Poncha: Madeira’s favourite drink
What poncha is, how it’s made with sugar cane rum, honey and lemon, the different flavours, where to drink it and a recipe to make it at home.
This page first appeared on Madeira Blog on 27 January 2010. We have rewritten it with up-to-date information.
Poncha is the drink of Madeira. It is served in tiny bars, at village festivals and after long walks, and every Madeiran has an opinion about who makes the best one.
What is in it
The traditional poncha has only three ingredients:
- Aguardente de cana: rum distilled from Madeiran sugar cane juice
- Honey: often bee honey, sometimes sugarcane honey
- Lemon juice and lemon zest
They are stirred together with a caralhinho, also called a mexelote or pau de poncha: a wooden stick with a cross of small branches at the end, twirled between the palms until the honey dissolves and the drink turns slightly cloudy.
The flavours
- Regional or traditional: rum, honey and lemon
- Maracujá: with passion fruit juice, sweeter and very popular
- Tangerina or laranja: with tangerine or orange juice
- Pescador (fisherman’s): a stronger, sharper version with more lemon and less honey
- Bars experiment with many others, from tomato-tree fruit to herbs.
Where it comes from
Poncha is closely linked with the fishermen and farmers of the south coast, especially Câmara de Lobos, who drank it to warm up after a night at sea or a day in the fields. Today you find it all over the island, from small bars in Câmara de Lobos and the Serra de Água valley to every festival stall in summer.
Where to drink it
- In a small bar in Câmara de Lobos, made fresh in front of you
- In the bars of the mountain villages, after a walk
- At the village festivals, the arraiais. See what is an arraial
- In Funchal’s old town
Make it at home
For one glass:
- Squeeze the juice of one lemon into a jug and add a strip of lemon peel.
- Add one to two tablespoons of honey.
- Pour in about 50 ml of sugar cane rum (aguardente de cana).
- Stir hard until the honey is fully mixed. If you have a poncha stick, twirl it between your hands.
- Serve in a small glass, without ice.
For the passion fruit version, add the pulp or juice of one or two passion fruits and a little less lemon.
A word of warning
Poncha tastes like lemonade and is close to the strength of a spirit. Drink slowly, don’t drive, and keep it for after the walk, not before.