Expert says there's one drink you should never order on a first date

Dating can be a minefield, with stakes and emotions running high.

If you've got over the first hurdle and managed to actually lock in a time and a place (hopefully somewhere nice) for your first date, the last thing you want to do is give your date the ick.

Choosing what to wear, what to eat, what to drink, when did it all get so complicated?

First impressions count, and one expert has warned that there is one beverage in particular that you should never order for your first rendezvous with someone special that you're keen to impress.

If you've opened the menu and been confronted with a whole host of drinks, it can seem like a safe option to pick a familiar favourite - and in this case, it's a potent one.

Knowing what to order on a date can be difficult (Getty Stock)

Bad news for fans of a Long Island Iced Tea, as apparently this is an 'embarrassing' drink to order.

Here we were, thinking it was going to be a glass of milk or something.

For the uninitiated, if you've never experienced a LIIT, it's made up of equal parts vodka, rum, gin, tequila and triple sec (yes, you read that right), with a dash of Coke and lemon juice.

It's VERY boozy.

Elliot Ball is a bar owner, and had this to say to Metro about the drink: "On paper, the Long Island Iced Tea is a bit of an atrocity. Most people who are ordering it are doing so on the completely incorrect assumption that it will get them more drunk.’

Ball warns that choosing this drink might give the message that nerves are getting the better of you and you just want to get smashed to get through the date.

"Looking for the most alcohol possible is not a good basis to order a drink, it’s your classic 'getting drunk is fun, but being drunk isn’t a situation' People almost always overshoot on that, with quite messy outcomes, especially if you’re on a date," he said.

Experts warn against ordering a Long Island Iced Tea (Getty Stock)

It turns out though, that it might not even be that strong as many bars won't put full measures in when a drink features so many different types of alcohol, says the expert.

"Given that many people’s motivation for ordering a Long Island Ice Tea is to get drunk, it’s not actually in the interests of the bar operator to make it the strongest drink on the menu. That’s why you’ll find they don’t usually have as much as you think in them."

He said most people who actually want a strong drink and enjoy the flavour of it will know to order something like a negroni instead.

The infamous drink was created way back in 1972.

Apparently it was something of a happy accident when Bob ‘Rosebud’ Butt at the Oak Beach Inn on Long Island poured all of the clear spirits in his bar into a glass.

It's alleged a colleague said it tasted like tea, to which he added a splash of coke and said it now looked like it, too.

At the end of the day, if you're a genuine fan of the Long Island Iced Tea, forget worrying about what your date might think and order what you like.

The right person won't judge.

Cheers!