Bissap
Hibiscus steeped sweet and floral, the West African relative of Jamaica water.
CC BY-SA 4.0 · Cropped, white-balanced, graded and re-encoded to WebP by eXir.
A clear cup of deep red hibiscus drink, zobo, served on an outdoor table
Serving
Drink spec, per drink
Every figure above is per drink and does not move with the count, which is what makes the two service modes comparable. Sugar per litre, strength and standard drinks stay in the units their own authorities publish, because they are figures for comparing rather than for pouring.
Diet and allergen labels are computed from the ingredients listed on this page and nothing else. They cannot account for cross-contamination or for the particular product you buy, and they are not medical or safety guidance.
Extraction
No extraction yield is shown. It needs a measured dissolved-solids figure from the finished cup, nothing on a bag of coffee supplies one, and estimating it from the method would be inventing the single number the calculation exists to establish.
Ingredients
140 ml water
6 g dried hibiscus calyces
3 g mint
25 g granulated sugar
2 ml orange flower water
- 140 ml water
- 6 g dried hibiscus calyces
- 3 g mint
- 25 g granulated sugar
- 2 ml orange flower water
Glass
Vessel
148 ml of liquid plus 230 ml of cubed ice occupies about 378 ml, inside the 400 ml the glass holds. The build fails if a recipe ever exceeds its stated vessel.
A batch needs a vessel that closes and fits a fridge shelf.
Method
4 steps · 10mPour the 140 ml water at 100 °C over the 6 g dried hibiscus calyces and the 3 g mint, and leave to steep for 10m.
The same flower as Agua de Jamaica goes in at a higher dose and with far more sugar, which is the difference between the two: a bright, tart Mexican glass against a syrupy, floral West African one.
Strain out the calyces and mint and discard them.
Stir in the 25 g granulated sugar while the liquid is still hot enough to dissolve it, then add the 2 ml orange flower water.
Pour over cubed ice in the glass and serve at once.
Common pitfallStraining late lets the calyces keep steeping in their own liquid, and the tartness tips from bright into medicinal. Pull them the moment the steep is done.
Keeping and make-ahead
Made a jug at a time in practice, but authored here as one steep to order. Hibiscus left standing on its calyces after the stated time keeps drawing out tannin and turns the drink harsher rather than stronger.
About
Hibiscus calyces boiled sweet and floral, Senegal's national drink and the West African source of a flower now steeped under different names worldwide.
Hibiscus sabdariffa, known locally as bissap, was domesticated in West Africa, in the region of the Western Sudan, and has been grown and drunk there for far longer than it has existed anywhere else 1. In Senegal the infusion made from its dried calyces is treated as the country's national drink 2, sold from roadside stands and made at home in large batches rather than by the cup. Neighbouring countries along the same stretch of West Africa know the same plant under their own names (wonjo in Senegal itself, zobo in Nigeria, sobolo in Ghana) before the flower's spread further afield gave the wider world karkadeh in Egypt and the Middle East and agua de jamaica in Mexico 3.
The West African version is generally the strongest and sweetest of that family: a heavier hand with the sugar than the Mexican or Egyptian preparations, and a habit of flavouring the steep itself rather than leaving the calyx to stand alone, with mint or a few drops of orange flower water folded in alongside the sugar. It is drunk both hot and cold, though the cold, heavily iced version associated with market stalls and street vendors is the one that travels, bottled and sold under the bissap name in West African communities well beyond the region it came from.
None of this makes bissap the parent drink of its relatives elsewhere in the world. The plant moved along more than one route out of Africa, and the West African infusion, the Mexican agua fresca and the Middle Eastern karkadeh are better understood as three regional treatments of one migratory flower than as a single tradition copied outward from Senegal.
- 1Hibiscus teaen.wikipedia.org
- 2Bissap, the national drink of Senegalteashop.com
- 3Bissap196flavors.com