Traditional Drinks

🇧🇾Belarus

Saladukha

Саладуха

Rye flour mashed with malt and left to go sweet and slightly sour, then drunk thick — half beverage, half dessert, and a Lent standby.

🇲🇽Mexico

Sangrita

A savory-sweet chaser of tomato, orange, and chile, sipped with tequila.

🇸🇹Sao Tome and Principe

Santomean Coconut Water

Água de Coco

Fresh coconut water from young green coconuts; sweet, clear, and refreshing; served chilled in the shell; the natural drink of the tropics; sold at roadside stalls and beaches; the most refreshing drink in Sao Tome's equatorial heat; drunk straight from the coconut.

🇮🇩South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Saraba

Saraba is a South Sulawesi drink of ginger, palm sugar and coconut milk, often enriched with egg.

🇵🇦Panama

Saril (Sorrel Drink)

Saril

A Panamanian hibiscus (sorrel) drink with ginger, sugar, and cinnamon, a Christmas and festive classic

🇷🇺Russia

Sbiten

Сбитень

Sbiten is a hot Russian drink of honey, spices, and herbs, commonly served at winter markets.

🇮🇩Indonesia

Sekoteng

Warm ginger drink with peanuts, bread, and pacar cina jelly, a comforting evening drink.

🇳🇮Nicaragua

Semilla

A Nicaraguan drink from rice and jícaro seeds with milk and sugar, a daily and refreshing classic

🇪🇹Ethiopia

Shamita

ሻሚታ

A nourishing Ethiopian drink-meal of mixed roasted grain and legume flours blended with water and spices. Filling, energizing, and deeply traditional — somewhere between a beverage and a porridge.

🇸🇾Syria

Sharab al loz

شراب اللوز

Almonds are ground and strained into a cloudy, milky sherbet, sweetened and poured over ice during Syrian Ramadan.

🇸🇾Syria

Sharab el-toot (Syrian mulberry syrup)

شراب التوت

Mulberries are cooked into a dark syrup and diluted with water as a tart, cooling Syrian summer drink.

🇦🇿Azerbaijan

Sherbet

Şərbət

Cold infusion of fruit, rose petals, basil seed or mint sweetened lightly and drunk with plov and at weddings.

🇹🇷Turkey

Sira

Fermented grape must, a traditional digestif.

🇧🇦Bosnia and Herzegovina

Smreka

Smreka is a Bosnian juniper-berry cordial fermented from young juniper berries and water.

🇪🇬Egypt

Sobia

سوبيا

A chilled Egyptian drink of coconut, rice, milk and sugar, blended smooth and served especially at Ramadan tables and juice stalls.

🇮🇳Maharashtra, India

Sol Kadhi

सोल कढी

A pink, tangy drink from the Konkan coast made with kokum and coconut milk. It is cooling and digestive.

🇧🇴Bolivia

Somó

A Bolivian sweet corn drink with cinnamon and sugar

🇬🇾Guyana

Sorrel Drink

Guyanese sorrel drink steeps hibiscus calyces with ginger, clove and cinnamon, then is strained and sweetened.

🇨🇳China

Sour Plum Drink

酸梅汤

Smoked dark plums simmered with hawthorn, osmanthus and liquorice root, sweetened and served ice cold in summer.

🇨🇦Canada

Spruce Beer

Bière d'épinette

Beverage flavored with spruce buds, needles, or essence, can be alcoholic or non-alcoholic, colonial tradition.

🇪🇹Ethiopia

Suf Weha

ሱፍ ውኃ

A creamy, nutritious Ethiopian drink of ground safflower seeds steeped in water and sweetened lightly. Cooling, restorative and traditionally served on hot days.

🇰🇵North Korea

Sungyang Ju

숭양주

A traditional North Korean liquor made from acorns; listed in Wikipedia's North Korean cuisine as a regional alcoholic beverage; the acorns give a distinctive nutty, earthy flavor; a traditional drink that reflects the use of wild foraged ingredients in North Korean cuisine; consumed in rural areas.

🇲🇼Malawi

Super Maheu

A thick, lightly fermented maize drink sold as a Malawian refreshment.

🇲🇿Mozambique

Sura

Coconut palm sap tapped into a gourd and left to ferment through the day into a sour, cloudy palm wine.

🇰🇾Cayman Islands

Swanky

The official national drink of the Cayman Islands (gazetted in 2024); made with brown sugar and Seville orange (bitter orange) which has a distinctive bitter and sour taste; often made with brown sugar, water, and local limes instead; a traditional Caymanian drink embodying resourcefulness.

🇿🇲Zambia

Sweet Fermented Drink

Chibwantu

Traditional Zambian fermented drink; similar to munkoyo but sweeter; made from maize meal and fermented with roots; a refreshing beverage served at gatherings; sweet and slightly tangy; the celebration drink of rural Zambia; non-alcoholic or very low alcohol.

🇿🇲Zambia

Sweet Fermented Maize Drink

Thobwa

Traditional Zambian sweet fermented drink; made from maize meal; thick, sweet, and refreshing; popular in the eastern and northern provinces; served at markets and gatherings; similar to munkoyo but distinct; the thirst-quenching drink of Zambia's hot climate.

🇰🇷South Korea

Sweet Rice Drink

식혜

A traditional sweet rice beverage made by fermenting cooked rice with malt (yeotgi), served cold with floating rice grains, a dessert drink.

🇲🇽Chiapas, Mexico

Tascalate

A Chiapas drink of ground cacao, corn, and achiote, dissolved in milk or water and served cold.

🇰🇮Kiribati

Te Karewe

Fresh sweet sap collected from the unopened coconut flower spathe; drunk fresh or mixed with water or tea (tea-toddy); a nutritional anchor on atolls where soil cannot grow sufficient vitamins; rich in vitamin C; collected daily by toddy cutters who scale 30-meter palms barefoot with knives between their teeth; a fundamental part of I-Kiribati food culture.

🇲🇽Oaxaca, Mexico

Tejate

An Oaxacan cold drink of fermented maize, cacao, and mamey seed, served with a foam.

🇲🇽Jalisco, Mexico

Tejuino

A Jalisco drink of fermented corn masa, sweetened with piloncillo and served over ice with lime.

🇲🇽Mexico

Tepache

A lightly fermented pineapple drink, sweet, tangy, and faintly fizzy.

🇲🇼Malawi

Thobwa

Mthobwa

A mildly sour, non-alcoholic Malawian drink made from fermented white maize and millet or sorghum; milky and grainy, sold in recycled bottles in towns and clay pots in villages.

🇳🇮Nicaragua

Tiste

A Nicaraguan cacao-based drink with corn and water, served with quesillo, a daily and cultural classic

🇹🇴Tonga

Tongan 'Otai

'Otai

A chilled Polynesian fruit drink made in Tonga with grated watermelon or other fruit, shredded coconut, coconut water, and sometimes sugar.