Friday, February 3, 2023
  • Contact Us
The Caribbean Post
Advertisement
  • Current News
    • Politics
    • Business
  • Tech News
  • Education
  • Entertainment
    • Travel
    • Lifestyle
  • Health
    • Recipes
  • World
    • Antigua
    • Aruba
    • Barbados
    • Barbuda
    • Dominica
    • Dominican Republic
    • Guadeloupe
    • Guyana
    • Haiti
    • Jamaica
    • St Lucia
    • Suriname
    • Tobago
    • Trinidad
No Result
View All Result
The Caribbean Post
  • Current News
    • Politics
    • Business
  • Tech News
  • Education
  • Entertainment
    • Travel
    • Lifestyle
  • Health
    • Recipes
  • World
    • Antigua
    • Aruba
    • Barbados
    • Barbuda
    • Dominica
    • Dominican Republic
    • Guadeloupe
    • Guyana
    • Haiti
    • Jamaica
    • St Lucia
    • Suriname
    • Tobago
    • Trinidad
No Result
View All Result
The Caribbean Post
No Result
View All Result
Home World Guadeloupe

The Joy of the Ti’ Punch, the Ultimate Caribbean Rum Cocktail 

Staff by Staff
August 15, 2022
in Guadeloupe, World
0
2
SHARES
12
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

 

It’s the purest expression of sugarcane in spirit form: rhum blanc, or white rhum agricole. 

You might also like

Letitia Wright receives honorary doctorate from UG, takes Guyana by storm – Caribbean Life

Ramharack, Joseph named in Windies women’s T20 World Cup squad

Keppel O&M To Deliver Guyana’s Third FPSO To SBM Offshore

Unaged white rum made from pure pressed sugar cane juice is as close as you can come to the cane: a raw, visceral, complex spirit that has a real terroir.

And it just so happens that this is the primary ingredient in the Caribbean’s ultimate rum cocktail: the ti’ punch. 

Ti’ punch, short for petit punch, is the essential drink of the French West Indies, a local, easy-to-prepare drink that’s part of the ritual of daily life in Martinique and Guadeloupe. 

It’s ubiquitous, often accompanied by those endlessly delicious codfish fritters called Accras. And it’s a key to immersing yourself in the culture of the French Caribbean. 

You cannot begin to understand this enchanting part of the Caribbean without a ti’ punch, a drink whose preparation requires a ceremony on par with tea in Japan. 

And it’s deliciously simple to make. 

Because while there are myriad dressed-up versions of making the ti’ punch, there’s one truly authentic way to make it — the way people actually drink it at a bar or restaurant in the FWI. 

Show up at a beach bar or a cafe (or just about any restaurant at all) in Martinique and Guadeloupe, order a ti’ punch (it’s often cheaper than a bottle of water), and you’ll soon be welcomed with a tray. 

A ti’ punch tray at La Playa in Marie Galante.

There you’ll find three things: a bottle of white rhum, some quarter slices of lime, and a ramequin of brown sugar. 

Because white rhum is so affordable, the restaurant will leave it to you how much white rhum you decide to put in the rum, joined with just the quarter lime and, ideally, a teaspoon of sugar. 

How much rum you add is up to you, but I like to pour enough that the rum levels right above the top of the lime. 

Most importantly, there is no ice in this drink. Ice will rob you of the delicacy, the complexity and the nuance of the cocktail. 

I wouldn’t even recommend squeezing the sliver of lime; wayward ti’ punches you might find in places (typically in Saint Martin) far overdo the lime, stuffing the glass with multiple, squeezed lime slices and flooding the drink with abundant, obnoxious citrus. 

While sugarcane syrup has become popular in lieu of sugar, for me, syrup can be too sweet, and corrupt the balance of the three ingredients. 

Indeed, this is a delicate cocktail, a dance of three players. A small amount of patience is required to give the rum (best between 50 and 60 degrees), the sugar and the lime time to harmonize. 

And that’s when the drink hits you, when it all makes sense, when you realize just how wonderful a cocktail this is. 

A pair of ti’ punch cocktails on Banana Bottom Beach in Martinique.

I call it the moment du punch, that instant when the flavors of the rum and the sugar and the lime come together and become something far greater than the sum of their parts, when a ti’ punch really becomes a ti’ punch.

That’s always when a neophyte taking his or her first ti’ punch becomes a ti’ punch partisan and, soon, begins the journey down the rabbit hole of rhum agricole. 

Now, you might have had a daiquiri or a caipirinha, two cocktails with largely identical ingredients. Both are fine cocktails. 

But without the dimensionality of the rhum agricole, without the right proportions of lime and sugar (or with unnecessary ice), you have a very different, far less interesting experience. 

There’s nothing like this drink in the Caribbean, something so perfect, so simple and, most importantly, so local. 

If you drink this in Martinique or Guadeloupe, it’s a drink all of whose ingredients are from Martinique or Guadeloupe — the rum, the limes and the sugar are all made there. 

If you’re in the United States, the best rhum blanc options are Rhum JM and Rhum Clement, the most widely available agricoles in America, although you can find HSE, Neisson and La Favorite and certain fine spirits shops in the US).

