Rum

Cuban Special

Name: Cuban Special
Yield: 1 servings

Glass: Coupe

Pre-tiki Havana cocktail of light Cuban rum, pineapple, lime, and curaçao, a 1930s cantinero's variation on the Daiquiri template.

rum cuban pre-tiki classic shaken lime pineapple

Ingredients

fresh lime juice (0.25 oz)
fresh pineapple juice (2 oz)
orange curacao (0.75 oz)
light Cuban-style rum (1.5 oz)
pineapple wedge (1)
maraschino cherry (1)

The Cuban Special belongs to the pre-tiki Havana canon, the same 1920s–1930s cantinero tradition that produced the Daiquirí (Jennings Cox, 1898; refined by Constantino Ribalaigua at El Floridita), the Hotel Nacional Special (Wil P. Taylor, 1930s), the Mary Pickford, and El Presidente.¹ Like its peers it is a light-rum sour adjusted with curaçao, but the structural move that makes it Cuban-special is the pineapple juice, Cuba was a sugar-and-pineapple economy, and the cantineros built lean tropical drinks around what the country actually grew.² Tiki later borrowed this whole vocabulary wholesale; Donn Beach and Trader Vic were standing on Caribbean shoulders.²

Brand recommendations. Best: Havana Club Añejo Blanco (where legal) or Caña Brava for the light Cuban-style rum; Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao for the orange liqueur; fresh-cut pineapple juiced to order. Economical: Don Q Cristal, Probitas, or Bacardi Superior; Cointreau or Senior Curaçao of Curaçao; cold-pressed pineapple juice from a refrigerated bottle (avoid shelf-stable canned).

Instructions

In a shaker combine fresh lime juice, fresh pineapple juice, orange curacao, and light Cuban-style rum.
Shake hard with ice and strain into a chilled coupe glass.
Garnish with a pineapple wedge and a maraschino cherry.

Sources

Berry, Potions of the Caribbean (2014), Cuban classics chapters, places the Cuban Special among the pre-tiki Havana cantinero canon (Daiquirí, Hotel Nacional Special, Mary Pickford, El Presidente). ↩
Curtis, And a Bottle of Rum (2006), Cuban rum and cantinero chapters, frames the Cuban sugar-and-pineapple economy as the substrate for the cantineros' tropical-drink vocabulary that tiki later adopted wholesale. ↩
"Cuban Special." Difford's Guide. https://www.diffordsguide.com/cocktails/recipe/497/cuban-special (accessed 2026-05-03), published spec source for the light-rum / lime / pineapple / orange-curaçao build this file follows.