glossary of bebidas

by no means complete, accurate, or unbiased, this is a bullet-point love letter to all things para tomar*. never again will I choose water to accompany a meal with the same apathy I did before coming to Guatemala.

*specific chelas do not make an appearance here because they deserve, and will receive, their own post.

- Atoles: de arroz con leche, de arroz con chocolate (!), de elote (!!!!! think drinkable corn pudding, sometimes they even put little kernels on top), de haba (flatbean), de avena (oatmeal), de corazon de trigo (wheat heart. whart), blanco (with salt and limon. hear it's by turns gross and good for hangovers). atol makes you feel like it's christmas and you're wearing ridiculous slippers and your grandma is spoonfeeding you something straight from a great canela-scented pot, and it's also murder to drink it when it's hot out because you start sudar-ing from your esophagus outwards, pero hay que sufrir un poco por las cosas buenas de la vida.

-Agua de platano: the murky water you get when you boil plantains to make platanos cocidos. it's fucking BUENO for your salud, as I am told every time it's plantain day for breakfast and the agua de platano gets passed around. a silky essence of platano, what a plantain whisky could be like.

-Chela: see the Fine Palates Chela Taste Test post, when it finally exists.

-Chilacayote, fresco de: buhhhhhHHHHHH squash juice. Like caramelized pumpkin in drink form. The seeds are the nutty/best part.

-Crema, fresco de: have only seen this at the pupusa place on la sexta, but it's an unnatural yellow-orange color and tastes like corn syrup and has the mouthfeel of a liquified creamsicle. A favorite of five year-olds, and me.

-Frutas, fresco de: melon, naranja, sandia, pina, papaya, ...fruit blended in water with some sugar. Maybe limon if you're buscando a specific toque. Alternatively can be made with cascaras (peels) of certain fruits by boiling them in water with sugar.

-Horchata: when it's not cripplingly sweet or made from horchata powder, v rico. not my favorite but a popular party drink. can't lie, didn't understand the horchata craze in spain (made from tiger nuts); also don't get it here (made from rice), but va.

-Jamaica, fresco de: made from dried rosehips. they turn water a deep winey color when boiled together. tastes sharp, leaves your breath vaguely floral. like drinking a fragrant jewel.

-Limonada: u already know. with the chia seeds it's damn good, and also just pretty.

-Michelada: tomato juice, Worcestershire sauce, limon. This also will not be elaborated on here because of the great and powerful love to end all loves that I harbor for this soup-beverage. Will be discussed in a separate post. Woe to the person who calls it a bloody mary with beer, it is so much more than that.

-Tamarindo, fresco de: pungent, brownish. even tempered with sugar so much sugar, still tart, bordering on sour. Causes a warheads-like need to keep consuming.