Back in the 1700s, sailors who would spend months at sea needed a drink to liven things up. Grog, the watered-down rum ration, could only do so much. So the idea of tea punch was born.
Sailors would take strong black tea, usually East India Company tea, and add sugar, lime juice, and whatever spirits they had on board - usually rum but sometimes brandy or whiskey. The tart, refreshing drink helped to ward off scurvy and provided a much needed lift for the crew.
Tea punch spread from sailing ships to fashionable London clubs and parlors in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Wealthy aristocrats would serve tea punch at dinner parties and gatherings, spicing things up by experimenting with different tea blends, herbs, and spirits.
Rum remained the spirit of choice in early tea punch recipes, an homage to its maritime roots. Ginger and lemon were also popular flavors added to the mix. Over time, tea punch evolved into elaborate multi-layered drinks made with brandy, Madeira wine, and champagne in addition to tea and spirits.
More recently, flavors have been approximated in cocktails like Long Islands eponymous Iced Tea - but before we had a cocktail culture, America was a place of punch.
The authority on punch is the great writer and barroom historian David Wondrich - whose book, Punch: The Delights (and Dangers) of the Flowing Bowl is both a delight and an inspiration. Wondrich is prolific and has frequently shared recipes for tea punches.
Here are some of our favorites - in order of complexity:
A Simple Rum Punch
"The alcoholic fruit drink we know as punch is an Indian invention that was adopted in the 1600s by British sailors, who later introduced it to the Caribbean islands, where it flourished."
Philadelphia Fish House Punch
"Deserves to be protected by law, taught in the schools, and made a mandatory part of every Fourth of July celebration."
Jamaican Hot Tea Punch
"Whatever its origins, this is one of the few hot punches that's entirely free of Christmas spices, which, as we've observed elsewhere, are known to cloy. If you simmer the JHTP, it has the additional advantage of being quite potent early on, when you most need medication. Then, as the alcohol boils off, it grows progressively milder, thus preventing you from spoiling a perfectly tolerable holiday gathering by choking the living shit out of your sister's husband for that well-meant but nonetheless incredibly assholish remark about your wife's "jubblies."
USS Richmond Punch
"A Civil War-era concoction christened after a ship that would go on to be one of the longest-serving in the history of the Navy."
