Dawa
Overview
Dawa means medicine in Swahili, and the name is a joke that stuck. The drink is lime muddled with sugar, poured over ice with vodka and finished with honey on a stirring stick, and Kenyans order it as their dawa in the way people elsewhere claim a drink is medicinal. Its origin is unusually well documented for a cocktail. It was created at the Carnivore restaurant in the Langata suburb of Nairobi, adapted from the Brazilian caipirinha after bartenders found the cane spirit cachaça gave them headaches and switched to vodka. One regular, who happened to be the restaurant's landlord, began asking for another dose of his dawa, and the name spread with the drink. It is now found across Kenya. The honey stick is the detail that makes it. A wooden stirrer is dipped in honey and left in the glass, so the drinker sweetens the drink themselves, controlling it rather than receiving it pre sweetened. There is also a non alcoholic version made as a hot tea with ginger, lemon, honey, cloves and cinnamon, drunk for sore throats and colds, which is dawa in the more literal sense and is what many Kenyan households mean by the word.
AFN Heritage Note
Dawa was created at the Carnivore restaurant in the Langata suburb of Nairobi, adapted from the Brazilian caipirinha with vodka substituted for cachaça. The name derives from the Swahili word for medicine.
Ingredients
Dietary tags are provided by contributors as a guide, not verified by AFN, and they depend on the products you buy. If you have a serious allergy, check every ingredient yourself. Cooking, allergies and your own judgement
Directions
- 1
Cut the lime into quarters and place them in a lowball glass.
- 2
Add the sugar and muddle gently with a stick until the sugar is moist. Be gentle so you do not draw bitterness out of the peel.
- 3
Add at least 6 ice cubes to the glass.
- 4
Pour the vodka over the ice.
- 5
Dip a stirring stick in honey and stir it lightly into the drink. The honey is a garnish rather than a sweetener, so avoid making the drink cloying.
- 6
Serve immediately, while cold.
Africook’s Notes
- Muddle gently. Crushing the lime peel hard releases bitter oils that ruin the drink, and the aim is to release juice rather than to pulp the fruit.
- Use plenty of ice. A warm dawa is genuinely unpleasant and Kenyan bartenders are emphatic on the point.
- Leave the honey stick in the glass so the drinker sweetens as they go. That is how it is served and it is part of the drink.
- For the non alcoholic version, simmer water with whole cloves and a cinnamon stick, then add lemon juice, ginger and honey and drink it hot.
- Any lime will do, but roll it firmly on the counter before cutting to get more juice out.
Questions cooks ask
What does dawa mean?
Medicine, in Swahili. The name began as a joke at the Carnivore restaurant in Nairobi, where a regular customer took to asking for another dose of his dawa, and it stuck. Kenyans use the word for both the cocktail and the non alcoholic hot version drunk for colds and sore throats, which is medicine in a more literal sense.
How is dawa different from a caipirinha?
The spirit and the honey. A caipirinha uses cachaça, the Brazilian cane spirit, and is sweetened only with sugar. Dawa substitutes vodka, which was the original reason it was created, and adds honey delivered on a stirring stick so the drinker controls the sweetness. The lime and sugar muddling is shared.
Is there a non alcoholic version?
Yes, and in many Kenyan households it is the more common one. Water is simmered with whole cloves and cinnamon, then lemon juice, fresh ginger and honey are added and it is drunk hot. It is taken for sore throats, colds and simply for warmth, and is what most Kenyans mean when they talk about making dawa at home.
Why is the honey on a stick rather than mixed in?
So the drinker controls the sweetness. Honey stirred fully into the drink makes it uniformly sweet, which is not what the drink is for. Left on the stick, it dissolves gradually as the glass is stirred, so the balance shifts as you drink it. It is also simply how it is served in Kenya.
Reviews
4 reviews
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Made a round of these for my husband and me tonight. I was a little worried the honey would just freeze up on the stick once it hit the six ice cubes, but swirling it in lightly worked out great. Next time I might cut back slightly on the granulated sugar though, 1 tablespoon was just a touch too sweet for us alongside the honey garnish.
Danielle, you are so right o. That one tablespoon of sugar is way too much, especially when you already have the honey garnish. Me I completely skip the extra sugar these days, the lime and honey balance just fine on their own. Glad the honey swirling worked out for you sha!
drank so many of these when I visited my friend in Nairobi, chale! Made it last night here in Leeds using regular clear honey from Sainsbury's because I didn't have the proper wooden dawa stick. Just be very gentle when muddling the lime peel oo, if you press too hard the skin makes it bitter paa. Very refreshing drink.
Since I do not drink alcohol I made this as a mocktail, swapped the vodka for cold sparkling water instead. My throat was feeling quite sore today and the fresh muddled lime with the honey stick really soothed it nicely.