Indian Drinks & Beverages
In India, what you drink is as specific to where you grew up as what you eat. Chai in the North and West, filter coffee in the South, and kokum sherbet along the Konkan coast. This collection covers the full range: the morning cup that starts the day alongside a hot breakfast, the summer drinks that cool it down, and the festive ones made once a year and looked forward to all year.
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Most popular beverages
When I feel sluggish in the afternoon, there is nothing more grounding than tea with Parle-G or Marie biscuits. It is not sophisticated. It is just what hits the right spot.
Every Indian has an opinion on their chai. Some want it made only with milk. A few like it black. Most prefer a mixture of milk and water. And then there are the ones who want masala chai, infused with cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon, with a piece of ginger thrown in for heat and sharpness. The spices vary between households, between regions, and between generations.
But chai is only one part of the story. Along the Konkan coast, where my family is from, kokum sherbet is what you reach for on a hot afternoon. In Punjab, sweet lassi arrives with every heavy meal. In Maharashtra, aam panna appears the moment the raw mangoes come into season, tart and deeply green and nothing like anything you can buy in a bottle.
This collection documents the drinks I grew up with and the ones I have learned to make in an American kitchen far from home.
BROWSE BY TYPE
Explore Indian Beverages
Chai and hot drinks
Masala chai, ginger tea, haldi doodh. The drinks that start the day or end it.
Cooling drinks and sherbets
The summer drinks of the Indian subcontinent.
Lassi and milkshakes
Yoghurt-based and fruit-based cold drinks. Mango lassi is the one most people outside India know. Sweet lassi is what you actually drink in Punjab alongside a thali. Mango milkshake is simpler and richer, blended ripe mango with cold milk.
Festive drinks
Thandai. Made for Holi, drunk cold, spiced with nuts, seeds, saffron, and rose petals. One of the most distinctive drinks in Indian food, and one of the most underrepresented outside India.
MEAL COMBINATIONS
Serving suggestions
Morning
Masala chai or ginger tea with Indian Breakfast
HOT SUMMERS
Nimbu pani, aam panna, or kokum sherbet
after a meal
Sweet lassi or mango lassi alongside parathas or a spicy biryani
Holi celebration
Thandai
FREQUENTLY ASKED
Questions about Indian beverages
Regular chai is tea brewed with milk, water, and sugar. Masala chai adds whole spices (cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, ginger) to the brew. The spice combination varies by household and region. There is no single definitive masala chai recipe. Every family has their own version.
Both are yoghurt-based Indian drinks. Lassi is thick, blended smooth, and can be sweet or salted. Chaas is thinner, made with more water, always salted, and usually has roasted cumin and mint stirred through it. Lassi sits alongside a meal. Chaas is drunk as a digestive after one.
Thandai is a spiced cold milk drink made with almonds, pistachios, melon seeds, rose petals, saffron, and a blend of spices including pepper and cardamom. It is traditionally made for Holi, the spring festival of colour. It is cooling, rich, and deeply aromatic.
Haldi doodh is warm milk with turmeric and black pepper. Turmeric gives it its deep yellow colour and slightly bitter edge. Black pepper is added because it aids the absorption of the turmeric. It is the drink every Indian mother makes when someone in the house has a sore throat or a cold. In the West, it has been rebranded as golden milk, but it has been in Indian kitchens for generations.
Nimbu pani is fresh lime juice with water, salt, and sugar made in two minutes. Aam panna is made from raw green mangoes that are boiled or roasted, then blended with cumin, black salt, and sugar. It is tarter, more complex, and specifically a summer drink made when raw mangoes are in season.
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Related Collections
Indian drinks are rarely standalone. Chai belongs with [Indian Breakfast]. Lassi belongs alongside curries or dal & legumes. The cooling ones sit alongside anything from the rice & biryani collection. And if you are looking for the food that goes with these drinks, the starters & street food collection would be the natural next stop.
