When I was but a wee tiki-tike living in a small town just north of New York City I remember my dad and a few of the older men of the family enjoying a dash of Anisette in their after dinner espresso. One of those Italian traditions imbibed upon by those who always wore a collared shirt to the table, exuded confident indifference, occasionally leaning towards an uncle for a private joke. Those fellas who want to portray an image. 

I never did like that flavor combo, anise & espresso. I do, in fact, love a glass of Anisette as an aperitif, the best being Anis del Mono from Spain. (Not even Italian.) We know anise is a prominent flavor in Tiki going back to arguably the first Tiki drink, Don the Beachcomber’s Zombie. But, I never really associated coffee with Tiki. 

Of course, coffee is in no way above being enlightened by the spirit. As a fan of Irish pubs I’ve enjoyed a few Irish Coffees in my day. Throwing booze into coffee and tea goes back to the era of the ubiquitous flip and the nog. But coffee makes total sense in Tiki. Think about where Tiki and tropical drinks come from. Polynesia and the Caribbean. Two locales that I believe produce the best coffees in the world. Kona, from Hawaii and Jamaican Blue Mountain. 

I discovered the joys of Jamaican coffee on the dining veranda of our hotel in Montego Bay. I was staying there with a close friend for a week of beachbumming and purge drinking. During the day it was Jerk Chicken or sausage with Red Stripe and Wray & Nephew Coconut & Cokes. The evenings brought Appleton Estate and Dragon Stout. In the mornings, though. That was my time of day for reflection. The kind of reprieve I’ve come to understand can only be found on a tropical island. I would read a little while picking on a breakfast of fresh papaya and melon before my cohort would come down to meet me. And, of course, there was coffee. Passing through customs coming home I learned how serious they are when they sliced open one of my bags of Blue Mountain for inspection. Come to think of it, out of all the people in the small Havana airport I got stopped there too. I guess I just look like I’m up to no good. They found nothing in those bags but coffee. Though, at the price of Blue Mountain nowadays It’s worth more than whatever I could’ve smuggled in. There’s a soft richness in Blue Mountain coffee that gives it a roasty full flavored taste without being full bodied. I love the smokey char notes. It’s like all the things I love about coffee are enhanced while bitterness and that processed cheapness is gone. 

Years later it would be my now wife who introduced me to the many ways and styles of making coffee. It was the first time I spent the night at her place, the next morning, while she was showing me how to do pour-over, that I realized we used the same coffee, Royal Kona. Granted, it was the mainland version and only 10% actually Kona beans, but we thought we was fancy. I had had real Kona before when someone I once knew from the Islands had some sent over, but my palate was so burnt out on Tennessee whiskey, cheap wine, and even cheaper words, that I wasn’t able to appreciate it then. Luckily, those memories were recorded over when my wife and I visited Hawaii and actually got to enjoy real Kona Coffee. I find it a bit lighter than coffees from the Caribbean, but again with that sense of refinement. There’s a nutty fruity component which admittedly is diminished a little because I prefer a darker roast. 

A few of the mornings in Kauai we took the Kuhio Highway north towards Kapa’a Beach and ate breakfast outside of Java Kai where we fell in love with Kauai coffee as well. Going back to the Caribbean we also get a lot of coffee from Haiti where our Catholic Church has a sister parish. 

All that to say, while Donn Beach and Trader Vic were traversing the tropics looking for exotic flavors they would have surely come across the wonders of local coffee beans. If not at the bars then most presumably the next morning; as sampling the flavors of the islands from a glass has its effects on one's countenance. 

In this episode we’re going to explore the effects on our own countenances with one of Don the Beachcomber’s earliest concoctions. The flaming Coffee Grog! 

Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Tony, and this is Pod Tiki. 

Not only is Coffee Grog one of Donn’s earliest creations, dating all the way back to 1937, but it aptly shows his penchant to explore things no one else was doing. Only this master of misadventure could take something as ubiquitous as coffee and transform it into an exotic spectacle, and that’s just what Donn did. In the early days he would personally perform the mixing of Coffee Grog, tableside, with his garish alacrity. A pinch of spice, a steaming cup, and the coup de grace, a flaming ladle of high spirited rum guaranteed to get one’s spirits high. Ever the showman this drink seemed to hold a special place for Don the Beachcomber. 

