Local Drinks

1. さんぴんちゃー

   San-pin-chaa

   Sanpin cha (Okinawan jasmine tea)

   Usage

   The most-drunk tea in Okinawa. Diners often serve it free, and it fills the fridges of every convenience store and vending machine

   Grammar Note

   Sanpincha 【さんぴん茶・香片茶】 "jasmine tea". Also written sjaNpiN 【香片】 "a Chinese tea". Chaa is caa "tea"

2. うっちんちゃー

   Uc-chin-chaa

   Ucchin cha (turmeric tea)

   Usage

   Tea brewed from turmeric, sold in souvenir shops, pharmacies and vending machines as the morning-after drink

   Grammar Note

   A compound of ucchin 【鬱金】 "turmeric" and caa "tea". Also written ?uciN "the turmeric plant". The product name is Japanese, but the element ucchin is an Okinawan word

3. ぶくぶくー

   Bu-ku-bu-kuu

   Bukubukuu (Okinawan whipped-foam tea)

   Usage

   Tea whisked to a mound of foam in the bowl and topped with peanuts — a traditional Naha summer refreshment, now served at tea houses in Shuri and Naha

   Grammar Note

   Bukubukuu, equal to bukubukuzaa "tea whipped with a whisk and heaped in a bowl with peanuts on top; a summer refreshment favoured by women and children". Shop signs usually give the Japanese name bukubuku-cha

4. うちゃ

   U-cha

   Tea (polite form)

   Usage

   The polite word, used when offering or being offered tea by someone senior. The plain word for tea is chaa

   Grammar Note

   ?uca "tea; the polite form of caa". The same layer has ?ucatoo, the polite form of catoo, the tea offered before a family altar

5. あらばーちゃー

   A-ra-baa-chaa

   Arabaachaa (coarse-leaf everyday tea)

   Usage

   The everyday coarse tea, corresponding to bancha. It doubles as the modest word you use when serving tea to a guest

   Grammar Note

   ?arabaacaa "tea of coarse leaves; common tea"

6. あまがし

   A-ma-ga-shi

   Amagashi (sweet chilled barley-and-bean drink)

   Usage

   A sweet chilled drink taken on the fourth day of the fifth lunar month. By custom a cut iris leaf is served with it in place of a spoon

   Grammar Note

   ?amagasi "a kind of sweet sake made for the Boys' Festival: barley boiled down, lightly inoculated with koji and left in water about a day to ferment; a cut iris leaf serves as chopsticks"

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