by josie
The Passion and Love drink at Oficina Latina pairs rum with orange, cinnamon, sugar cane and coffee powder.
In the weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day, we hear breathless news reports touting nearly every food as an aphrodisiac. Forget the oysters and chocolate: the Passion and Love shot, created out of rum, spices and citrus by Paolo Votano, owner and beverage manager of Oficina Latina NYC in Manhattan, is what ignites a fire within.
The Nolita eatery serves fare you’d find along the stretch of the Pan-American highway from Buenos Aires to Monterrey, Mexico, with dishes such as Venezuelan arepas, Peruvian ceviche, Argentinian churrasco, Brazilian feijoada, and Mexican braised lamb shank with vegetables and plantain purée. To complement the cuisine, the bar carries an extensive selections of tequilas, mezcals, cachaças and rums.
The Passion and Love drink starts with Santa Teresa Añejo rum, which arrives tableside in a small decanter, with glasses and oranges for those in your party, as well as mounds of cinnamon, coffee powder and sugar cane.
Although this involves liquor, spices and fruit, it’s much more sophisticated than the tequila/salt/lime combination. Serve one ounce of rum in the shot glass, and press one side of your orange slice into the spices, which are arranged on a tray so that you can get a little of each on the fruit. Drink the rum, then take a bite out of the orange to taste the complementary flavors.
Votano says he chose the Venezuelan rum because, “It is a spirit that I personally love,” and with which he’s worked for many years. He paired it “with spices that you can find in the notes of many rums: Cinnamon, coffee and obviously the base of rum: sugar cane.” At first, he didn’t have a name for his creation, but he named it Passion and Love, because, he says, “The love of what I do is what drives me to where I am today, to the realization of my dreams.” In fact, he even has forearm tattoos that say “passion” and “love.”
Passion and Love
2 servings
2 ounces Santa Teresa Añejo rum
¼ teaspoon sugar cane
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon coffee powder
2 orange quarters
1. Pour one ounce serving of rum.
2. Arrange sugar cane, cinnamon and coffee powder in adjacent lines on a tray. Place two quarters of orange on tray or dish.
3. Dip orange in spices, drink rum, then eat orange.
Photo credit: Courtesy Oficina Latina