For this year’s National Rum Day, the ti’ punch I prepared was not quite as local as that (limes and brown sugar from, well, not the French Caribbean), but it was splendid, made with one of the most celebrated white rums of all time, the HSE Parcellaire 2016. 

That rum is a great example of what makes the rums of the French Caribbean so different. 

Parcellaire means the rum was made exclusively from sugar cane grown from just a tiny corner, or parcel, of the sugarcane plantation in Martinique. It’s the terroir of a single corner of a cane field.

That the kind of thoughtful devotion to rum you find in that part of the Caribbean, where this cocktail is part of the soul of the French West Indies. 

And when you reach the moment du punch, it all begins to make sense. 

The Ti’ Punch

1/4 lime

1 teaspoon sugar

Rhum Blanc agricole; the amount is up to you; typically pour the rum to just above the top of the lime in the glass).

Best enjoyed on a beach in Martinique, Guadeloupe, St Martin or St Barth.


Credit: Source link

Tags: CaribbeanCocktailJoyPunchRumUltimate
Previous Post

NCC: We support Tobago Carnival

Next Post

Leeward Islands in control against Guyana – News Room Guyana

Staff

Staff

Related Posts

Guyana

Letitia Wright receives honorary doctorate from UG, takes Guyana by storm – Caribbean Life

by Staff
February 2, 2023
Trinidad

Ramharack, Joseph named in Windies women’s T20 World Cup squad

by Staff
February 2, 2023
Guyana

Keppel O&M To Deliver Guyana’s Third FPSO To SBM Offshore

by Staff
February 2, 2023
Tobago

Joshua Regrello’s concert is for the culture

by Staff
February 2, 2023
Guadeloupe

Coach Gordon getting U-17s mentally ready | Sports

by Staff
February 2, 2023
Next Post

Leeward Islands in control against Guyana – News Room Guyana

Recommended

Caribbean Export – WTCM signs trade and investment MoU

November 15, 2022

Caribbean Creators: Kyle Phillips | Loop Trinidad & Tobago

August 13, 2022

Categories

  • Business (468)
  • Current News (260)
  • Education (26)
  • Entertainment (76)
    • Lifestyle (22)
    • Travel (14)
  • Health (254)
    • Recipes (181)
  • Politics (32)
  • Tech News (64)
  • World (3,474)
    • Antigua (28)
    • Aruba (30)
    • Barbados (28)
    • Barbuda (28)
    • Dominica (29)
    • Dominican Republic (29)
    • Guadeloupe (537)
    • Guyana (880)
    • Haiti (28)
    • Jamaica (28)
    • St Lucia (27)
    • Suriname (28)
    • Tobago (884)
    • Trinidad (889)

Don't miss it

Guyana

Letitia Wright receives honorary doctorate from UG, takes Guyana by storm – Caribbean Life

February 2, 2023
Health

African leaders commit to end AIDS among children by 2030

February 2, 2023
Trinidad

Ramharack, Joseph named in Windies women’s T20 World Cup squad

February 2, 2023
Guyana

Keppel O&M To Deliver Guyana’s Third FPSO To SBM Offshore

February 2, 2023
Tobago

Joshua Regrello’s concert is for the culture

February 2, 2023
Politics

St. Kitts And Nevis’ first female Governor-General sworn in

February 2, 2023
The Caribbean Post

This is an online news portal that aims to share latest news about Africa, Caribbean and other countries of Africa with respect to business, entertainment, breaking updates and stuff like that. Feel free to get in touch!

Categories

  • Business
  • Current News
  • Education
  • Entertainment
    • Lifestyle
    • Travel
  • Health
    • Recipes
  • Politics
  • Tech News
  • World
    • Antigua
    • Aruba
    • Barbados
    • Barbuda
    • Dominica
    • Dominican Republic
    • Guadeloupe
    • Guyana
    • Haiti
    • Jamaica
    • St Lucia
    • Suriname
    • Tobago
    • Trinidad

Browse by Tag

Barbados Bites Business Caribbean Caribe COVID COVID19 Cup Death development Dominica energy food France French gas global Government Guadeloupe Guyana Guyanas Guyanese Health Immaculate Jamaica Local man Minister National News oil Online police President Room Route Silicon team Tobago Tobagos trade Trinidad weather World year

Recent News

Letitia Wright receives honorary doctorate from UG, takes Guyana by storm – Caribbean Life

February 2, 2023

African leaders commit to end AIDS among children by 2030

February 2, 2023

Ramharack, Joseph named in Windies women’s T20 World Cup squad

February 2, 2023

Keppel O&M To Deliver Guyana’s Third FPSO To SBM Offshore

February 2, 2023

2022© Design by CodingBite | Powered by LuxamaMedia.

No Result
View All Result
  • Current News
    • Politics
    • Business
  • Tech News
  • Education
  • Entertainment
    • Travel
    • Lifestyle
  • Health
    • Recipes
  • World
    • Antigua
    • Aruba
    • Barbados
    • Barbuda
    • Dominica
    • Dominican Republic
    • Guadeloupe
    • Guyana
    • Haiti
    • Jamaica
    • St Lucia
    • Suriname
    • Tobago
    • Trinidad

2022© Design by CodingBite | Powered by LuxamaMedia.