Tia Maria

Tia Maria

 

A Jamaican coffee liqueur made from Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee beans, a type of coffee bean grown in the Blue Mountains of Jamaica which are known for their mild flavor and lack of bitterness.

 

The main ingredients of Tia Maria besides coffee beans include cane spirit, vanilla, sugar which are fermented to an alcoholic content of 26.5% which lately has been reduced to 20% for commercial use.

 

After the second World War, a man known as Dr. Evans invited friends and acquaintances from the country club in the capitol of Jamaica known as Kingston, while at Dr. Evans place they tried a large variety of formulas in his lab until one final version was accepted.

 

Another legend says that the history of Tia Maria started in the 17th century when a young woman who owned a plantation in the Caribbean was forced to flee together with her chambermaid, who brought along the young womans most treasured possessions, in gratitude, she named the family liqeuer recipe after the maid, known as "Aunt Maria". The brand known as Tia Maria, is these days, through their branch known as Malibu-Kahlúa, owned by the industrial giant Pernod Ricard since 2005.

 

Tia Maria is known to be drunk both neat, with ice, with coffee, in cocktails, in desserts, and can also be mixed with milk and ice. A few popular cocktails or drinks with Tia Maria as an ingredient follows:

 

1. Baby Guiness – Shot – 2/3 Tia Maria is first poured into the shot glass following a 1/3 of Baileys poured over a upside-down teaspoon.

 

2. Chocolate orange – Drink – Pour a glass of orange juice followed by some Tia Maria, drink with a straw and a slice of orange on the side.

 

3. Balkan Power – Cocktail – 2/3 Tia Maria, 1/3 Captain Fred, 1 teaspoon Nescafé, 1 teaspoon Nesquik cocoa powder all mixed in a shaker and poured into a glass with ice.