Drinks of the World
Every drink here comes from a real culinary tradition somewhere on the map, from spiced chai and mango lassi to horchata, Thai iced tea, and the mojito. Here are 190 authentic recipes, each with its cultural story, ingredients, and step by step method.
190 recipes · showing 1 to 48
Moroccan Mint TeaMarrakesh-Safi, Morocco · easy · 15 minSweet green tea steeped with fresh spearmint and poured from a height into little glasses.
Moroccan Mint Tea BissapDakar, Senegal · easy · 2 h 20 minA deep-crimson chilled hibiscus drink sweetened and scented with mint and a little vanilla.
Bissap SahlabCairo, Egypt · easy · 20 minA warm, thick, milky winter drink scented with cinnamon and topped with nuts and coconut.
Sahlab Ethiopian Coffee (Buna)Amhara, Ethiopia · medium · 30 minFreshly roasted beans ground and brewed dark in a clay jebena, the heart of the coffee ceremony.
Ethiopian Coffee (Buna) ZoboLagos, Nigeria · easy · 35 minA deep-crimson hibiscus cooler simmered with ginger, pineapple, and cloves, Nigeria's tart, refreshing party drink served over ice.
Zobo AsaanaAshanti, Ghana · medium · 45 minA caramel-hued Ghanaian drink of fermented corn sweetened with burnt sugar, malty, tangy, and served cold over ice.
Asaana Rooibos Iced TeaWestern Cape, South Africa · easy · 15 minNaturally caffeine-free red bush tea steeped strong, sweetened, and chilled with lemon and mint, South Africa's signature cooler.
Rooibos Iced Tea Thé aux PignonsTunis, Tunisia · easy · 15 minStrong, sweet Tunisian green mint tea poured over a spoon of toasted pine nuts that soften at the bottom of the glass.
Thé aux Pignons Kenyan ChaiNairobi, Kenya · easy · 17 minBlack tea simmered directly in milk with sugar and a little ginger and cardamom, the strong, milky chai that fuels Kenya's day.
Kenyan Chai Kahawa ya TangawiziZanzibar, Tanzania · easy · 17 minZanzibari spiced black coffee simmered with fresh ginger and cardamom, small, strong cups poured from a brass pot on the street.
Kahawa ya Tangawizi GnamankoudjiAbidjan (Lagunes), Côte d’Ivoire · easy · 15 minA fiery Ivorian ginger juice blended with pineapple and lime, strained and sweetened, a spicy, bracing street cooler.
Gnamankoudji Sumo de MúcuaMaputo, Mozambique · easy · 20 minA creamy, tangy juice made from baobab fruit powder whisked with water, lime, and sugar, Mozambique's vitamin-rich cooler.
Sumo de Múcua Cherbet el LozAlgiers, Algeria · easy · 20 minA silky Algerian almond milk scented with orange-blossom water, sweetened and served cold, the drink of weddings and Ramadan.
Cherbet el Loz BusheraKampala, Uganda · easy · 12 h 30 minA lightly fermented millet-and-sorghum drink from western Uganda, tangy and nourishing, served sweet or gently sour.
Bushera MaheuHarare, Zimbabwe · easy · 1 dayA thick, lightly sour maize drink, filling and mildly fermented, the energy-giving cooler of Zimbabwean fields and streets.
Maheu RanovolaAnalamanga (Antananarivo), Madagascar · easy · 17 minMadagascar's "golden water", the toasted-rice drink made by boiling water in the rice pot with its toasted crust still clinging to the bottom, smoky and comforting.
Ranovola KissanguaLuanda, Angola · easy · 1 dayA traditional Angolan cornflour drink, lightly sweet and tangy, flavored with lemon and served cold, a homemade non-alcoholic cooler.
Kissangua Botswana Ginger BeerGaborone, Botswana · medium · 1 dayA punchy homemade ginger beer, naturally fizzy and lemony, brewed for weddings and holidays across Botswana.
Botswana Ginger Beer AloudaPort Louis, Mauritius · easy · 25 minA cold, milky Mauritian drink thick with basil seeds and jelly, scented with vanilla, the sweet cooler of Port Louis market stalls.
Alouda Tangawisi (Congolese Ginger Tonic)Kinshasa, DR Congo · easy · 15 minA fierce ginger tonic from the Congo, a great quantity of ginger crushed and steeped strong, sweetened and taken in small daily doses as a Bakongo home remedy.
Tangawisi (Congolese Ginger Tonic) Shahi bil Ful (Libyan Tea)Tripoli, Libya · medium · 25 minThick, dark Libyan tea boiled to a foam and served in small glasses topped with roasted peanuts, strong, sweet, and steeped in ritual.
Shahi bil Ful (Libyan Tea) Shaah SomaliMogadishu, Somalia · easy · 17 minSomali spiced tea perfumed with cardamom, cinnamon, and clove, boiled dark and sweet, the endlessly hospitable cup of the Horn of Africa.
Shaah Somali Jabana (Sudanese Spiced Coffee)Khartoum, Sudan · medium · 25 minFreshly roasted coffee ground with spices and brewed in a clay jabana pot, poured tall and sweet, the heart of Sudanese hospitality.
Jabana (Sudanese Spiced Coffee) DèguèBamako, Mali · medium · 35 minSweet millet couscous pearls suspended in cool spiced yogurt, a Malian drink-dessert eaten with a spoon, popular for celebrations.
Dèguè MunkoyoLusaka, Zambia · medium · 3 daysA lightly fermented, faintly sweet maize drink made with munkoyo roots, Zambia's traditional thirst-quencher, gently alcoholic after its days-long ferment.
