Recipe
🥤 DRINK
Sharbat Loomi
A tangy, aromatic drink made from dried Gulf limes (loomi), steeped and sweetened, a Qatari Ramadan and everyday cooler.
Qatari · easy · serves 6
prep 10 min · cook 15 min
~112 cal · 0g protein · 30g carbs · 0g fat · 1g fiber · 26g sugars · 0g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Loomi, or black lime, is one of the defining flavours of Gulf cooking: whole limes boiled and then dried in the sun until they turn hard, dark, and intensely aromatic, with a tart, faintly smoky, almost character. Usually they season stews and rice, but in Qatar they also make a distinctive cold drink.
To make sharbat loomi, the dried limes are steeped and blended into an infusion and sweetened to taste, sometimes with a touch of mint or other aromatics. The result is tart and refreshing with that unmistakable smoky, musky depth the black lime gives, quite unlike an ordinary limeade.
It is served well chilled at the Ramadan table and through the long, punishing Doha summer, a grown-up, aromatic alternative to simpler fruit drinks. Sour, smoky, and deeply fragrant, sharbat loomi turns one of the Gulf's signature ingredients into a cooling drink.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian, vegan and gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
6 dried limes (loomi), pierced
8 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
a handful a few mint leaves
Instructions
1
Crack the dried limes open, shake out and discard the seeds, then simmer the pieces in the water for 15 to 30 minutes until it is fragrant and deep amber.
✎ Chef’s note
Get the seeds out. Left in, they turn the brew bitter over a long simmer, and this one wants a long simmer: a quarter of an hour is the minimum before the peel gives up much of anything.
2
Press the softened limes to release more flavour, then strain the liquid through cheesecloth or a coffee filter.
✎ Chef’s note
A sieve is not fine enough; dried lime breaks down into fine grit that will settle in the glass.
3
Stir in the sugar until dissolved and add the mint.
4
Chill thoroughly and serve cold over ice.
✎ Chef’s note
Honey in place of the sugar and a pinch of saffron crushed into the pot are both common. The same brew is drunk hot across Iraq and the Gulf, where it is chai noomi basra, named for the dried limes of Basra, and it is reached for as a settler after too much food as much as for the taste of it.
Qatari Ramadan tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Doha. Doha treasures harees, wheat and meat pounded together over hours into a smooth savoury porridge served through Ramadan. Qatari cooking shares the Gulf pantry of bezar spice, dried lime, saffron rice, and fish from the bay.
🗺️
Qatar. Qatari food centers on machboos and slow-cooked harees, reflecting Bedouin and Gulf-trade roots. Dates, dried lime, saffron, and lavish shared platters define a hospitable desert table.
🌍
Asia. Fermentation is the thread that runs the whole way across: soy sauce and miso, Korean doenjang and kimchi, Southeast Asian fish sauces, the soured batter behind an idli. Chilli is the newcomer among them, arriving only after 1500 with Portuguese and Spanish traders, which makes the heat in Sichuan, Thai and Korean cooking far younger than the fermenting underneath it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Qatar
HareesWheat berries and meat pounded together over long cooking into a smooth, comforting porridge.
KhanfarooshLittle saffron-and-cardamom cakes, crisp outside and soft within, fried and dusted with sugar.
MadroubaA soft, porridge-like rice and chicken dish beaten smooth with spices and dried lime, comforting Qatari Ramadan fare.
Browse all Qatar recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Keep chilled and covered, and enjoy within 2 to 3 days.
Make it a Qatar meal
Qatari MachboosDinner
Assidat al-BoubarDessert
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Drinks
Frequently asked questions
What is Sharbat Loomi?
A tangy, aromatic drink made from dried Gulf limes (loomi), steeped and sweetened, a Qatari Ramadan and everyday cooler.
Where does Sharbat Loomi come from?
Sharbat Loomi is a Qatari dish from Doha, Qatar.
Can Sharbat Loomi be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Sharbat Loomi recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Sharbat Loomi safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Sharbat Loomi take to make?
About 25 minutes total (10 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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