Earlier this week, we featured our first Tiki recipes on Oh So Beautiful paper. We went through a lot of tropical recipes before we settled on the three we featured, and there were lots of delicious drinks that didn’t make the cut – not because they weren’t great, but because we only have so much space. But we figured a few were worth holding on to. So, here’s one more: the Ti’ Punch, a traditional rum drink from the French Caribbean islands. – Andrew

Illustration by Shauna Lynn for Oh So Beautiful Paper

Ti’ Punch

2 oz Rhum Agricole
Half a Lime
1/4 oz Cane Syrup

Add the rhum to a glass filled with ice, then squeeze the lime over the drink. Add the cane syrup and give it a gentle stir. Enjoy!

Ti’ Punch – the Creole for petite punch – is the French Caribbean’s answer to Cuba’s Daiquiri and Brazil’s Caipirinha. Rum tempered by lime and sugar is such a fantastic combination that it’s no surprise it was discovered over and over again throughout Latin America.

Ti’ Punch uses rhum agricole, rum distilled directly from sugar cane juice. Rhum is a bit drier and a bit tangier than rums distilled from molasses, and carries more sugar cane flavor. (In this, it’s a lot like Brazilian Cachaça or Batavian Arrack.) Ti’ Punch also uses just a squeeze of lime juice, unlike the Daiquiri. I like to drop the lime after it’s been squeezed. Uniquely among these drinks, Ti’ Punch also uses cane syrup. Real cane syrup is made by slowly cooking down fresh sugar cane juice into a syrup and isn’t always easy to find. You can approximate it at home by making a rich 2:1 simple syrup using raw sugar.

The result is a crisp and delicious drink meant for knocking back. A fun and traditional way to serve up Ti’ Punch to guests is to provide all the ingredients – a bottle of rhum, fresh cut limes, and cane syrup – and let your friends prepare their own. You could also throw in a spicy syrup or Caribbean liqueur – some falernum or allspice dram – to kick it up a notch.

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper