The drink is tapped from a palm tree that has to be cut down first — harvesters fell the coyol palm and hollow its trunk to collect the sap that ferments inside over several days.
Sap collected from the felled trunk of the coyol palm is left to ferment naturally over a few days into a mildly alcoholic, tangy drink. Vendors in Rivas department's small towns sell it by the cupful from plastic jugs, especially around Lent.