Poncha

Poncha

Cocktail
Poncha
Type	Cocktail
Served	On the rocks; poured over ice
Standard garnish	sugar cane, lime(ingredient)
Standard drinkware	Old Fashioned glass
Commonly used ingredients	5 cl aguardente de cana Honey Lemon juice 2 teaspoons sugar Orange juice
Preparation	Place lemon rind and sugar into old fashioned glass and muddle (mash the two ingredients together using a 'mexelote' or a wooden spoon). Fill the glass with ice and add the aguardente de cana and lemon juice.
Notes	A wide variety of fresh fruits can be used in place of lime.

Poncha is a traditional alcoholic drink from the island of Madeira, made with aguardente de cana (distilled alcohol made from sugar cane juice), honey, sugar, orange/lemon juice and with different fruit juices according to the version of poncha, but traditionally lemon juice is used.

It is mixed together with a mixing tool created in Madeira officially called a mexelote but more commonly known as a caralhinho (little cock), which is in fact a type of muddler. Caipirinha is based on poncha.^[1]

It is said in Madeira that poncha cures the common cold and people are encouraged to drink it if they have cold-like symptoms.

History

The drink may be based on an Indian drink called pãnch/panch. In Hindi pãnch/panch means five and the drink was originally made with five ingredients: alcohol, sugar, lemon, water, and tea or spices. This is also where the English drink punch originated from.

References