It seems to have been a favorite of patrons as well. After Donn’s unfortunate divorce from Sunny Sund, through which she wriggled her way into majority ownership of Donn’s franchise forcing him to rebrand his empire in Hawaii, Coffee Grog was one of his original drinks she kept on the menu. In fact, the reason we have the recipe today is thanks to one of Donn’s trusted inner circle, Dick Santiago, who perpetuated the integrity of Donn’s recipes after his forced abdication. 

We’ve talked about Dick on the show plenty of times before. Because in our genre Dick Santiago stands tall. One might say when it comes to Tiki our Dick commands respect by remaining upright and rigid in the face of adversity. 

If you’re new to the show here’s a brief catch up on Mr. Santiago. Dick began work at Don The Beachcomber’s in 1937 after coming over from the Philippines. After being taken in and helped out by a group of Fillipinos during his struggling days Donn grew to admire their way of mixing drinks using fresh fruits and coconut. Since then he always hired Filipinos to work his restaurants. Dick quickly rose in the ranks and became something of a celebrity bartender, befriending the Hollywood elite and setting precedence for future staff on how to tend to serve with intuition, wit, and when necessary, a level of discretion. 

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor Dick Santiago felt the call to arms and found himself in the real tropics of South East Asia as an enlisted Marine. Donn Beach was known for having real compassion for his staff, especially those he was close to. So, when after the war, the state of California “actively discouraged” a brown Asian, from marrying a white woman, Donn transferred Dick and his fiance to the Hawaii Beachcomber’s location so he could marry and still make a living. Eventually, Dick and his family returned stateside where he worked for Sunny a while longer before hanging up his floral shirt to pursue an engineering degree. After his death Dick Santiago’s notebook surfaced thanks to the work of Jeff Beachbum Berry. It’s from this notebook Jeff was able to decipher the original Don The Beachcomber’s recipes for some of the most iconic drinks to have ever chilled the inside of a Tiki mug. Or, in the case of Coffee Grog, to warm one. 

Some could argue that when it comes to Tiki presentation is everything. I don’t totally disagree, but I’m usually good to recreate a ritual once or twice, for an audience of one, before regressing to just mixing it up and drinking it. When mixing up a Coffee Grog though, it’s hard to not get in the spirit of theatrics because of the process. Before we get into that, let’s go over what we’re going to need. 

Yeah, yeah. Any old coffee mug will do, but this is Tiki dammit! I have a coffee Tiki mug I got in Hawaii that I use for hot drinks. You could also use any speciality mug made for coffee cocktails. It needs to be at least 8 ounces and should be fancy.  

There isn’t a lot of alcohol in this grog as far as quantity, but the use of overproof Demerara gives it that Tiki kick. As fun as the unique buzz from booze and caffeine can be it can also be a dangerous combo. Just ask any party girl outside the club in the 2000’s crying on the curb, holding one shoe, and spit screaming at her friends about how he’s such an asshole after consuming 5 vodka Red Bulls. I recommend sticking to the modest amounts in this recipe for your health and the health of those new heels. 

For the overproof I used Plantation OFTD because it’s what I had on hand. I alternate between that and Lemon Hart 151, which I know is the genre preference, but since I don’t often use overproof a bottle lasts me a very long time. The other rum Donn calls for is gold Jamaican. I was fortunate enough to have some friends gift me a bottle of Appleton Estate Special from Jamaica. It’s their base model, if you will. It’s a step under Signature Blend, but it’s quite good and fits the need as I imagine Donn’s use of gold Jamaican would refer to any lightly aged Jamaican rum. For stuff that’s widely available here I think Appleton Signature Blend would be perfect. Technically, Wray & Nephew does make a gold Jamaican rum, but I’ve only seen it once and have never tried it. So, I can’t to it. Also, Hamilton Pot Still Gold is a wonderful rum, but I wonder if it might be too funky for coffee? 

The coffee part of Coffee Grog could really be any of your favorite. However I do suggest using a good coffee, and I like to use a local roaster if possible. Here in Nashville my go-to coffee shop is Frothy Monkey. I get the darkest roast they have and make it pour over style. Like any good Tiki drink the quality of your ingredients can make or break it. But again, as long as you’re using a coffee you like and it’s decent quality there’s no need to break the bank. If I got my hands on some Kona or Blue Mountain I might use one cup for grog, just to try it, then save the rest for sippin’. I would say not to use too light of a roast and not to brew it too weak either, as it won’t be able to hold up to the other flavors. And for heaven’s sake, I hope this goes without saying, but please don’t use a flavored coffee. 

