What would a good meal be without the perfect drink to wash it down? Luanda has its own variety of drinks including fresh juices, unique sodas, delicious mixed drinks, green wine, and refreshing beers. Adam and I love fruit juice, which is why it is always at the top of our grocery list. In the States, we often enjoy a nice big glass of OJ. But in Luanda, we are treated to passion fruit (my personal favorite), guava, mango, and of course Adam’s favorite juice, Tuitti Fruitti. There are two aisles at the grocery dedicated to promoting Luanda’s freshest and most delicious juices to date.
The sodas are also very different from the ones in the States, but in a good way. I live for Diet Coke and the occasional Coca Cola, so you can imagine the relief I felt when I found Coca Cola products on the grocery store shelves during our first outing. But Coca Cola and the Coca Cola Light weren’t the only things catching my eye as I perused the grocery store aisles. The array of soda brands that I was unfamiliar with was overwhelming. I decided that this was the perfect opportunity to expand my already bad habit of drinking too much soda to include artificial drinks from other countries. I have since found a new favorite soda. Goodbye Coca Cola Light, hello Guarana Antarctica! It is a Brazilian drink with a cherry twist.
Guarana Antarctica isn’t the only Brazilian drink that I have grown to love. I also enjoy a delicious caipirinha from time to time. The drink contains:
· Sugar
· Lime
· Sugar
· Cachaca
· Sugar
Yes, it is a very sweet drink and my straw occasionally gets clogged with sugar, but it is delicious nonetheless. And despite the overwhelming amount of sugar in the drink, cachaca is actually the key ingredient. It is a Brazilian spirit made from fermented sugar cane. De-licious!
Another exceptional drink that I have been introduced to is Vinho Verde. It is literally translated as “green wine” but actually means “young wine.” The name is slightly deceiving, though. Most people would expect to find that the wine is the color green, just as red wine is red. But instead, green wine isn’t green at all. Just like Luanda, it has many faces. It can be red, white, or even rose. It is a very light wine with a crisp taste, perfect for those long, hot days in Luanda. Despite it's chameleon-like quality, it has a few other very unique characteristics as well. Unlike most other wines that mature with age, it is best when consumed within a year of being bottled. Green wine also has a lower alcohol content than most other wines.
And if wine doesn’t tickle your fancy, Luanda has a wide selection of beers that just may do the trick. I thought that I would miss the nice cold, refreshing taste of a good ol’ American beer on a hot day but have come to realize that I don’t even give American beers a second thought while I am here. Just like the soda selection, a wide variety of local and imported beers exist in Luanda. My favorite beer is Cuca, which is locally made. In fact, the deliciousness in a bottle is brewed just down the street from our place. Cuca is a lager beer with just the slightest hint of lemon, a perfect combination.
Luanda has a wide variety of beverages. Whether I am in the mood for fresh juice by the pool or a beer by the ocean, I think it is safe to say that I will never go thirsty.
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