Canchánchara
Honey, lime and aguardiente.
Cuban aguardiente, honey, lime and water over cracked ice: a rustic, bare-bones drink often served in clay cups. Sweet and tart, it is seen as a distant relative of the Daiquiri.
- IBA · New Era
- Long drink
- Built
- Glass
- Rocks glass
- Method
- Built
- Strength
- Medium
- Time
- 3 min
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Ice
- Crushed
Ingredients
Measures for 1 serving
-
Honey
15 ml
-
Water
50 ml
-
Lime juice
15 ml
-
Cuban aguardiente
60 ml
Garnish
- Lime wedge
Proportions
How to make
- Pour the honey into the glass.
- Add the water.
- Add the lime juice.
- Mix and spread the mixture over the bottom and sides of the glass.
- Add cracked ice.
- Pour the aguardiente.
- Stir energetically from bottom to top.
- Garnish with a lime wedge.
The story
Origins
LegendA story passed down, not confirmed by the sources.
The Canchánchara is tied to the town of Trinidad, Cuba, and the nearby Valle de los Ingenios. The most popular story, promoted by local tourism, credits its invention to the mambises, the guerrilla fighters of the independence wars against Spain (1868-1878 and 1895-1898), or traces it to enslaved workers on the sugar plantations. The evidence is thin, though: according to some research, fighters' diaries often mention canchánchara, but without alcohol, as a makeshift hot drink, and a late nineteenth-century article describes it as lime, honey and hot water. In Trinidad, Taberna La Canchánchara has served it as a house speciality since 1994.
Sources (4)
Taste profile
- Sweet
- 3 out of 5
- Citrus
- 3 out of 5
- Sour
- 3 out of 5
- Strong
- 2 out of 5
