Sorrel, Mauby and the Drinks That Only Taste Like Home

The Caribbean's homemade drinks carry Christmas, memory and a bitterness the region learned to love. They are also a small industry waiting to scale.

Some flavors are untranslatable. Sorrel, steeped from hibiscus with ginger and clove, is Christmas in a glass across the English-speaking Caribbean. Mauby, brewed from tree bark and bittersweet, is an acquired taste that islanders acquire in childhood and defend for life. Ginger beer, sea moss, peanut punch: the region's homemade drinks are a culture in liquid form.

They are made in kitchens and sold from coolers, and only some have made the leap to the bottle. Those that have, carbonated mauby, bottled sorrel, sea moss in a health-food aisle abroad, hint at a category the region has barely begun to build: heritage beverages with a diaspora market already waiting.

The barrier is the usual one, moving from the kitchen to a production line without losing the thing that made it worth bottling. The taste of home is an asset. The region has not yet learned to sell it at scale.