Agua fresca

"Agua fresca" redirects here. For the Native American tribe known as the Agua Fresca, see Utina.

Two large jars of aguas frescas in a Mexican taqueria in Seattle, Washington, USA. On the left is a jar of Agua de Flor de Jamaica, and on the right is a jar of horchata. Restaurant employees serve the drinks by ladling them from the jars into glasses.

Ades, punches, fruit drinks and other non-alcoholic flavored coolers, known as aguas frescas (Spanish: fresh waters) in some parts of Latin America, are a combination of either fruits, cereals, or seeds with sugar and water, blended to make a beverage. Aguas frescas are popular in Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and the United States. Some of the more popular flavors include tamarind drink (made with tamarind pods), agua de Flor de Jamaica (made with Hibiscus), and agua de horchata (usually made with rice and cinnamon).

In Mexico, the beverage is often sold by street vendors, but in many cases, fine Mexican restaurants will have a good selection of aguas frescas available.

There is some confusion in terms internationally between the drinks referred to here and bottled soft drinks. In Guatemala and Nicaragua, these are referred to as frescos, short for refresco, which in Mexico means soft drinks. Soft drinks in Guatemala are called aguas, short for aguas gaseosas, but easily confused with the Mexican aguas frescas.

Another type of agua fresca, popular on Caribbean islands like the Dominican Republic, is made with oatmeal and a citrus juice.

It may be made with other ingredients, mainly with liquefied fruits.

In Mexico and Central America, it is common to find aguas frescas in these flavors:

• Sweet fruits
  • Canteloupe
  • Guava
  • Mammee apple
  • Mango
  • Melon
  • Marañón, using pulp of the cashew apple
  • Papaya
  • Passion fruit
  • Soursop
  • Tuna, the Mexican prickly pear
  • Watermelon
• Sour fruits:
  • Cucumber
  • Lemon (squeezing with a juicer)
  • Lime
  • Orange (squeezing with a juicer)
  • Pineapple
  • Tamarind
  • Strawberry
• With seeds or flowers
  • Chía, often blended with vegetables
  • Hibiscus tea, also called Jamaica or sorrel, a sometimes sugared cold drink made from the flowers of the hibiscus plant, popular also in Jamaica and West Africa
  • Horchata, which is made with walnuts, barley, or chufa (the root of Cyperus esculentus), and in Mexico is made often of rice, rarely of oats, and scented with vanilla
  • Alfalfa, blending fresh alfalfa leaves with water
  • Cebada, using the grains of barley

Growing in popularity

Ades, Punch (drink), Fruit Drinks, coolers, and sodas, also known as aguas frescas when (typically) not carbonated, are increasing in popularity. Lemonade stands have become the iconic traditional business for young entrepreneurs in the United States and Canada. Similarly brands such as Crush (beverage) and other soda waters and non-carbonated beverages such as Tang (drink) and Kool-Aid are iconic in American culture. In recent times, adult street vendor immigrants in the United States selling aguas frescas are often seen in states with Latin-American influence, such as can be seen in Miami from Cuban and South American influence, New York from Puerto Rican and Dominican influence, and the American Southwest under Mexican influence. Aguas frescas is the Mexican name for fruit, seed and starch flavored coolers. While the term originally was defined as home-prepared water-based refreshments, the commercial availability in Latin America of instant flavor mixes has broadened the usage of the meaning of aguas frescas in that region.

Most Mexican restaurants serve the beverage by ladling the drink out of a jug into glasses. They can also be found in supermarkets in ready-to-drink bottled versions, or in cartons from the dairy case, and in dried mixes similar to Kool-Aid. Companies sell the aguas frescas drink in many flavors; mango, pineapple, orange, watermelon, tangerine, tamarind, cantaloupe, guava, lime and hibiscus are among the favorites. These are made of several basic, all natural ingredients typically including fruit, seeds, flowers, water, and sugar.

Companies like Kern's, Canita, Klass, and Maria Elena's create and manufacture aguas frescas. Kern's manufactures and distributes Aguas Frescas in three different flavors: Hibiscus cooler, Limeade, and Tamarind drink. They also have Horchata in a refrigerated half gallon and a 32oz Tetra carton. Cañita comes in two flavors, Hibiscus and Tamarind. Klass sells it in a mix that requires water and/or sugar to be added. They come in a variety of different flavors such as: lemonade, strawberry, guava, Hibiscus, horchata, mango, cantaloupe, tamarind, orange, pineapple, and watermelon. María Elena also sells their product in a mix, but they promote organic and 100% natural aguas frescas. The only flavor this company sells is horchata.

The traditional way of creating aguas frescas used fruit and water. Now, one can find extra ingredients like sugar, lime juice, and even alcohol included. There are even some cases when people include chunks of fruit in the drink for decoration. The original way to blend the aguas frescas is to mix it with a wooden spoon, but now people just place all the ingredients in a blender.

See also

• Licuados
• Paletas