Poncha

Poncha is a traditional alcoholic drink from the island of Madeira, made with aguardente de cana (distilled alcohol made from sugar cane juice), honey, sugar, and either orange juice or lemon juice. Some varieties include other fruit juices.^[1]

Poncha

Cocktail
Poncha
Type	Cocktail
Served	no ice
Standard garnish	sugar cane, lime (ingredient)
Standard drinkware	Old fashioned glass
Commonly used ingredients	5 cl aguardente de cana Honey Lemon juice 2 teaspoons sugar (optional) Orange juice
Preparation	Place lemon rind and sugar into old fashioned glass and muddle (mash the two ingredients together using a 'mexelote' or a wooden spoon). Add the aguardente de cana and lemon juice.
Notes	A wide variety of fresh fruits can be used in place of lime.

It is mixed together with a mixing tool created in Madeira officially called a mexelote but more commonly known as a caralhinho (little cock), a type of muddler. Caipirinha is based on poncha.^[2][3]

It is said in Madeira that poncha cures the common cold and people are encouraged to drink it if they have cold-like symptoms.^{[citation needed]}

History

The drink may be based on an Indian drink called pãnch/panch.^{[citation needed]} In Hindi pãnch/panch means five and the drink was originally made with five ingredients: alcohol, sugar, lemon, water, and tea or spices. This is also where the English drink punch originated from.^{[citation needed]}