Donn seems to have loved using specialty batters in hot drinks. (See our Hot Buttered Rum episode from last winter.) They’re really less of a batter and more of a thick sweet cream. To make Coffee Grog batter we need to cream 1 ounce of unsalted butter, 1 ounce orange blossom honey, 1 teaspoon cinnamon syrup, ½ tsp of vanilla syrup and ½ tsp of pimento liqueur. I speak from experience when I say make sure to let your butter soften before mixing. It’s such a small amount I decided to cream it by hand, but my butter was still cold. So, there I was on the sofa watching The Bear with my wife hand churning for 45 mins. No, Chef! 1 star, do not recommend. Ideally, one of those little hand mixers is what you need. 

The rest of the recipe is a litany of Tiki incidentals. Ground nutmeg, clove, and cinnamon. Orange and grapefruit peel. Sugar cubes, and a cinnamon stick. Oh, and one more thing.  A metal ladle. 

I like to get all the ingredients set up on the counter so I can do my best theatrical Donn Beach impression. This drink is all in the process. So, here’s the recipe. 

1 Sugar Cube

1 pinch Cinnamon

1 pinch Clove

1 pinch Nutmeg

3 strips Orange Peel

1 strip Grapefruit Peel

1 Cinnamon Stick

1 tsp Coffee Grog Batter

6 oz Steaming Hot Coffee

½ oz Gold Jamaican Rum

½ oz 151 Demerara Rum

Okay, so here goes. In your specialty coffee mug place the sugar cube. Then sprinkle in the spices, drop in the peels, and scoop in the batter. Pour the hot coffee over it all and stir till batter dissolves. It’ll make a nice brown foam on the surface. This next part is better to do with the lights out. Add the rums to the metal ladle and light ‘em up! As you pour the rums into the mug a brilliant blue flame will streak down followed by a few flaming droplets. It’s pretty cool. Hey, when I said this was a flaming grog I wasn’t referring to its flamboyant personality. And growing up in Orlando, Florida I’ve known my share of flaming grogs. Now, give it another quick fanciful stir, drop the cinnamon stick in, and serve! 

Before we dive into tasting notes, for the sake of my own conscience, I need to admonish please if you’ve already had a few, are in a tight space, wearing loose sleeves or hair, or generally not comfortable with flammables DO NOT play with fire. It’s perfectly acceptable to simply mix the rums into the drink normally. Ok, now that that ‘s out of the way.

Holy crap this drink is delicious. We run across this so much in Tiki, which is a testament to the prowess of Donn and Vic, where all of these crazy flavors come together to make something so uniquely tertiary that there’s no way to describe or compare it to anything else. Imagine good black coffee and all the flavors that come with that, plus holiday spice creaminess, accented with fruity bitterness, all bolstered by rich tropical rums. The clove, nutmeg, honey butter fusion give the drink such texture without being greasy. Orange and grapefruit seemed weird to me at first but they add a bittersweet dissonance that’s yet somehow congruent to the overall experience. Meanwhile, those flavors are playing checkers while the coffee is playing 3D chess, holding the whole thing together. 

I can’t believe how much I enjoy this drink. Not since Four Loco has the fusion of alcohol and caffeine turned such a dolorous bunch into the life of party! It’s like Donn Beach took Hot Buttered Rum, Navy Grog, and Toddies and kamikaze’d them all together like a middle schooler at the soda fountain, but with the caress of exotica escapism. Because, this drink really does taste - not of this place.

A wanton waning of wistful wherewithal!  A bushel of bereavement over baron bacchanal! A porous portion of pious panache! Ok, I’ll stop. 

Whether we’re gearing up for an evening of mercurial misadventure or reeling in the revels we should all aspire to spirit our way through this wild existence with the excitement for life that Don the Beachcomber performed into every making of Coffee Grog. Just remember to blow out your flame before you hurt someone. 

Sources: Sippin’ Safari by Jeff “Beachbum” Berry 

If some of these recipes seem interesting but you didn’t catch all the ingredients or processes during the show remember you can always visit podtiki.com and click the Recipe Index tab for all the recipes we discuss. 

Thank you all for listening and Keepi Tiki!