Jordan Field, the creator of this cocktail, imagined a French monk and a Chinese monk walking into a Tiki bar. This cocktail was his first-place entry in a February contest on /r/cocktails, where the required ingredients were Bénédictine and tea. Inspired by the monastic theme, Field decided to incorporate both ingredients. While Bénédictine’s monastic origins are debatable, Pu’er tea is strongly associated with Chinese Buddhist monks.

Pu’er tea, a fermented tea often pressed into cakes, comes in two types: ripe (shou) and raw (sheng). Ripe Pu’er is fermented quickly in a hot, humid environment, resulting in an earthy, dark flavor. Raw Pu’er, on the other hand, is fermented and aged more gradually, offering a fascinating, elusive flavor profile with notes of dried stonefruit and minerality. Field chose a raw Pu’er from Paru, a local tea shop in San Diego, with pear and apple notes that complemented the mild, fruity hogo of the Scarlet Ibis.

The cocktail is named “Sabbatical,” a reference to the Greek word “sabbatikos,” meaning “of the sabbath.” Field playfully imagined two monks unwinding on their day off with a tropical drink.