BASICS - The Rough Guide to Panama - page 49

Drink
Aside from Panama's tasty tap water, there's a wide range of beverages to sample, from lethal
paint-stripper home-brews to delicious fruit concoctions served in a variety of manners, not
to mention beer and rum, which are consumed in vast quantities during Panama's many fest-
ivals.
Alcoholic beverages
Beer is the most popular alcoholic drink; Panama's four main labels - Soberana, Panamá,
Balboa and Atlas - are all fairly inoffensive lagers, with Balboa slightly more full-bodied and
the current favourite. Though none will set the pulses of beer aficionados racing, when ice-
cold they definitely hit the spot, costing a dollar swigged out of a bottle in a local cantina ,
and up to $5 served on a serviette in a frosted glass in a plush nightclub. Imported beers such
as Heineken and Budweiser, and even Guinness, are widely available in Panama City and
tourist towns but are more expensive.
The national tipple, the transparent, throat-singeing seco (a rough sugar cane spirit), is sig-
nificantly more potent (35 percent) and more commonly consumed by men in the interior,
particularly during fiestas, as is rum. A lethal home-brew favoured by campesinos is vino de
palma , made from fermented palm sap, as is guarapo , sugar cane juice distilled to knockout
strength. Wine - usually Chilean or Californian - is becoming increasingly available at reas-
onable rates in Panama City and in tourist areas such as Bocas and Boquete.
Non-alcoholic beverages
Away from the alcohol, there is a wide range of fruit-based drinks , which in most parts of
the country (see General precautions ) you can enjoy with ice, safe in the knowledge that the
water is drinkable. Mango, pineapple, soursop, passion fruit, tamarind and a host of other
fruits can be savoured in a range of forms: as a jugo natural (pure fruit juice), a licuado (a
fresh fruit, water and sugar shake), a batido (a milk shake) or a chicha (a sweet maize-based
fruit concoction) - not to be confused with its alcoholic cousin, generally dubbed chicha
fuerte - a potent fermented maize brew made in bulk for special celebrations, particularly
among indigenous and campesino communities.
The similar-sounding chicheme , a surprisingly tasty Panamanian speciality of ground maize,
milk, vanilla and cinnamon, most revered in La Chorrera, should be sampled at some
stage. So should pipa - fresh juice sipped through a straw straight from the coconut - and
Panamanian coffee . Outside the country, Panama's reputation as the world leader in produ-
cing gourmet coffee is a secret known only to connoisseurs; you can sample the most prized
beans in Boquete and Panama City, though elsewhere you're more likely to be sipping the
more mundane but perfectly satisfying Café Duran, which will be strong and is sometimes
offered with condensed milk. While black tea is widely available in cities and tourist areas,