To Serve Man
Rum

Ti' Punch

Glass
Rocks

Martinique's national drink, rhum agricole, lime, and cane syrup, prepared by each drinker to taste.

rum caribbean classic pre-tiki built stirred lime
Scale
Print

Ingredients

  • lime
  • cane syrup (1 barspoon)
  • white rhum agricole (2 oz)

Instructions

  1. Cut a coin from a fresh lime.
  1. In a small rocks glass, add cane syrup and squeeze the lime coin over it; drop the coin in.
  2. Pour white rhum agricole over the top and stir gently with a bois lele or barspoon. No ice.

Sources

  1. Lafcadio Hearn, Two Years in the French West Indies (1890), earliest printed reference to the petit punch as Martinique's vernacular drink; reproduced and discussed at PUNCH, https://punchdrink.com/recipes/ti-punch/ (accessed 2026-05-03). ↩
  2. Cate & Cate, Smuggler's Cove (2016), Ti' Punch entry (p. 179), documents the "chacun prépare sa propre mort" tradition and the each-drinker-builds-their-own house custom. ↩
  3. Curtis, And a Bottle of Rum (2006), agricole / Martinique chapter, frames Ti' Punch in the broader rhum agricole history and the room-temperature, no-dilution service rationale. ↩