Time for Tea....in Cuba??

Hello there,

Welcome back to Tea With Me and Friends! As some of you may know, Lorna and I took a little break last month, disappearing off to Cuba for a week of sunshine and beautiful beaches.....

Beautiful Cuba

 Now as you, wherever we travel we always try and find a new afternoon tea adventure to try and share....but this proved rather challenging in Cuba, where coffee is the preferred hot beverage (it is rather good coffee!).

We did find some food in our hotel which reminded us a little of afternoon tea, there were some savoury items which looked a bit like afternoon tea sandwiches....

Not a crust in sight on these cucumber open sandwiches....

.....We also found tomato open sandwiches!

We were delighted to find these crustless wonders.....but when we tried these tomato and cucumber delights, unfortunately they were a little dry on the edges and a little soggy in the middle! 

The sweet treats we found looked a lot more promising....

Sweet treats for Tea With Me and Friends.....

....not quite afternoon tea though!

There was plenty of choice when it came to sweet treats at our hotel buffet, all perfectly sized and very tasty! The raspberry cake and the chocolate and vanilla slice in the bottom photo were particularly good, with great flavours and textures. However, they were all more pudding than afternoon tea. 

So with no afternoon tea adventures to share with you, we have decided to give you a slightly different post which looks at something else that Cuba is very famous for.....a spot of rum!

Our Cuban holiday had a rum theme!

While in Cuba we might have tried a little bit of rum....in fact we might have enjoyed various rum based cocktails during our holiday! 

We drank rum in minty mojitos, which consisted of white rum, sugar (traditionally sugar cane juice), lime juice, sparkling water, and mint. We enjoyed it in refreshing daiquiris made of white rum, lime and simple syrup. And we drank it in creamy pina coladas, made with white rum, coconut cream and pineapple juice....

Pina Colada by the pool....

I think I enjoyed the lime daiquiris most as I found them rather refreshing in the Cuban heat. Lorna was rather partial to a Cuba Libre - white rum, lime and cola.

While in Havana we were taught how to drink dark rum correctly, swilling it around our mouths (this was an interesting experience that I'm not sure our mouths thanked us for) ....

Rum tasting in Cuba

We also visited the Havana Club museum in Havana, where we enjoyed a guided tour....

Havana Club Museum

As well as the history of Havana Club in Cuba and the rum making process, we also visited their rather impressive bar....

Havana Club Museum Bar

There was also a trip to the Floridita bar in Havana, which was once the regular haunt of Ernest Hemming and in 2012 was home to the world's largest Daiquiri..... 

World's largest daiquiri 

This giant cocktail was whipped up by Cuban mixologists at the club, and weighs in at an impressive 71 gallons! The cocktail was created as part of the celebrations honouring the 195th anniversary of El Floridita, and it took two waiters half an hour to fill the glass.

After a week in the sunshine I think it's safe to say that we left Cuba with a greater appreciation for all things rum! We hope you have enjoyed this slightly different post....pop back soon for more afternoon tea posts!

Thank you for popping by today,

Rachel & Lorna