Poncha

---

title: "Poncha" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["mixed-drinks", "portuguese-alcoholic-beverages", "drinks-from-madeira"] description: "Traditional alcoholic drink from Madeira" topic_path: "general/mixed-drinks" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poncha" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Traditional alcoholic drink from Madeira ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox drink"]

Field	Value
name	Poncha
image	Poncha.JPG
caption	Poncha
type	Cocktail
ingredients	{{plainlist
served	no ice
garnish	sugar cane, lime (ingredient)
prep	Place lemon rind and sugar into old fashioned glass and muddle (mash the two ingredients together using a 'mexelote' or a wooden spoon). Add the aguardente de cana and lemon juice.
drinkware	Old fashioned glass
::

| name = Poncha | image = Poncha.JPG | caption = Poncha | type = Cocktail | base = | ingredients ={{plainlist|* 5 cl aguardente de cana

• Honey
• Lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons sugar (optional)
• Orange juice}} | served = no ice | garnish = sugar cane, lime (ingredient) | prep = Place lemon rind and sugar into old fashioned glass and muddle (mash the two ingredients together using a 'mexelote' or a wooden spoon). Add the aguardente de cana and lemon juice. | drinkware = Old fashioned glass

Poncha is a traditional alcoholic drink from the island of Madeira, made with aguardente de cana (distilled alcohol made from sugar cane juice), honey, sugar, and either orange juice or lemon juice. Some varieties include other fruit juices.

It is mixed together with a mixing tool created in Madeira officially called a mexelote but more commonly known as a caralhinho (little cock), a type of muddler. Caipirinha is based on poncha. | url = https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/my-round-madeira-mixes-things-with-the-best-5360062.html | title = My Round: Madeira mixes things with the best | accessdate = 2018-12-18 | location=London | work=The Independent | first=Richard | last=Ehrlich | date=2002-10-20}}

It is said in Madeira that poncha cures the common cold and people are encouraged to drink it if they have cold-like symptoms.

History

The drink may be based on an Indian drink called pãnch/panch. In Hindi pãnch/panch means five and the drink was originally made with five ingredients: alcohol, sugar, lemon, water, and tea or spices. This is also where the English drink punch originated from.

References

References

1. (October 2020). "5 bebidas para provar na Ilha da Madeira".
2. "Poncha - Ocean Retreat".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::