The Te Fiti at Lucky AF (Photo by Jay Paul)
It’s June. The sun is bright. The birds are singing. And anything tropical is the right choice, especially when it comes to things that don’t involve flying and spending thousands of dollars. Take a few mini vacations to bars around the city and grab drinks featuring the star of the tropics: passion fruit. Passion fruit delivers wildly luscious, sweet-tart-floral flavor, like what one might imagine goddesses sip from flower petals, but it also adds to your magnesium stores, and magnesium helps you chill out. Beverage perfection. Here are a few good spots to hit for your passionately chill fix.
Sunny Delight
Sunny Delight is a brunch drink for those who start early. It’s citrusy with a slight pucker, just like its namesake SunnyD, but unlike the bottled orange drink, it’s made from natural juices, not corn syrup and dye. Dried Curaçao and pineapple is a lovely addition to orange-infused vodka; passion fruit levels up the boozy sweetness with just enough tang.
Back to the Basics
It’s called Back to the Basics, but there is nothing basic about this drink. Tequila, anise-forward Galliano and orangey, bitter Aperol create a strong, complex foundation for a spicy fruit concoction that lifts the drinkability from sipper to slurper. A chile tincture plays foil to the floral layers in the passion fruit, so they’re extra-present. Gorgeous.
Prickled Pink
Light on the booze, heavy on tastiness, Prickled Pink is a super refresher that makes a great start or end to a meal. Frozen prickly pear puree lends its kiwi-melon sweetness to passion fruit liqueur’s concentrated zing, while brut bubbles amplify the flavors and give the drink a slightly mineral-crisp edge.
Te Fiti
Whew! Li hing mui syrup is a stunner ingredient and is brilliant in combination with potent passion fruit. Li hing mui is preserved plum (the translation is “traveling plum”), one of the most famous pungently salty-sour-sweet acquired tastes hailing from China. The pair is done justice in a marg-based bath of tequila, triple sec and lime, dubbed Te Fiti.
