Tropical Morn comes from a drink called simply the Coffee-Pineapple Daiquiri by Tiare of A Mountain of Crushed Ice, and modified to fit my available ingredients and my wife’s tastes. Tiare dashed this little ditty off as part of her review of St. Aubin rums, which I (of course) can’t get here, in this case their coffee-flavored rum. But since I have managed to acquire a bottle of Brinely Gold’s Shipwreck Coffee, which is the only such rum currently available in the US, I thought this would be a good starting spot for experimenting.

Taking her recipe and simply substituting the Shipwreck and my very strong demerara syrup resulted in a drink with a great profile, but one that was a bit too sweet for my tastes. I personally don’t like coffee, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that this is not a coffee bomb. In fact, it is not immediately obvious it is a coffee drink at all. The java and the pineapple sorta merge together to result in the elusively undefinable flavors of a good Tiki drink, in this case a sort of soft, novel spice. It is similar in character but not flavor to vanilla.

But the sweetness detracted from the concoction, so I backed off the quarter ounce of syrup still further, and punched up the lime just a bit to make the citrus element a little more identifiable. Then I gave it a name, since Tiare neglected to do so. The result is a difficult balancing act to make, but a worthwhile drink that is distinct from the crowd while still undeniably Tiki.

(This post was edited after publication because it had the wrong frigging picture!)

The post Tiki Drink: Tropical Morn appeared first on The Pegu Blog.