Thai Cocktails to keep things cool

As nature has it, some of the world’s hottest food and hottest weather is in Thailand. But nature always seeks balance, so Thailand has been blessed with plenty of natural ingredients that cool both the palate and the person. None is simpler than a fresh coconut one chop and the fragrant juice is ready to drink.

More elaborate are the creations from hotel bars and the bars who serve cocktails. Seasoning young coconut juice with ginger, and colors it lavender naturally using an cha flowers, adding rock sugar to bring out the flavors.

If coconut juice is the champagne of local iced drinks, then the Bordeaux is surely naam grachiab, steeped from the dried pods of Roselle flowers. Chock full of vitamins, the drink has a ruby red color and a taste like cranberry juice. Lemongrass juice has a citrus zing without the sourness, while fresh sugar-cane juice is a traditional favorite available from street vendors.

Thais prefer these drinks sweet to counteract the heat of spicy food. Happily, cane or palm sugar is used, not corn syrup. Fruit juices often get a pinch of salt, to cleanse the palate and restore the body’s electrolyte balance in hot weather. Now you know why everyone is smiling.