The Wellerman

Sugar & Tea & Rum

Sugar & Tea & Rum by N. Dee Miller (@JadeLimey on Twitter)

"Soon May the Wellerman Come" aka "The Wellerman" is a sea shanty originating from New Zealand which has had a recent resurgence in popularity this year thanks to a video of the song which sparked a TikTok sea shanty trend. You can read more about the song here. As the chorus includes the lyrics "soon may the Wellerman come, to bring us sugar and tea and rum," I couldn't help but be inspired to create a cocktail in honor of this shanty.

What was a vague inkling transitioned quickly to a need to craft my own "sugar and tea and rum" cocktail when I saw artist Nikki Dee Miller's design (pictured here; click on the picture for a link to her merch featuring this design).

Keep reading below for the full recipe for my take on The Wellerman.

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A Sea Shanty-Inspired Gunpowder Green Tea Daiquiri

While there are many ways that a mixologist could combine the basic ingredients of sugar and tea and rum to great effect, I decided to run with a riff on the classic daiquiri cocktail. A standard daiquiri consists of rum, lime, and sugar. The inclusion of a citrus element feels more than fitting to me (have to stave of scurvy, after all!), and the only thing missing then is the tea. When selecting a tea, I was immediately drawn to gunpowder green tea; green tea is less likely to drown out the delicate flavors of the white rum and citrus, and a gunpowder blend both brings to mind the pistols and cannons of a ship at sea, and adds a lovely hint of smoke to the drink. To enhance the flavor and also hint at the salt which would certainly infuse everything on a ship at sea, I added some saline to the mix.

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How to make your own Wellerman

To a cocktail shaker, add:

• 2 oz white rum
• 0.5 oz gunpowder green tea simple syrup*
• 0.4 oz fresh lime juice
• 0.4 oz fresh lemon juice
• 4 drops black lemon bitters or daiquiri bitters
• 4 drops sea salt saline solution

Shake with ice. You want quite a bit of dilution from your ice, so either shake with wet ice (ice which has sat out of the freezer for a time, and begun to melt) or with some crushed ice in with your larger ice. You could also add 1/3 oz of ice-cold water to your shaker if you do not have wet ice or crushed ice available, or if you simply want more dilution to your daiquiri.

Double-strain into a chilled glass. You want to double-strain in order to avoid getting small ice chips in your drink.

*To make an easy gunpowder green tea simple syrup:

• Steep your tea in 1 cup of water, following the standard steeping heat and time for your tea, but making the cup double-strong (I used 1 T leaves in 1 cup of water).
• Strain the leaves out, pour your tea into a small saucepan. Add 2 cups of sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring, until sugar is dissolved.
• Allow to cool. This syrup will keep in the fridge for approximately 2 weeks.