Sweet Memories of Sweet Beverages from India

“We do not remember days, we remember moments”

Captured below are refreshing moments of simple joy as I enjoyed the many natural beverages in India to keep myself cool and refreshed during the hot summer days!

Sugarcane Juice

On a recent travel on the Delhi–Meerut Expressway, India, I passed through vast stretches of sugarcane fields. It was close to the end of harvest season for this seasonal crop. The slow moving tractors loaded with heaps of harvested sugarcane sticking out on all directions was fascinating!

Sugarcane Fields
Tractor loaded with Sugarcane
Slow moving Tractor heavily loaded
Loading along the Highway
Flurry of Actibvities
Busy Laborers

The state of Uttar Pradesh in India is one of the largest producer of sugarcane and I was at the heart of the Uttar Pradesh sugarcane district (Meerut). I spotted a guy churning out fresh juice on a sugarcane juice maker right next to the fields. I was tempted to try some and wondered if I will be able to grab some during this trip?

Few days later, many miles south of Delhi, at the heart of Bangalore city, I was thrilled to see freshly pressed sugarcane juice available from a more modern sugarcane juice machine! A menu with a modern twist! I was ecstatic and ordered a bottle of fresh sugarcane juice with a squeeze of lemon! It was ages since I had fresh sugarcane juice. I had almost forgotten the taste. So refreshing!!

If you ever go to India, don’t miss the fun of having sugarcane juice, be it at the fields, roadside or at a fancy mall with a fancy menu! The taste will be the same and I guarantee you will love this sweet sugary beverage!

Coconut water

During summer time in India, nothing can be as refreshing as coconut water! Vendors selling coconut water on the roadside is a common sight. This is a must for me whenever I am in India. I particularly love the coconut meat or “coconut malai” as commonly known in India.

I order one coconut which also has the “malai” in it. The vendor nods his head and with casual confidence he chooses a perfect one for me from the pile and uses precision strokes of a sickle to cut it open. He sticks a straw into it and it’s ready to be served. So fresh and invigorating!!!

Next, I return the empty coconut once again so he can open it up to reveal the inside. The soft, white and creamy layer of flesh inside the unripe coconut is known as coconut meat or “malai”. He cuts a piece of the outer green part of the coconut to be used a scraper to scrape out the meat. This cool stuff tasted heavenly as I scraped it out slowly and ate it standing under the shades of a Gulmohar tree. No ice-cream can beat this during the hot and humid summer days of India! A must try for all!