The Naya Recipe Book: Refreshing Summer Drinks
The Naya Recipe Book:
Refreshing Summer Drinks
Words by Dana Ter
Image by Brooke Lark
Whether you’re out scaling mountains or working hard on your tan on a yacht sailing along a vast blue ocean, we hope you’re having a blissful summer. It’s the season for pool parties and long walks in the countryside, but it’s about slowing down and spending time with family and friends. We bond over our shared travel experiences, laughter, food – and also drinks. And what better way to top off the summer than with an ice cold drink?
No matter where you are – at home, on an escapade or a cozy getaway – we’ve sourced these refreshing drinks for summer recipes from some of our favorite destinations around the world. At Naya, we bring more than just memories home with us from our travels and imbue memorable aspects of our travels in our everyday lives. These drinks are simple to throw together and we hope they bring the whiff of summer travel bliss they bring us.
The Aam Panna, for instance, conjures sweltering Indian summers in fields swathed in mango trees. The chicha morada brings us back to remote villages tucked away in the Andean highlands of Peru. While mazagran – iced coffee with lemon and cheeky dash of rum – transports us to a chic, colorful-tiled Lisbon café perched on a steep hill.
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Go on – bring out the chopping boards and measuring spoons – it’s time to impress your friends and family with some of these amazing summer beverages!
Images by: Olena Sergienko, Elif Tekkaya, Arwin Neil Baichoo and Kevin Canlas
India
Aam Panna
India is a land of mangoes and all sorts of meals, from curries to desserts, are concocted from the sweet fruit. One of the most popular mango drinks is also one of the most refreshing drinks for summer at home. Made with unripe mangoes and spices and chilled with ice cubes then garnished with mint leaves, aam panna is a delightfully tangy drink. Aam is the Hindi word for mango and the drink is heralded for its cooling properties and combatting heatstroke in the sweltering Indian summer. It’s easy to prepare, requiring only five ingredients: mangoes, mint leaves, white sugar, black salt and roasted cumin powder.
Images by Jyoti Singh and Kaysha
Ingredients
2-3 unripe green mangoes
fresh mint leaves
1 tsp granulated white sugar
1 tsp black salt
1 tsp roasted cumin powder
Instructions
1. Choose unripe mangoes, green or yellow. Rinse mangoes in water.
2. Place the mango in a pressure cooker and cook for 2-3 whistles on medium heat for 10 minutes.
3. Remove the lid when the pressure settles. Wait for the mango pulp to cool. Peel the skins off – they should come off easily and the mangoes should be soft.
4. Prepare syrup. Add a touch of white sugar, 1 teaspoon of black salt and 1 teaspoon of roasted cumin powder into a blender. Place the mango pulp in the blender.
5. Blend to a puree. Add water if necessary.
6. Stir well. Sprinkle roast cumin powder and add mint leaf for garnishing.
Image by Bernard Hermant
Middle East
Tahn
The yogurt drink found in Armenia and other parts of the Middle East is one of the easy refreshing drinks for summer to make. Similar to Turkish ayran and Indian lassi, the savory tahn blends plain yogurt (matzoon) with salt and chilled water and is topped with parsley springs and cucumber for garnishing. Traditionally, it’s served in a ceramic mug to retain its cool.
Image by Mario Raj
Ingredients
½ cup plain yogurt
¼ cup water
A pinch of salt
Mint or parsley sprigs (optional)
Cucumber spear (optional)
Instructions
1. Pour plain yogurt (homemade or store-bought) into a tall glass and add chilled water. Stir accordingly. Add a pinch of salt if desired.
2. Add ice cubes. Garnish with parsley springs or mint, or a cucumber spear.
Image by Charles Deluvio
Mexico
Agua de Jamaica
Agua de Jamaica (literally, Jamaican water) or iced hibiscus tea comes from the tropical island of Jamaica, though today, it’s synonymous with Mexican taquerias. Also called agua fresca de Jamaica, the tart dark purple-red concoction is usually paired with spicy tacos and taken as a mid-day meal all over Mexico. Regardless of its origins, it is one of the best refreshing drinks for summer.
