of being a powerful force in the world of rare book collecting. A 1949 New York Times article described that she "transformed a rich man’s casually built collection into one which ranks with the greatest in the world." We incorporated London Dry Gin to signify the inspiration of the British Museum and celebrate the English-centric medieval manuscripts that put Belle and the Morgan Library on the map. These illuminated manuscripts are known for having ornamentally bejeweled gold covers and vibrant stained glass-style images, similar in aesthetic to the emerald-green coupe glass which holds Belle’s drink.

A Glamorous Woman with a "Champagne Taste"

Adolph de Meyer (1868–1946) Belle da Costa Greene, 1912

Belle defied societal norms and was described in the news as one of the highest-earning women in America at the beginning of the 20th century. She was also known for being a witty, fashionable woman with "champagne taste." According to Philip Palmer, a curator and organizer behind the 2024-2025 Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian's Legacy exhibit, Belle spoke fondly of drinking in her correspondence. Browsing through Havard's archive of 600 letters penned by Belle, the reader can discover her isolating yet glamorous life where she enjoys cocktail-filled lunches at the Plaza Hotel and "many champagne toasts" on the roof of the former Ritz Carlton. We salute Belle for working her way to the top of her field by topping her cocktail with a champagne float. Ms. da Costa Greene was rumored to have made making a rumored to be an astonishing $25,000 a year in 1921 (an estimated $400,000+ annually in 2024).

Conclusion

Now I'd like to hear from you!

What was your favorite part of this post?

Let us know your comments and sign up for our newsletter for more cocktails inspired by Black History. Cheers!