Bahama Mama Cocktail Recipe
A sweet, sunset-coloured rum punch of pineapple, orange and coconut with a dark note of coffee.
- Category: Popular
- Glass: Hurricane glass
- ABV: 10%
- Difficulty: Easy
- Prep time: ~4 min
Ingredients
- Dark rum30 ml (1 oz)
- Coconut rum30 ml (1 oz)
- Coffee liqueur15 ml (0.5 oz)
- Pineapple juice60 ml (2 oz)
- Fresh orange juice30 ml (1 oz)
- Fresh lemon juice15 ml (0.5 oz)
- Grenadine10 ml (0.3 oz)
How to Make It
- Shake both rums, the coffee liqueur, the juices and the grenadine hard with ice.
- Fill a hurricane glass with crushed ice.
- Strain the drink into the glass.
- Garnish with the pineapple wedge and the cherry.
Garnish
A pineapple wedge and a maraschino cherry.
What it tastes like
Fruit notes come forward and there is pineapple and passion fruit in it.
The technique
Shaking. Anything with juice, syrup, egg white or cream gets shaken: the shaker chills the drink and adds roughly 20% water, and that water is what takes the edge off. Twelve to fifteen seconds, until the tin frosts over. Under-shaking leaves the drink harsh because it never got enough dilution.
Glass and ice
The curved, tall hurricane glass. Tiki and tropical drinks often run past 200 ml, and this is the shape that holds that volume along with the ice.
Ingredient notes and substitutes
- Dark rum
- Barrel-aged dark rum, with molasses, vanilla and treacle in it. Swap in white rum and the drink loses its body, so reach for gold rum instead.
- Coffee liqueur
- Coffee liqueur. It is not a stand-in for coffee — it is very sweet and low in caffeine; in drinks with espresso the two are used together, not instead of each other.
- Pineapple juice
- Pineapple juice. It foams on its own when shaken — that creamy head on a tiki drink comes from the pineapple, not from egg white.
- Fresh orange juice
- Fresh orange juice. Carton juice is sugar-adjusted, so it sweetens the drink and drops its acidity; when you squeeze your own, pull back a little on the syrup.
- Fresh lemon juice
- Freshly squeezed lemon; one lemon gives 30-40 ml. It can swap with lime, but lemon is softer and less aromatic, so use a touch more.
- Grenadine
- Pomegranate syrup. Most supermarket bottles are dyed corn syrup with no pomegranate in them; reducing pomegranate juice with an equal weight of sugar takes ten minutes and changes the drink completely.
The Story
A tropical rum punch associated with the Bahamas, where it became a signature of hotel and beach bars in the second half of the twentieth century. Recipes vary considerably from bar to bar.
Frequently asked questions
- How is a Bahama Mama mixed?
- It is shaken and served in a hurricane glass.
- How strong is a Bahama Mama?
- Roughly 10% ABV as served — lighter than a beer — a long-conversation drink that takes a second round.
- Can a Bahama Mama be made without alcohol?
- Simply leaving the spirit out does not work — the body and the bitterness go with it. The 86 alcohol-free recipes in the catalogue are built to hit that balance from the start.
- Is a Bahama Mama hard to make?
- Easy. No bar kit required — a measure, ice and a jar will do.
The main ingredient here is also a dream symbol: Coffee in a dream
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Alcoholic drink recipes are intended for those aged 18 and over. Please drink responsibly.