As the summer days get hotter, we gravitate towards cool refreshing drinks. But, instead of reaching for the regular iced coffee, or soda, it’s time for everyone to try these refreshing Middle Eastern drinks.
Middle Easterners are experts at living in the heat and they know the best recipes for summer drinks that are delicious and healthy.
These Middle Eastern drinks are easy to make and can be made in your kitchen. There are only a few weeks of summer left, remember to try these refreshing drinks yourselves!
Laban Ayran (لبن)
This is a drink that is extremely popular among Middle Eastern countries. It is a yogurt-based savory drink and is served cold. This drink has many health benefits, one of which is that it is good for our body temperature by making the body cool and it also reduces the feeling of thirst.
This drink has the same benefits as having yogurt and milk. It contains high nutrients, proteins, vitamins, and calcium. Compared to regular drinks, this can boost your immune system, is good for bones, and digestion.
Jallab (جلاب)
Jallab is very popular in Palestine, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. This drink is made from dates, grape molasses, and rose water, it is then served with a lot of ice and topped off with pine nuts and raisins.
The drink itself is a combination of both sweet and sour together. It is a good source of sugar, vitamins, and mineral. It is also very rich in calories. If you want to try a healthy drink, then is definitely a must-have!
Rumman (رمان)
Rumman is the Arabic word for the pomegranate fruit. This fruit is nutritional and symbolic, within the Quran, pomegranate is believed to have been grown in the gardens of Paradise. The fruit is commonly popular in the Middle East, such as Iraq, Palestine, and Lebanon, this is a sweet refreshing drink loved by many. Also, an interesting fact, pomegranate is mentioned in many Iraqi folk songs.
This fruit has a lot of health benefits such as antioxidant drink which improves vision, and of course, there are many health benefits of this fruit, such as vitamin A, C and E. We strongly recommend everyone to try this drink at least once and I’m sure once you read all the health benefits, you might find yourself have it multiple times throughout the week.
Tamar Hindi (تمر هندي)
This drink is made up of tamarind fruit, this is a much loved energizing summer drink. This is a sweet but sour beverage with a tangy flavor because it uses crushed tamarind, water, sugar, and lemon juice. If you are not fond of sweet drinks at all, then this sour cold refreshment would be right up your alley.
You would be glad to know that there are more than 13 benefits of drinking tamarind juice. This drink has many health benefits such as helping one maintain healthy blood pressure, has anti-inflammatory properties, and promotes weight loss. It also provides at least 10 per cent of vitamin B1 (Thiamine), vitamin B3 (Niacin), potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, and iron.
Limonana (ليمون نعناع)
Limon (lemon) w nana (mint) is the Arabic version of this sweet frozen mint lemonade drink. This is a traditional drink, also considered as a slushy in countries such as Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Turkey, Egypt, and Lebanon, it is popular throughout the Middle East but more so across the Levantine region. The bright-green combination of lemon and mint is a refreshing drink for any warm summer day.
Lemons are high in vitamin C and mint has many benefits as well. The combination of both provides benefits such as natural antioxidants, good for the skin because mint has anti-inflammatory properties, cools your body down due to the freshness, helps eliminate mucus, clearing airways and lungs thus relieving asthma, and much more. This sweet, tart, and refreshing drink are perfect because it is so easy to make and try.
Qamar Al Din (قمر الدين)
This drink is made up of dried apricots, and is popular across the Middle East, especially during the time of Ramadan. If you’re a huge fan of smoothies, then you have to simply try this. This drink can take a bit longer to make but we promise, the benefits of this make it is so worth trying.
This drink provides several important benefits, if you’re someone who gets headaches and fatigues during hot summer drinks, this drink will help prevent that from happening, because it helps prevent hyponatremia and hypokalemia. It is rich in dietary fiber and prevents thirst during the day. This will help maintain normal levels of sodium and potassium in the body and contains vitamins A and B which enhance the nervous system. Mostly, importantly, if you’re struggling to work or study, you need to make this drink because one important health benefit of this drink is that it helps with concentration, memory loss, and muscle cramps. The link we have shared down below shows, how to make the Qamar Al-Din juice and pudding and shows several more health benefits that you all can read about.
Karkadeh (كركديه)
This hibiscus tea can be served as hot or cold, but since we are on the subject of cool drinks, this marks as the perfect iced tea drink that tea lovers need to try. This drink is popular in Egypt, Sudan, and throughout the Middle East. The tart herbal, cranberry flavor is so unique and refreshing, this is one of those drinks that will hug you, whether you drink it hot or cold. The richness of the flavors, the beautiful red color, and the appearance of this drink will become a new favorite of yours.
Hibiscus tea is naturally calorie and caffeine-free. The cold drink helps lower the blood pressure and the hot drink helps increase the blood pressure. Minerals and vitamins in this drink help defend against deficiency symptoms such as iron deficiency during pregnancy. It is also amazing for the skin due to the anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antiseptic agents, in fact, many natural cosmetics use the extract of hibiscus flower in the production of skincare.
Erk Soos (إرك سو)
The drink is popular in Egypt but has left a cultural trademark in other parts of the Middle East. This is a licorice juice, which might not be everyone’s thing, but because it is so popular, we had to mention it. The cold licorice juice is served by a street vendor when a thirsty passerby stops by during hot summer days in Cario. This is perfect for quenching thirst and is mildly sweet and bitter.
This drink is extracted from the root of glycyrrhiza glabra, it contains sugar, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and several other minerals. It is known to strengthen the immune system and acts as a natural antibiotic that helps treat infections and the respiratory system. So, any sore throats or coughs can be helped with this drink. This is also easy to make, so give it a try if you need a break from super sweet drinks.
And, that includes our shortlist of Middle Eastern drinks that you must try during these last few weeks of summer. These Arab drinks are colourful, healthy, and delectable, we would love for you all to share a memory with us if you’ve tried these drinks before.
Which Middle Eastern drinks do you recommend and did we miss any that should be on this list? Let us know!
