I’ve had writer’s block. I’ve felt creatively tapped. I haven’t been drinking as much. There are myriad reasons that this has felt a little neglected recently. But creative outlets do me good, and sometimes it’s a matter of looking for influences in a place where I might not normally find them that gets me out of that torpor.
Having arrived a few minutes early for something recently, I did something I’m wont to do during the daytime and went to a coffee shop. SPRO in this case. They do some fascinating stuff at SPRO, I gotta say. The cart over in Mission Bay, the one I’m more familiar with, does not have the menu the one at Mission Dolores does. Or at least didn’t at the time I was over there more. Needless to say, they don’t just have good coffee, they have creative coffee drinks
What am I to do but imitate the lovely combination of black currant, thyme, and coffee in a drink? What, I tell you? I’m here to try and figure out how to harness that flavor combination in a drink.
Obviously thyme liqueur is not something I just keep around (though, uh…why not?) but hey, why not make some thyme simple syrup? Easy enough, and I’ve certainly got some other ideas that it could be useful for. It’s a sneaky good aspect to a drink if well used. I had an excellent thyme witbier once upon a time at Birdsong Brewing in Charlotte, NC (should you find yourself in NoDa…). Anyway, a little hot water, a little sugar, and some patience, and you got yourself that.
Black currants are easy, you should always have Creme de Cassis around in case you need an emergency Diablo. Look I don’t make the rules.
Coffee is another one that’s rarely an issue. As we’ve gone over before, this is a St. George household, and the NOLA Coffee liqueur has seen me through before.
Now…what else? I don’t have any oat creamer around, but I want something to give that creaminess. I do have coconut creme open though and it’s always the right decision with coffee.
Which leads me inspirationally to the next step (thinking about a Mr. Bali Hai) in terms of the citrus. And it should definitely have pineapple…but should it? Let’s not for now and just go with lemon, and if I truly screw up, well, pineapple is always there to catch me when I fall.
Finally, this could use some rum, yes? Something that gives you a little bit of sweetness. Really, El Dorado 5 would be perfect, but I tapped my last bottle and have yet to purchase it again because I haven’t been buying much at home. However, Barbancourt 5 Star will do for this purpose quite well too
So…where did I end up?
2 oz lemon juice
1 oz coconut creme (Coco Lopez, accept no substitutes)
.5 oz thyme syrup
.5 oz creme de cassis (this I’m less dogmatic on, whatever you got)
.5 oz St. George NOLA coffee liqueur
2 oz Barbancourt 5 Star
And how did I do? It’s a flavor journey, that’s for sure, and an incredibly fun pink color. To be honest, it could probably use a bit less lemon and a bit more thyme syrup (I thought it would be sweeter with all the other stuff, it’s not). Maybe a touch more coffee liqueur as well. But it’s still good. Worth refining for sure, there are a lot of fun flavors here. Hell, maybe it’s even worth buying a bottle of thyme liqueur. Only time will tell.
It needs a name too, but that’s a problem for later.
Until then!
This is Trader Jane’s, a periodic newsletter about drinks (mostly tiki) and other fun writing. Follow me on Substack for something every couple of weeks (a low volume Substack, I swear!), and follow me on Twitter and Instagram for more timely updates on my beverages (and for lots of other things of course!)
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