In West Africa, it’s called ‘bissap’, ‘sobolo’, and ‘zobo’; across the Caribbean, it’s ‘sorrel,’ in Latin America it’s ‘Agua de Jamaica,’ and in the U.S. South, it’s called ‘red drink’ – and every sip is an ode to a four centuries-long history.
Red Drink has been traced to West African countries where people first made crimson-colored drinks using hibiscus flowers and cola nuts. In its many forms, it’s used medicinally and often as a special occasion drink.
Enslaved people snatched from ancestral lands carried hibiscus seeds across the Atlantic. In countries across the Caribbean, the plant thrived and was adapted to include local spices and spirits like nutmeg, cinnamon, and rum.
U.S. soil wasn’t as inhabitable to the plant, so enslaved people innovated the recipe further, swapping hibiscus for berries in the South and cherries in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Red Drink’s earliest mention was in the 1870s South, where folks colored lemonade using strawberries, with the later introduction of Kool-Aid and Big Red becoming popular substitutes for homemade versions.
Red drink is just one of the many commonalities we share across the diaspora, but it’s deeper than a simple drink. No matter where we are, how we experience the world keeps us beautifully connected. And that unity can tangibly manifest, impacting our liberation in the most powerful, global ways. Here’s to us.