Drinks · 3 min read ·
Pakistan's Traditional Summer Drinks
The drinks Pakistan relies on in the heat: lassi, shikanjvi, Rooh Afza, sattu, falooda, sugarcane juice, imli sharbat and mango shakes. What they are and how to make them at home.
Summer in much of Pakistan is long and fierce, with temperatures in the plains regularly above 40°C from May to September. Long before air conditioning and fizzy drinks, people got through it on a set of traditional drinks, many of which are still sold on every street corner. They’re cheap, refreshing and, in many cases, genuinely well suited to the heat.
Lassi
Punjab’s great summer drink. Sweet lassi is yogurt churned with sugar and a little water until thick and frothy, often served in a tall steel glass with a slab of malai on top. Namkeen lassi, salty with roasted cumin and sometimes mint, is thinner and often drunk with a heavy lunch. Both are cooling, filling and replace some of the salt the heat takes out of you.
Shikanjvi
Pakistan’s lemonade, shikanjvi is fresh lemon juice with water, sugar, a pinch of salt and , and sometimes mint or roasted cumin. The salt makes it more refreshing than plain sweet lemonade. It’s sold from carts in huge glass jars with blocks of ice.
Rooh Afza
The bright red, rose-flavoured syrup has been a Pakistani summer staple for generations. Stirred into iced water, it’s the drink on most iftar tables in Ramadan. Mixed into chilled milk as Rooh Afza doodh, it becomes something richer, and it’s also the base of falooda.
Sugarcane juice
Roadside sugarcane juice carts crush whole canes through a mechanical press, often with a piece of ginger and a squeeze of lemon, and serve the juice over ice. It’s sweet, green-tinged and very refreshing, but it’s best drunk fresh, straight from the cart, because it oxidises within minutes.
Imli and aloo bukhara sharbat
Tamarind and dried plums soaked, strained and sweetened make a dark, sweet-sour drink. Imli aloo bukhara sharbat is popular in Ramadan and after spicy meals, and its tang cuts through heat and richness.
Falooda
Half drink, half dessert: rose syrup, soaked (sweet basil seeds), thin cornflour noodles and chilled milk, topped with a scoop of kulfi or ice cream. Falooda is a summer evening treat, especially in Lahore and Karachi.
Sattu
In parts of rural Punjab and among older generations, sattu, a flour made from roasted chickpeas or barley, is stirred into cold water with salt or sugar. It’s simple, filling and traditionally drunk before working in the fields on hot days.
Mango shakes
From June, mango season changes everything. Juice shops blend ripe Sindhri and Chaunsa mangoes with cold milk into thick, fragrant mango shakes. We cover the varieties in our mango season guide.
Tips for summer drinks at home
- Chill everything, including the glasses. Ice melts fast in a Pakistani summer.
- Add a pinch of salt to sweet drinks like shikanjvi. It makes them more refreshing.
- Make syrup bases ahead. Lemon-sugar syrup and imli concentrate keep in the fridge for a week; just add cold water and ice.
- Use yogurt that’s cold and slightly sour for the best lassi.
And the simplest rule of all: drink plenty of water as well. However good the sharbat, water is what the heat demands most.
