Caribbean Iced Tea – Original Recipe & History

Caribbean iced tea
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Caribbean Iced Tea

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Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

300

kcal
Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make a Caribbean Iced Tea.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 oz Sweet and Sour Mix

  • 1/2 oz Blue Orange Liqueur

  • 1 oz Vodka

  • 1 oz White Rum

  • 1 oz Dry Gin

  • 1 oz Silver Tequila

  • 1.5 oz Lemon Lime Soda

Directions

  • Technique: Tiki Dirty Pour
  • Combine all ingredients, except for the soda, into a shaker with crushed ice.
  • Vigorously shake the shaker for 10 seconds.
  • Dirty pour the whole shaker into a glass. Crushed ice and all.
  • Top the drink off with soda.
  • Garnish:
  • Lemon wheel

Featured Video

What Does The Caribbean Iced Tea Taste Like?

Like the other Long Island Iced Tea variations, the Caribbean Iced Tea tastes similar but is a bit brighter and more citrusy. It lacks the earthy flavors cola gives to the typical Long Island. The cola flavor in a long island is mild, but removing it means the orange liqueur and sweet and sour are the primary flavors in a Caribbean Iced Tea. If you like booze but want something a bit brighter and citrusy, then the Caribbean Iced Tea is a pretty one to try.

The History Of The Caribbean Iced Tea

The Caribbean Iced Tea was invented by T.G.I. Fridays in 1980 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its parent company Carlson. T.G.I. Fridays is often mistaken for inventing the Long Island Iced Tea, and while they didn’t, It is still one of the most popular drinks they sell. Although T.G.I. Fridays did create several popular variations. They made four variations: the Sparkling Iced Tea, the Long Beach Iced Tea, the Caribbean Iced Tea, and the Texas Iced Tea. The Sparkling Iced Tea replaced the Coca-Cola with champagne. The Long Beach Iced Tea replaced Coca-Cola with cranberry juice. The Caribbean Iced Tea used blue-orange liqueur instead of clear to give the drink a light green color and left out the Coke. And the Texas Ice Tea added an additional ounce of whiskey. Not that I can prove this, but I have a feeling the Caribbean Iced Tea eventually evolves into the Adios Motherfucker. The Caribbean iced tea can firmly be dated to 1980, but the adios started to appear in the late 90s and early 2000s. The two share the same ingredients, and while some of the volumes are different, the two drinks are almost mirrored images of each other.

I understand this is supposed to be a vintage cocktail resource, and while T.G.I. Fridays is not seen as a high-end bar today, it once was. The first T.G.I. Fridays was opened in 1965 by Alan Stillman. Stillman lived on 63rd Street between First and York in New York and, while surrounded by single attractive working women, had a hard time meeting any. Alan liked to go out after work, and believe it or not, many bars in the 1960s still had policies that no women could enter unless they were with a man. Hell, women couldn’t have bank accounts until the 1960s, and it wasn’t the Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974 that women could get an account without a father or husband to manage it. But back to cocktails. Obviously, not every bar was like this, and some areas were more progressive than others, but there was still a culture of bars being too rough for single vulnerable women. Some high-end bars excluded single women, fearing their presence would distract business-minded men from making deals. Even though prohibition had helped lessen the stigma of women publicly drinking, it still took activists like Betty Friedan and others to fully break down these barriers. Alan Stillman also helped break down these barriers when he opened T.G.I. Fridays, one of the United States’ first singles bar. The original intent of T.G.I Fridays was to offer a welcoming environment that felt like home where single women and men could meet. Women didn’t need to come with a man to enter. They served high-end drinks and well-made American food. Stillman may have been looking to meet women, but he inadvertently helped bring down some of the social barriers American women faced.

