Kerala drink · Drink in Kerala
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Drink in Kerala
Drink in Kerala
Water is usually not safe to drink. Mineral water is available at almost all shops and is the safest bet.
Tender coconut water, (karikku), are available in even the smallest towns. Tender coconut water is extremely popular and along with this the sweet creamy pulp is an ice-cream like cream which can be eaten.
Coffee, (kapi) and tea (chaya), unlike other parts of South India, in Kerala, tea is more popular than coffee. Its virtually impossible, not to find a tea stall selling tea. The famous tea of Kerala is the Kannan Devan brand. In Kerala one can find Milma (a milk brand) booth selling tea with milk and snack eateries. Coffee is more popular in urban areas particularly in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram as a cafe drink. Popularly national brands like Cafe Coffee Day and many local cafes offer various flavours of coffees with western/oriental snacks. Kerala's own traditional cafe is Indian Coffee House, which are old-fashioned pre-1970s styled coffee shops, offering Kerala coffee along with regular Kerala foods. Among new generation cafe from Kerala is Coffee Beanz now opened in many parts of Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram offering various innovative coffee flavours and traditional Kerala snacks along with lite burgers.
Juices and shakes, Kerala being a tropical state, tropical juices and juice cocktails are very popular. Almost everywhere, small juice stalls selling mango, orange, pineapple, lemon, water melon and other juices etc can be found. Milk shakes mixed with Ice-creams is very popular and one of the best way to beat the Kerala summer heat. sharja shake and chikoos are popular milk shakes mixed with various fruits and fruit flavour ice-creams.
Alcohol, Kerala tops in per capita alcohol consumption in India, despite the high rate of government taxation. You'll find a bar in most hotels serving anything from 'kallu' (Kerala traditional palm toddy) to Scotch whisky. Alcohol consumption in public is frowned upon, and the bars in everything except the most expensive hotels tend to be seedy. Bars in urban areas now a days are bit more upscale and hence bit more expensive or carry additional service charge. For budget travellers, who wish to have liquors in private, can buy most of the liquor brands along with beer from Government-run Kerala State Beverage Corporations Limited (popularly known as Beverage Shop or Bevco) stores and use it in private. However, there is usually a very large queue in front of it and you have wait a long time to get the item. Kochi and Trivandrum, have many posh bars and pubs to drink and these are popular hang outs for adults. Several restaurants in cities like Kochi, Trivandrum, Kottayam and Kollam serve Alcohol along with regular menu food. Cocktails are extremely popular.
Locally made palm toddy called as kallu is tempting to try, but be aware that some people become sick due to bad brews. If you do try it, make sure you stick to the license-made brew, and not local moonshine. However many local toddy shows in Alapuzha-Changaserry route, you can find a number of good toddy shops, which offers authorised toddy as well as very good tasty unique Kerala specialties like seafood, chicken, mutton and beef. Even if you don't try toddy, having food from these toddy shops is a good idea, to taste some of the best distinctive food styles.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Kerala
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Kerala - updated Apr 2024
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Kerala Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.