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Madeira

The island you carry inside.

The island in numbers

The first Portuguese navigators arrive.
1419
Pico Ruivo, the island’s highest point.
1862m
of levadas, the channels that carry water across the mountains.
+2000km
The Laurisilva becomes a World Heritage Site.
1999

A mountain in the sea

Almost a thousand kilometres from Lisbon, Madeira rises from the Atlantic to the 1,862 metres of Pico Ruivo.

Its Laurisilva forests, like those that covered Europe millions of years ago, are a World Heritage Site, and along its slopes run the levadas: stone channels cut by hand to carry water from the wet north to the fields of the south.

White gold

In the fifteenth century sugar cane made Madeira one of the richest islands in Europe. Even today, in the north, the mills press cane every spring.

From that cane comes the spirit, and from the vineyards above the sea, Madeira wine: both are in every bottle of Tim Tam Tum.

Discover the liqueur
Engenho do Torreão, Funchal. Museu de Fotografia da Madeira – Atelier Vicentes.

At the table

Flavours of the island.

Food of the sea and the mountain, of firewood and hot stone. This is what reaches the table before the small glass.

  • Espada preta

    A deep-sea fish with black skin and white flesh, served on the island with banana and passion fruit.

  • Lapas

    Limpets grilled with garlic butter and lemon, and brought to the table in the pan, still sizzling.

  • Espetada

    Beef on bay-laurel skewers, cooked over embers and hung above the table.

  • Bolo do caco

    Round bread baked on a basalt stone, torn while warm and spread with garlic butter.

  • Bolo de mel

    The Christmas cake, made with sugar-cane honey and spices. It is broken by hand, never cut with a knife, and it almost always comes to the table with a small glass of Tim Tam Tum; some pour a little over it.

    More ways to serve it

The bailinho

To the beat of the brinquinho.

At the island’s festivals people dance the bailinho: couples turning to the rhythm of the braguinha, a small four-string guitar, and of the brinquinho, seven dolls in regional dress with castanets on top of a cane, keeping the beat.

The Festa

In Madeira they call it a liqueur of the Festa, the island's word for Christmas. We believe the festa happens every time the family gathers at the table and uncorks a bottle that has kept its memories.

In spring, the Flower Festival covers Funchal in flower carpets and parades.

The year Funchal’s New Year fireworks entered the Guinness book as the largest fireworks display in the world.

Around the world

Wherever there is a Madeiran, there is a table set

From Caracas to Johannesburg, from Toronto to Sydney, from Hawaii to Guayaquil, Madeirans took the island with them: its music, its festivals, its recipes. Wherever they arrived, they set the table as they did at home. Tim Tam Tum is one of those things no map can hold.

CaracasGuayaquilSão PauloJohannesburgHonoluluJerseyNew EnglandCaliforniaTorontoMontrealSydney

Caracas · Guayaquil · São Paulo · Johannesburg · Honolulu · Jersey · New England · California · Toronto · Montreal · Sydney

Wherever you are

Your city can be on this map too.

Write to us from anywhere in the world and we will reply with availability and delivery options, so a bottle of Tim Tam Tum can reach your table.