Munkoyo PoncheSantiago (Praia), Cape Verde · easy · 1 h 5 minCape Verde's island punch of grogue (sugarcane rum), molasses, and lime, thick, sweet, and warming, sipped slowly after dinner.
Ponche Shahi EritreaAsmara, Eritrea · easy · 17 minEritrean spiced tea steeped with cloves, cinnamon, and ginger and sweetened generously, a fragrant cup with an Italian-era accent.
Shahi Eritrea TchoukoutouCotonou, Benin · advanced · 1 dayA cloudy, tangy sorghum beer brewed and shared from calabashes in Benin, earthy, lightly sour, and deeply communal.
Tchoukoutou Salone Ginger BeerFreetown, Sierra Leone · easy · 1 h 15 minAn intense, throat-warming fresh ginger beer sweetened and laced with lime, Sierra Leone's bold, no-compromise cooler.
Salone Ginger Beer Shaah bil CaanoDjibouti City, Djibouti · easy · 17 minDjibouti's milky spiced tea, simmered with cardamom and cinnamon in plenty of milk and sugar, sweet, creamy comfort in the heat.
Shaah bil Caano Café Épicé (Comorian Spiced Coffee)Moroni, Comoros · easy · 17 minStrong Comorian coffee simmered with cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves, sweetened and served in small cups, the fragrant everyday brew of the Perfume Islands.
Café Épicé (Comorian Spiced Coffee) Zoom KoomOuagadougou, Burkina Faso · easy · 25 minA chilled, spiced millet cooler, strained silky-smooth and brightened with ginger, tamarind, and pineapple, Burkina Faso's traditional drink of welcome.
Zoom Koom UrwarwaBujumbura, Burundi · advanced · 1 dayBurundi's traditional banana beer, brewed from ripe bananas and sorghum into a tart, cloudy drink central to ceremony and welcome.
Urwarwa Jus de TamarinBangui, Central African Republic · easy · 20 minA sweet-and-sour tamarind drink steeped from the pods, strained, and chilled, a tangy Central African refresher.
Jus de Tamarin Bili-BiliN'Djamena, Chad · advanced · 1.5 daysA Chadian grain beer of blended millet and sorghum, soured then fermented into a thick, cloudy, tangy brew ladled warm from calabashes at the cabaret.
Bili-Bili MalambaMalabo, Equatorial Guinea · medium · 1 dayEquatorial Guinea's fermented sugarcane wine: fresh cane juice left to ferment into a sweet, tangy, gently alcoholic cooler.
Malamba Bouye (Baobab Smoothie)Banjul, The Gambia · easy · 20 minA creamy Gambian baobab-fruit drink blended with milk, vanilla, and sugar into a smooth, tangy, nutrient-rich shake.
Bouye (Baobab Smoothie) Kinkeliba TeaConakry, Guinea · easy · 17 minAn amber West African bush tea steeped from kinkeliba leaves, earthy and lightly sweet, the everyday "tea of health" in Guinea.
Kinkeliba Tea Leting la MabeleMaseru, Lesotho · easy · 1 dayA thin, lightly soured sorghum drink from Lesotho, non-alcoholic and gently tangy, everyday nourishment in the mountain kingdom.
Leting la Mabele Liberian Lemongrass TeaMonrovia, Liberia · easy · 20 minFragrant lemongrass ("fever grass") simmered with ginger and sweetened, Liberia's soothing, citrusy everyday tea.
Liberian Lemongrass Tea ThobwaLilongwe, Malawi · easy · 2 h 30 minA thick, sweet Malawian drink of cooked maize soured with millet malt, creamy, lightly tangy, and served warm or cold.
Thobwa OshikunduWindhoek, Namibia · easy · 4 h 25 minA tangy, nourishing fermented drink of pearl millet and sorghum malt, the everyday brew of northern Namibia's Owambo people.
Oshikundu Kunun Aya (Tiger Nut Milk)Niamey, Niger · easy · 12 h 23 minA creamy, naturally sweet tiger nut milk blended with dates and ginger, a nourishing Hausa drink popular across Niger.
Kunun Aya (Tiger Nut Milk) Chocolate Quente de São ToméSão Tomé, São Tomé and Príncipe · easy · 17 minRich hot chocolate made from São Tomé's prized cocoa, simmered with milk, cinnamon, and sugar into a velvety island cup.
Chocolate Quente de São Tomé Aradaib (Tamarind Drink)Juba, South Sudan · easy · 20 minA dark, sweet-and-sour tamarind drink soaked from pressed cakes and chilled, a Ramadan and everyday favorite along the Nile.
Aradaib (Tamarind Drink) ZrigNouakchott, Mauritania · easy · 10 minA refreshing Saharan drink of soured milk whisked with sugar and cut with water, offered to guests and to break the fast.
Zrig Folere (Cameroonian Hibiscus Drink)Littoral (Douala), Cameroon · easy · 4 h 35 minDeep red hibiscus boiled with pineapple peel, ginger and a little spice, cooled, strained twice and sweetened, the chilled drink street sellers cry through Cameroonian markets.
Folere (Cameroonian Hibiscus Drink) Icyayi (Rwandan African Tea)Kigali, Rwanda · easy · 13 minBlack tea boiled straight in milk with sugar and crushed fresh ginger, rich, sweet and warming, the "African tea" of Rwandan homes and cafés.
Icyayi (Rwandan African Tea)← Browse all collections