Local Drinks

1. Kape

   Coffee

   Usage

   kapé, from Spanish café, means the Coffea shrub and the drink from its beans. The Philippines is among the few countries growing liberica, arabica, excelsa and canephora. The strong bitter local brew is kapeng barako.

2. Tsokolate

   Tsokolate (thick hot chocolate made from tablea)

   Usage

   tsokoláte, from Spanish chocolate, is a drink made from tablea. tabliya is pure cacao in discs: roasted, ground, moulded and dried beans. Thicker and grittier than Western cocoa; traditional at Christmas breakfasts and in older households.

3. Salabat

   Salabat (ginger tea)

   Usage

   salabát is boiled-ginger drink, traditionally taken to soothe throat and voice, common at stalls in cool highlands and the rainy season. Caffeine-free. Differently stressed salábat, interruption or shortcut, is a separate word.

4. Tsaa

   Tea

   Usage

   tsa, a Chinese loan, means Camellia sinensis and the drink from its leaves. Everyday spelling is tsaa. Tea is not an everyday Philippine drink; stalls more often offer salabat or samalamig.

5. Buko

   Buko (young coconut, served as a drink)

   Usage

   búko means an unopened flower or something unripe. búko ng niyog is young coconut: open it, drink the water and spoon the soft flesh. Menus usually say buko juice or fresh buko. Mature coconut is niyog.

6. Samalamig

   Samalamig (street-vendor sweet cold drinks)

   Usage

   samalamig, also palamig, covers sweet chilled street drinks, often with jelly-like gulaman, sago, kaong, nata de coco or buko. The sign word at stalls with big clear jars of colourful drinks. Also includes chilled juices, chocolate and coffee.

7. Sago't gulaman

   Sago't gulaman (tapioca pearls and jelly in brown-sugar water)

   Usage

   The standard samalamig. sago is edible palm starch from Metroxylon sagus; gulaman is the seaweed Alga agardhiella and the jelly product made from it. Very sweet.

   Grammar Note

   Sago't contracts sago at ("sago and"). Reducing at to 't after a vowel-final word is ordinary written Filipino

8. Taho

   Taho (silken tofu with syrup and sago pearls)

   Usage

   tahó, a Chinese loan, is ground soybean boiled until jelly-like, usually mixed with arnibal and sago. arnibal is sugar cooked thick. Morning vendors call Tahooo! through the streets. Eaten from a cup with a spoon.

9. Katas ng kalamansi

   Calamansi juice

   Usage

   kalamansî is the thorny citrus Citrus microcarpa with round sour fruit; katás is liquid pressed from a plant or fruit. Served hot or cold; menus usually say calamansi juice. Also squeezed over grilled fish and pansit.

   Grammar Note

   Ng marks possession, so the order is "katas (juice) ng kalamansi (of calamansi)". It is pronounced /naŋ/

10. Malamig na inumin

    A cold drink

    Usage

    malamíg means producing coldness; inúmin is a thirst-quenching non-intoxicating liquid, also with an alcohol sense. Used as the Mainit, hot, versus Malamig, cold, stall or canteen heading, or to answer Mainit o malamig?, hot or cold?

    Grammar Note

    An adjective before a noun needs a linker. Words ending in a vowel or -n take the suffixed -ng (mura + ng = murang inumin); words ending in any other consonant take the free form na. Malamig ends in -g, hence na

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