Local Drinks

1. ސައި

   sai

   Tea

   Usage

   The drink that organises the Maldivian day. "Sai" means both the tea itself and the tea-and-short-eats sitting that goes with it, as in "ހަވީރު ސަޔަށް ދަނީ" ("going for afternoon tea"). A tasty drink made from saifaiy (tea leaves)

   Grammar Note

   Borrowed from Chinese 茶. In Malé it is pronounced [s̺æː], with a long vowel

2. ކަޅު ސައި

   kalhu sai

   Black tea (no milk)

   Usage

   Tea without milk. In practice people just say "kalhu" (the black one).

3. ފެހި ސައި

   fehi sai

   Green tea

   Usage

   One of the colour names for tea, alongside kalhu sai (black). Teas are named by the colour of the leaf, as in English

4. ސައިފަތް

   saifaiy

   Tea leaves

   Usage

   The leaf itself, clearly distinguished from the drink: it is put in hot water to draw out colour and flavour, and what you prepare that way is called sai. The word to use when buying tea to take home

5. ޢީދު ސައި

   eedhu sai

   Eid sai (the morning tea after Eid prayers)

   Usage

   The round of house visits after Eid prayers, at which tea and cakes are served. Once the prayer is over, invitations to tea come from house after house; it is also the most important moment for renewing ties and exchanging Eid greetings. Kulhi boakibaa is the centrepiece. Visitors do get invited

6. ފަނި

   fani

   Fani (sweet fruit cordial)

   Usage

   The sweet drink of iftar. ފަނި means "sweet juice, syrup, treacle, nectar", so the word covers sago drinks as well as fruit cordials

   Grammar Note

   There are two homographs. The first, from a different root, means "worm, maggot, bacteria"; the drink is the second, from Sanskrit phāṇita ("inspissated cane juice")

7. ކުރުނބާ ފެން

   kurunbaa fen

   Coconut water (from a young coconut)

   Usage

   The water inside a young kurunbaa coconut. It is rich in potassium, and drinking "a fresh kurunbaa" at taraweeh time is a custom. Sold cut open on the islands

8. ރުކުރާ

   rukuraa

   Rukuraa (palm toddy)

   Usage

   ⚠ Check before you drink. Rukuraa is "palm toddy": sap collected by tying a vessel to the flower stalk of a toddy palm, widely drunk across South Asia, and best drunk fresh, because it spoils very easily if left. That spoiling is fermentation, and fermented toddy counts as banguraa — alcohol, which is illegal to possess or sell on inhabited islands. What you are offered on an island is normally the fresh, unfermented sap, but decline if you cannot tell

   Grammar Note

   The palm tapped for sap is called ރާރުއް and the vessel tied to it ރާބަނދި

9. ކޮފީ

   kofee

   Coffee

   Usage

   In Malé "going for coffee" is the basic unit of socialising, and kofeeshop is a very common everyday word

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