Spring is upon us! Cue lighter and brighter cocktails, including our favorite Caribbean staple, the Ti’ Punch.

‘Ti Punch, if you’re not familiar with it, is the characteristic short drink of the French Caribbean, and has been at least since the 1880s. While its name, “Petit Punch,” or “Little Punch” in Kriyou (the local dialect of French), indicates something light and juicy, the actual drink is not that.

With a little splash of sugarcane syrup in the bottom of an Old-Fashioned glass, a squeeze of lime peel to add a couple of drops of the juice and a spray of the peel’s bitter oil, and as much 100-proof rhum agricole as you’re in the mood for, swizzled together with ice, the drink is, if anything, even simpler and stronger than the Old-Fashioned, while still conveying a little of the tropical ease we expect from a warm-weather drink.

Check out the full article here to read up on the art behind this Caribbean classic.