Egyptian Drinks: Karkade, Sahlab, Sugar Cane Juice and More to Try

What is karkade, and where should you try it?

Karkade is a deep crimson drink made by steeping dried hibiscus flowers, drunk hot in winter and ice-cold in summer, and it is the traditional welcome drink in Aswan and Nubia. It tastes tart and fruity, rather like cranberry, and is usually sweetened generously.

Much of Egypt's hibiscus comes from Upper Egypt and the Aswan region, and the spice stalls of Aswan's souq sell the dried calyces in sacks, graded by size and colour. On a Nile cruise or a dahabiya, a glass of cold karkade is often what you are handed when you step on board, and a Nubian village visit nearly always includes a glass with your hosts.

Karkade is also served at weddings and celebrations, partly because of its colour. If you want it less sweet, ask for sukkar khafif (light sugar). Home cooks make it by soaking the flowers in cold water overnight for the iced version, or simmering briefly for the hot one; boiling too long makes it bitter.

What is sahlab?

Sahlab is a thick, sweet, hot milk drink, closer to a pourable pudding, topped with coconut, chopped nuts, raisins and cinnamon, and it is Egypt's favourite winter warmer. Cafés and ahwas start serving it when nights cool down, roughly from November to February.

The name comes from the powdered tuber of certain orchids, which was traditionally used to thicken the milk. Real orchid flour is now scarce and expensive, so almost all sahlab you will drink is thickened with cornflour or a commercial sahlab mix, flavoured with vanilla, rosewater or mastic. It is filling enough to replace dessert.

Try it in the evening at a café around Al-Hussein or in Downtown Cairo on a cool night, or in a desert camp in the White Desert, where winter nights can drop close to freezing. Because it is made with milk, it is not vegan; ask about versions made with water if you need to.

How do you order sugar cane juice and fresh juice?

Sugar cane juice (asab) is pressed to order from whole canes at juice bars across Egypt, costs small change, and is best drunk within minutes, before it oxidises and darkens. You will recognise an asab shop by the bundles of green cane stacked in the doorway and the loud steel rollers of the press.

Juice bars (mahal asir) are a standing-room affair. You pay at the cashier, take a ticket, and hand it to the juice maker, who serves it in a glass you drink at the counter and return, or in a plastic cup to take away. Glass sizes are usually small, medium and large; a small is plenty to start with, because asab is naturally very sweet.

The rest of the menu follows the seasons:

• Summer: mango (Egyptian mangoes are excellent from about July to October), watermelon, lemon with mint (limon bel nana).
• Autumn and winter: guava, oranges, strawberries, pomegranate.
• Year-round: banana with milk, and "cocktail", a layered glass of several fruit purees, sometimes topped with cream.

Cairo's juice bars stay open late, and a sugar cane after a long day of sightseeing is one of the cheapest pleasures of the trip. If you have a sensitive stomach, ask for no ice (min gheir talg); our drinking water guide explains why.

Tamarind, liquorice and the drinks of Ramadan

Ramadan has its own drinks: tamr hindi (tamarind), erk sous (liquorice root), sobia (a creamy coconut and rice drink), qamar el-din (apricot) and khoshaf (dried fruit soaked in syrup) are on almost every iftar table. Several are sold year-round, but they are everywhere during the holy month.

• Tamr hindi: sweet-sour tamarind concentrate diluted with cold water. Refreshing and very Egyptian.
• Erk sous: a dark, slightly bitter liquorice drink. Traditional sellers carry it in a large brass or glass urn on their backs and announce themselves by clacking metal cups together, a sight that survives in Ramadan and in older neighbourhoods.
• Sobia: white, milky and sweet, made from rice, coconut and milk or water, served very cold.
• Qamar el-din: sheets of dried apricot paste dissolved in water into a thick orange nectar, used to break the fast.
• Khoshaf: dried apricots, prunes, raisins, figs and nuts soaked in sweetened water, eaten with a spoon.

Even if you are not fasting, an iftar with these drinks is one of the best food experiences of a Ramadan trip. Our guide to travelling Egypt during Ramadan explains the etiquette.

Which hot drinks besides tea and coffee should you try?

Ahwas and homes serve a range of herbal drinks, the most common being yansoon (aniseed), helba (fenugreek), irfa (cinnamon) and hot karkade, often recommended by Egyptians as remedies for colds and sore stomachs.

Yansoon is mild and soothing and is a good choice late at night. Helba has a strong maple-like smell and is often given to nursing mothers. Irfa is made from cinnamon bark simmered with sugar and sometimes milk and nuts. Mint tea (shai bel nana) and the herb teas of the Sinai Bedouin belong to the tea family, so we cover them, with the rituals of black tea and Turkish-style coffee, in our tea and coffee guide.

What soft drinks and non-alcoholic options are there?

All the international soft drink brands are sold everywhere, alongside local malt drinks and non-alcoholic beers, which are popular because most Egyptians do not drink alcohol. Birell, a non-alcoholic beer brewed in Egypt, and fruit-flavoured malt drinks are on many restaurant menus, including places that do not serve alcohol.

Many excellent Egyptian restaurants, cafés and juice bars serve no alcohol at all, so you will often be choosing between juice, soft drinks and tea with dinner. Where alcohol is available, local Stella beer and Egyptian wines are the usual choice; our alcohol in Egypt guide covers where and when.

Ayran-style salty yoghurt drinks are less common than in Turkey or the Levant, but you will find laban rayeb (cultured milk) and bottled drinking yoghurt in supermarkets.

Are drinks from juice bars and street sellers safe?

Hot drinks are safe anywhere, sealed bottles and cans are safe, and juice from a busy, clean juice bar is usually fine for most travellers; the risks come from ice and from glasses rinsed in tap water.

On your first few days, have juices at your hotel, on your cruise or on a guided Cairo food tour, then branch out once your stomach has settled. Sugar cane is pressed from the whole cane in front of you, which is reassuring, but the rollers and glasses are only as clean as the shop. Erk sous and tamarind from roving sellers are made with local water, so leave them if you are cautious. For the full rules, see our guide to avoiding stomach upsets.