Guarana is a tropical berry from which several different popular drinks in Brazil are made.
I love Guarana soda. Thank goodness I can get it in grocery stores in the USA, because I really would be sad without it. Lately I’ve even been substituting my morning coffee with a Guarana Antarctica soda – diet of course.
A natural stimulant, the guarana berry contains significant levels of caffeine, in addition to guaranine, another stimulant compound. The Guarani people, indigenous to the rainforest region of northern Brazil and namesake of the berry itself, considered the berry to hold magical powers.
Today in Brazil, the overwhelmingly most popular guarana drink is Guarana Antarctica, a product of the AmBev company that produces basically all the beer in the country while also enjoying exclusive distribution rights for all Pepsi soft-drinks; not a bad gig. The soda version of guarana is naturally sweet with a crisp taste not entirely unlike ginger ale, if one were to substitute guarana for ginger in the recipe.
Also very common is guarana natural which is a darker, almost iced-tea-like drink that is generally blended on-site in juice shops and bars. The latter is really pretty packed with caffeine, so be careful throwing it down the hatch by the glass on a hot day!
Pepsi and Coca-Cola have tried to compete in the guarana market in Brazil and even abroad. Pepsi’s Josta failed miserably, but Coca-Cola’s Kuat is still widely available in Brazil and even overseas.
Comments:
Douglas:
Olá Christopher!
Só para acrescentar nós aqui no Brasil, costumamos tomar Guaraná Antártica com umas duas rodelas de laranja. Da mesma forma, adicionamos duas rodelas de limão na Coda-Cola.
Parabéns pelo blog!
Um abraço.
Douglas
Douglas:
Hello Christopher!
I can tell you that here in Brazil, we use to drink Guaraná Antártica with two pieces of orange . In the same way we love to drink Coca-Cola with two pieces of lemon.
When you ask for one of these drinks the waiter always asks if you want them with lemon or orange.
Congratulation for the blog!
See ya.
Douglas
ps: sorry for the english, I´m trying to get it better.
Christopher:
Guarana com faixa de laranjinha e gelo no copo… how could i forget?
what an amazing taste, there is nothing like it.
great english Douglas, keep it up!
abraço,
Christopher
Dj:
Don’t Worry, Be Happy! =)
Paulo:
Hello,
The Guarani peopple don’t live in the northern region of the coutry.
They lived in the Central and South cost area.
They were expelled from there by the portuguesse and got to hinterlands.
Nowadays there are a big Guarani population in Paraguay.
In Brazil, they are in huge numbers in Paraná and São Paulo States.
Marcelo Cestari:
Quando falamos em Brasil, não devemos esquecer a nossa tão famosa feijoada e caipirinha.
Abraços.
Marcelo – Aparecida de Goiânia – Goiás – Brasil