Recipe Resources

Caribbean Iced Tea Article

Original Long Island Iced Tea Recipe

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Blue Hawaiian – Classic Recipe & History

Blue Hawaiian
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Blue Hawaiian

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

383

kcal
ABV

14%

Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make a Blue Hawaiian.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 oz Lime Juice

  • 2 oz Pineapple Juice

  • 2 oz Cream of Coconut

  • 2/3 oz Blue Orange Liqueur

  • 2 oz White Rum

Directions

  • Technique: Blended
  • ombine all ingredients into a blender with a single scoop of ice cubes.
  • Blend on low for 10 seconds or till the ice is mostly pulverized.
  • Now blend on high for 5-10 seconds to completely crush the ice and turn the drink into a slushy texture.
  • Pour into a glass.
  • Garnish:
  • Cherry, pineapple slice

Notes

Featured Video

What Does the Blue Hawaiian Taste Like?

If you have ever had a Pina Colada, you know precisely what a Blue Hawaiian tastes like. The only difference is the 1/2 oz of blue orange liqueur that gives it its beautiful color but doesn’t change the flavor much. The Blue Hawaiian has a lovely coconut and pineapple flavor balanced with a sweet orange note.

Mixing Options for the Blue Hawaiian.

You have two options for mixing a Blue Hawaiian. 1). Blend it with ice and make a slushy of it. 2). Shake it and pour it over crushed or shaved ice. Both ways are great, and it just depends on how you prefer to consume the drink. Although blended is likely the more traditional way to make this cocktail, the shaken one is my preferred way.

What Is The Difference Between The Blue Hawaiian And Blue Hawaii?

While similar in name, the Blue Hawaiian and Blue Hawaii are very different cocktails. The Blue Hawaiian is more of a blue Pina Colada, and the Blue Hawaii is more of a blue pineapple juice cocktail. Harry Yee invented the standard Blue Hawaii recipe used today in the 1950s. The creator of the Blue Hawaiian is largely uncredited and unknown. Some credit Donn Beach with having created the Blue Hawaiian, but I looked at the 1940s, 50s, and 60s versions of his menus, and I didn’t see it anywhere. Those who credit him with it don’t seem too confident he made it either, so I would bet more so on the side that he did not invent it.

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Blue Hawaii – Original Recipe & History

Blue Hawaii
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Blue Hawaii

0 from 0 votes Only logged in users can rate recipes
Course: DrinksCuisine: American
Servings

1

servings
Calories

163

kcal
ABV

13%

Total time

3

minutes

Learn how to make a Blue Hawaii.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 oz Lemon Juice

  • 1/2 oz Simple Syrup

  • 3 oz Pineapple Juice

  • 2/3 oz Blue Orange Liqueur

  • 2/3 oz Vodka

  • 2/3 oz White Rum

Directions

  • Technique: Tiki Dirty Pour
  • Combine all ingredients into a shaker with crushed ice.
  • Vigorously shake for 10 seconds.
  • Dirty pour the whole shaker into a glass. Crushed ice and all.
  • Garnish:
  • Pineapple slice

Notes

Featured Video

The History of the Blue Hawaii Cocktail.

Invented by Harry Yee in 1957, the Blue Hawaii is a classic Hawaiian cocktail and one of the few tiki-style cocktails from a Polynesian island. Harry Yee came up with the Blue Hawaii while working at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort in Waikiki after Bol’s approached the bartenders there and asked them to come up with a recipe that used their blue orange liqueur. After a few experiments, Harry came up with this recipe called his creation, the Blue Hawaii. Predating the iconic Elvis Presley movie by four years, it is unknown if this cocktail inspired the title for the film Blue Hawaii, but the drink came first. As a side note, I love the movie Blue Hawaii. I am a heterosexual male, but even I need to change my underwear whenever I hear Elvis sing, “Can’t help falling in love.” It should be required viewing before traveling there for vacation. The movie was initially titled “Hawaiian Beach Boy,” so perhaps while filming, the director found the local blue Hawaii cocktail’s name to be a better fit.

Recipe Resources

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