Local Drinks

1. Çay

   Tea

   Usage

   An Azerbaijani table is unthinkable without çay, while coffee is drunk far less. It comes in an armudu stəkan, the pear-shaped glass, with sweets, dried fruit and nuts (çərəz) and lemon, which counts as a mark of respect to the guest. Azerbaijan tea culture was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2022. Note that an identically spelled çay also means river (a different word); a place name ending in -çay is a river

2. Armudu stəkan

   Armudu stəkan (the pear-shaped tea glass)

   Usage

   This is the vessel, not the drink. The waisted shape lets the tea cool from the surface down, keeping the bottom hotter, and the volume itself is sized to one sensible serving

   Grammar Note

   armudu is an adjective built on armud (pear), meaning pear-like, pear-shaped

3. Qəhvə

   Coffee

   Usage

   This word covers both the beans and the drink made from them. Long contact with the Arab world brought qəhvə, though it is drunk much less than tea. The derived qəhvəaltı is not coffee time but breakfast or a light meal

4. Ayran

   Ayran (salted yoghurt drink)

   Usage

   It is qatıq with the butter taken out and water stirred in, with yoghurt, water and salt as the base and herbs such as mint to taste. It is savoury, not sweet, so do not expect a sweetened milk drink. It is also the base of dovğa

5. Şərbət

   Şərbət (sweet fruit-and-sugar drink)

   Usage

   A sweet drink made by adding sugar to fruit juice or plain water, i.e. a syrup. Lunch and dinner are rounded off with şərbət or with sweets. Iced versions were a standard offering to guests

   Grammar Note

   şərbət goes back to the same Arabic root as şərab (wine). The spellings are close, but şərbət contains no alcohol

6. İskəncəbi

   İskəncəbi (sweet-and-vinegar cooler)

   Usage

   A şərbət made by mixing something sweet with vinegar; the iced kind was a favourite with guests. A bowl of ayran or a cup of iskəncəbi is taken after the fatty plov. The spelling is iskəncəbi; the variant isgəncəbi is not the standard spelling

7. Ovşala

   Ovşala (chilled fruit-and-sugar drink)

   Usage

   A cooling drink of water, sugar and vinegar or citric acid, a kind of şərbət. It is boiled from cherry-plum, cornelian cherry, sour cherry or quince juice with sugar, then cooled and cleared before serving, often with gülab (rose water). It is one of the drinks that grace a festive table

8. Xoşab

   Xoşab (fruit stewed in sugar water)

   Usage

   A fruit şərbət boiled with water and sugar, the same thing as kompot. Example: Qonaq üçün xoşab hazırlamaq, to prepare xoşab for a guest. It is often made from dried fruit. The word is of Persian origin

9. Kompot

   Kompot (sweet stewed-fruit drink)

   Usage

   Fresh or dried fruit boiled in water with sugar, the same thing as xoşab. Examples: Qaysı kompotu (apricot kompot) and Bir stəkan kompot (a glass of kompot). It is the same thing as xoşab, but this is the word you will more often see on canteen boards and carton labels

10. Doşab

    Doşab (reduced fruit molasses)

    Usage

    The thick sweet substance obtained by boiling down the juice of grapes, mulberries, figs and other fruit, the same thing as bəkməz. Example: Tut doşabı (mulberry doşab). It is a sweetener rather than a drink: it goes into drinks and sweets and into riçal and sucuq (bastıx), and it is also an ingredient of halva

11. Nar şirəsi

    Pomegranate juice

    Usage

    One sense of şirə is fruit juice, used as in Üzüm şirəsi, grape juice. Pomegranate grows widely here and is cultivated across the Caucasus. Do not confuse it with Narşərab, the reduced sauce: this one is juice to drink

12. Mədən suyu

    Mineral water

    Usage

    mədən means mine or mineral, used as in Mədən suları, mineral waters. Domestic mineral waters are served at table both as a cooler and as a therapeutic water. Shops and labels often write mineral su instead; either will be understood

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