What is poncha, and how do you know if it is a good one?

Poncha is the drink Madeira makes for itself. Every bar has one, every version is slightly different, and the difference between a good one and a forgettable one comes down to how recently it was mixed.

What is poncha made of?

Three things: aguardente de cana, which is a spirit distilled from sugar cane juice, honey, and fresh citrus. Lemon or orange, depending on who is making it. Some bars use other fruit as well, but that base is the whole drink.

There is no fixed recipe. The ratio of honey to citrus is where each place makes its own version, and it is why the same drink can taste sharp in one bar and almost like syrup in the next. Neither is wrong. It is worth trying more than one.

How do you know if it is a good one?

It should be mixed in front of you, and you should drink it soon after. Poncha is stirred by hand, not shaken, and it does not sit well. The honey settles, the citrus flattens, and what was bright twenty minutes ago tastes tired.

So the test is simple. If you watch it being made and you drink it while it is still cold and cloudy, you are having poncha as it is meant to be.

Is poncha strong?

Stronger than it tastes. The honey and the citrus hide the spirit almost completely, which is the pleasant part and also the problem. It goes down like a soft drink and it is not one.

One is a good idea before dinner. Two is a decision. Three, and the walk back up the hill to your hotel becomes a different kind of evening.

Where did it come from?

The story runs through sugar cane, which arrived on the island in 1425 and shaped the economy around it, and through Camara de Lobos, the fishing village where British sailors are believed to have introduced a version of Indian punch in the eighteenth century. The name of that original drink translates as five ingredients.

Poncha spread across the island through the nineteenth century, helped along when a grape blight wiped out much of the wine. It was drunk by everyone, rich and poor, and it stayed.

What should you eat with it?

Bolo do caco, if it is in front of you. Warm flatbread with garlic butter against a cold citrus drink is one of those pairings nobody had to design. Beyond that, poncha is a before-dinner drink more than a with-dinner one. It is sociable, it is meant to be shared standing up, and it does better in a small bar than at a table.

A note on where to drink it

I have my few places, and they are not the ones with the biggest signs. What matters more than any particular bar is the thing above: watch it being made, drink it fresh. Do that anywhere on the island and you will have a good one.

If you are out with me for the day, one fresh poncha is part of it, and I will take you somewhere it is made properly.