Whether as warm-up tonics or coolants, each region of India has its own version of the ideal drink customised to local weather.
One just has to look at the individualised spin that we put on buttermilk – salted, sweetened, whipped with mango pulp or diluted and garnished with ginger and curry leaves – to realise that this is a passion that has been burning bright for aeons.
“Frankly, I feel very happy when we have a hot day,” says S. Kamaraj, whose family-run L.R. Sarbath Company in Goodshed Road, Tiruchi has been quenching the thirst of generations of customers with its ‘nannari’ syrup. “It means we’ll get more orders!” he laughs.
Made out of the extracts of Indian sarsaparilla ( Hemidesmus indicus ) roots, almost every southern Indian city has its own version of nannari syrup-based drinks (also called sharbat).
For Mr. Kamaraj, the production of the basic syrup is a seasonal business. “Demand is based on the Mariamman festival, which starts in February in Veerapur and ends by May in Karur. Nannari sharbat sells well in villages and temple fairs,” he says. “Once school starts, juice sales go down. They pick up again during Ramzan, when Muslims commonly drink nannari sharbat while breaking their fast,” he says.
The L.R. Sarbath Company was established by Mr. Kamaraj’s father P. Solamalai in 1956, in addition to a peanut-candy (‘kadala mittai’) unit, which sells under the P.S. brand.
The syrup is prepared by boiling pre-extracted nannari root essence with sugar and permitted colours through a carefully monitored process. Once cool, the syrup is sealed in plastic bottles manually.
The syrup cannot keep beyond two months, says Mr. Kamaraj, which is why each order has to be completed based on day-to-day demand. In the peak season, production can go up to 3,000 bottles of syrup a day.
The pressure of the packaged fruit juice industry (estimated to be worth Rs. 1,100 crores in India) and carbonated drinks, has been telling on producers of indigenous beverages like L.R. Sarbath, says Mr. Kamaraj. “When big companies start selling fizzy drinks at Rs. 10, it’s bound to affect local competitors. We used to sell at least 30 bottles at Rs. 10 each to the roadside sharbat vendors in Tiruchi’s markets up to the 1990s. Now these stalls have vanished, and the sodas have taken over,” he rues.
As we sip on a small glass of L.R. nannari sharbat made according to Mr. Kamaraj’s instructions – one measure of syrup to three measures of water with a dash of lime juice chilled with mini ice cubes – the heat of the day seems to become bearable almost immediately.
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Nachikurichi seems to be a long way to travel for a glass of juice, but M. Sridharan, proprietor and ‘mixologist’, Shake ‘N’ Stir is convinced customers will leave the bustle of the city behind to sample his innovative mix of nature drinks and mocktails.
With nearly 25 years of experience as a service official in top hotel chains in Chennai and Bangalore, Mr. Sridharan decided to shift gears and specialise in healthful non-alcoholic drinks after a six-year stint in Qatar.
“I try and use locally available ingredients as far as possible. For example, all my health drinks – spinach, broccoli, beetroot, celery and cucumber – are made with local produce. It’s the exotic fruits that are hard to source, but I’m confident it can be done,” says Mr. Sridharan, who underwent mocktail-training in Delhi before starting his venture in March.
The coconut mint cooler that we are invited to sample is a pleasant mix of varying tastes, neither tart nor tangy, but infinitely refreshing.
Among the items listed on his debut menu are ‘Mintal Melon’ (cucumber blended with broccoli, melon and mint), ‘Apple Beet Detox’ (a diet juice) and ‘Heavy Green’ (raw greens blended to order).
“I have avoided sweetening the mocktails with sugar, because they will lose their natural taste,” says Mr. Sridharan.
Gourmet syrups from France are used to create some of the more elaborate Shake ‘N’ Stir drinks.
Priced between Rs.50 to Rs.70, the mocktails are not available for takeaway right now, says Mr. Sridharan. “I’m trying to encourage hospitals to try our drinks, because of their nutritive value,” he says.
Summer cool drinks truly seem to be a ‘Make in India’ phenomenon.
