Mauby

Ingredients

The boil

• 40 gmauby bark (Colubrina elliptica), rinsed
• 1.5 litreswater
• 2cinnamon sticks
• 10whole cloves
• 2star anise
• 1blade mace
• 1strip dried orange peel
• 6fresh bay leaves
• 1 tspaniseed

Syrup and finishing

• 400 ggranulated sugar
• 1.5 litrescold water, for diluting
• ½ tspvanilla essence
• Plenty of ice, to serve

Directions

1. Rinse the bark under cold water to wash off dust, then put it in a pot with the water, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, mace, orange peel, bay and aniseed.
2. Bring to a boil, then simmer uncovered 30–40 minutes until the liquid is very dark, almost black, and the kitchen smells of anise and bitter wood.
3. Take it off the heat and leave to steep, covered, for 30 minutes as it cools. Do not steep it overnight: the bitterness keeps climbing and becomes medicinal.
4. Strain through muslin into a jug. This concentrate is the mauby essence and keeps 2 weeks in the fridge.
5. Dissolve the sugar in 500 ml of the concentrate while it is still warm, stirring until no grains remain, and add the vanilla.
6. Dilute with the cold water to taste. The classic ratio is roughly one part concentrate to three parts water, but every household disputes it.
7. Chill hard, at least 4 hours. Mauby drunk warm tastes only of bitterness; cold, the sweetness and spice come forward.
8. Just before serving, whisk or shake the jug hard so a head of foam rises, then pour over a full glass of ice.

Technique

• The bitterness is the point and it builds after you swallow. Newcomers usually over-sweeten; islanders judge a good mauby by how cleanly the bitter finish arrives.
• Some households let the sweetened mauby stand covered at room temperature for a day or two so it develops a slight natural fizz from wild yeast. If you do this, bottle in plastic and refrigerate once it starts bubbling.
• Mauby bark is genuinely bitter and traditionally taken as a cooling tonic; drunk in very large quantities it has a mild blood-pressure lowering reputation, so treat it as a drink rather than a medicine.

Substitutions

• No bark: bottled mauby syrup, sold across the Caribbean, is diluted about 1 to 8 with water and is what most people in Antigua actually use midweek.
• Replace half the sugar with demerara for a rounder, more molasses-like sweetness.

Variations

• Trinidadian mauby, spiced more heavily with anise and often foamed to a thick head.
• Barbadian mauby, drier and less sweet.
• Mauby mixed half and half with a dark rum and lime, drunk at Antiguan beach bars.

History

Boiled from mauby bark and sold in bottles at Antiguan shops as a cooling everyday drink.

Frequently asked questions

What is Mauby?

Mauby is a drink from Antigua and Barbuda: bitter-sweet bark infusion with spice, drunk very cold. Boiled from mauby bark and sold in bottles at Antiguan shops as a cooling everyday drink.

How long does Mauby take to make?

Mauby takes 15 min of preparation and 40 min, plus 4 hr chilling of cooking. The recipe makes 2 litres of finished drink. It is rated easy to make.

What can I substitute in Mauby?

Yes, within limits. No bark: bottled mauby syrup, sold across the Caribbean, is diluted about 1 to 8 with water and is what most people in Antigua actually use midweek. Replace half the sugar with demerara for a rounder, more molasses-like sweetness.

What is the most important thing to get right in Mauby?

Take it off the heat and leave to steep, covered, for 30 minutes as it cools. Do not steep it overnight: the bitterness keeps climbing and becomes medicinal.