Image by Katherine Sousa
Ingredients
1 cup dried hibiscus petals
2 cups water
1 cup granulated sugar
Ice
Mint leaf (optional)
Lime slice (optional)
Instructions
1. Add 4 cups of water and 1 cup of granulated sugar in a small pot on a stove. Optional: add cinnamon and ginger slices. Heat until the sugar has dissolved.
2. Remove pot from heat. Add 1/2 to 1 cup (depending on your preferred sweetness level) of dried hibiscus flowers and stir.
3. Strain into a pitcher and remove the hibiscus petals, cinnamon and/or ginger slices.
4. Chill the drink, then add ice cubes
5. Serve with mint leaf or a slice of lime or orange for garnishing.
Image by Alexander Schimmeck
Peru
Chicha Morada
Corn is a staple of Peruvian cuisine – it can be roasted or grilled, ground into a sauce or made into corn cake. It’s so tasty that it’s even found in one of Peru’s most iconic drinks! Made with purple corn, a power food rich with antioxidants, and mixed with fruits and spices, chicha morada can be traced back to ancient times. It was first made by the Incans in the Andean highlands, who consumed the maize beverage while dancing and singing after a day’s work of harvesting and used for ceremonial purposes as well. Today, chicha morada is served in restaurants all over Peru.
Image by Janaya Dasiuk
Instructions
1. Wash the dried purple corn. Cut and peel the pineapple and apples.
2. Place the corn and fruits in a large cooking pot, add cinnamon sticks, whole cloves and water.
3. Boil for 1 hour or until the water turns dark purple. Strain and remove the corn, fruits and spices. Add sugar to the juice and stir.
4. Refrigerate until cold. Add lemon juice.
5. Add cut pieces of pineapple, apple and peaches. Serve over ice with sliced lime for garnishing.
Ingredients
2 lbs dried purple corn
1 ripe pineapple
2 apples
2 peaches
8 whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
1 gallon water
5 juiced limes
1 cup sugar
Image by Eduardo Gorghetto
Vietnam
Vietnamese Iced Coffee
A coffee-drinking nation since the French introduced Arabica trees to northern Vietnam in the mid-19th century, today Vietnam’s most famous hot weather beverage is its iced coffee. Vietnamese iced coffee is famous for being very sweet but even if you don’t have a sweet tooth, this is an enticing beverage. What gives the coffee its rich and nuanced flavor is the process of pouring it through the phin, or a traditional Vietnamese metal drip filter, a cross of a French press and pour over. If you love sweet things, add condensed milk for extra creaminess!
Images by Pariwat Pannium and Pham Cuong
Ingredients
2 tblspn dark-roast ground coffee
1 tblspn condensed milk
Instructions
1. Set aside medium coarse ground coffee, for example, Trung Nguyen Premium Blend, and a metal drip filter.
2. Add 2 tablespoons of ground coffee powder to the base. Wet the surface of the coffee powder with some hot water.
3. Screw on the press. The coffee should be packed to the top.
4. Pour boiling water on the press.
5. Cover the press with the lid.
6. Wait for the coffee to finish dripping. This brewing process takes 5 minutes.
7. Fill up a tall glass with ice.
8. Stir the coffee well and add condensed milk if desired. Pour in the glass.
Image by Victor Serban
Portugal
Mazagran
One of the most refreshing alcoholic drinks for summer is mazagran. Known today as Portuguese iced coffee, this sweet coffee and lemon drink – sometimes spiked with rum – was first invented in Algeria. The name comes from a fortress that was pivotal in one of Algeria’s many battles with the French. During this time, the French started consuming the beverage and brought it back to Europe where it found popularity in Portugal. The coffee, lemon and rum might seem an unusual combination but blends surprisingly well making it cooling and punchy. Indeed, it’s one of the great refreshing rum drinks for summer!
Images by Charlotte May
Instructions
1. Brew hot coffee, preferably a darker roast, using your preferred method.
2. Once brewed, add 1 teaspoon of honey for sweetness and mix. Let it cool.
3. Squeeze 2 tablespoons of lemon juice into a bowl.
4. Fill up a tall glass with ice. Pour coffee and honey and lemon juice into the glass. Add rum if desired.
5. Add a lemon slice as garnish and serve!
Ingredients
1 cup of black coffee
2 tblspn Freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tspn honey
Lemon wedge (optional)
1 tblspn rum (optional)
