Enjoy Summer with Spanish Sangría
Summer would not be the same without our favourite seasonal drink on every chiringuito de playa: Sangría, a refreshing combination of red wine, liqueur and fruits. We know it’s hot and you would prefer to be relaxing with a drink rather than sit in front of a warm computer, so we will go straight to recipe.
On a big jug (preferably a big old pottery one), mix 1 peach (cut into pieces), 12-14 cherries (pitted), the zest of an orange, the zest of a lemon, 2 or 3 tablespoons of caster sugar and half a stick of cinnamon and…. now choose between brandy, Cointreau and rum and add a generous glug to the mix. Now…. waaaaait! Don’t drink it yet, patience is required! Place the mixture in a fridge for about half an hour so that the flavours develop and blend.
Just before serving, add one liter of red wine (not a madly expensive one, we recommend Spanish wine from Jumilla, Alicante or Valencia, good value and great colour and bouquet for Sangría), the juice of two oranges, and one lemon and about quarter a liter of ice-cold soda water, together with as much crushed ice you can fit in the jug. This recipe makes about 1.5- 2 liters of Sangría, so we guess you may want to repeat the process and prepare a couple of jugs…
At La Buena Vida we highly recommend you treat your loved ones with a glass of Sangría (at least one to start with anyway), which may also help you spread our traditional Siesta (a must for great digestions after summer lunches). For the culture vulture amongst you, some historical notes: the origins of Sangría can be traced back to the XIX century and the name of Sangría would root on the Spanish word for blood, sangre, because of its characteristic red colour.
chiringuito de playa: typical tavern often located close to the beach (or even on the sand!)