Spanish Steps - Fact file - Refreshing drinks

When in Spain and Latin America, the long hot days and equally hot evenings will make ordering drinks an absolute necessity. And if you want to avoid the ubiquitous tourist sangría, red wine and fruit punch, there are many less lethal alternatives that won't leave you with a headache the next morning.

Among the wide variety of soft drinks available, refrescos, one of the most interesting is la horchata de chufa. This Spanish brew originates from Valencia, and is made either from almonds or chufas, tiger nuts. Water, cream, sugar and lemon peel are then blended in with the nuts, giving the drink a smooth consistency and sweet taste. In Mexico la horchata is generally made with rice.

It's also worth trying los granizados, flavoured crushed ice drinks, as well as the many freshly squeezed juices served in bars and cafés. You can ask for un zumo de frutas, a fruit juice, or un jugo, also a juice, in several flavours: un zumo de naranja, orange, de manzana or de piña, apple or pineapple. If you'd like it freshly-squeezed, remember to add recién hecho.

In Latin America a popular drink is la yerba mate, or el mate, a tea brewed from the dried leaves of a native holly tree. In Argentina los gauchos, the cowboys of the high plains, reputedly drink mate throughout the day to maintain their strength. However you don't have to travel to the Andes to find it - the refreshing drink is available in most cafés and street corner bars. To complete the experience, el mate is traditionally drunk from a gourd and sipped through una bombilla, a metal straw.

Links

Yerba mate - in Spanish, with illustrations of different types of mates and bombillas

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