Street Vendor Classic · Bittersweet Bark Brew
Mauby
Photo: Ryan Chen-Wing / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.5
It's brewed from the boiled bark of a Caribbean tree, yet tastes closer to root beer than anything medicinal.
Mauby is a bittersweet Caribbean drink made by boiling the bark of the snakewood tree with spices like cinnamon and clove, then sweetening and carbonating the strained liquid. In Trinidad it was historically sold by 'mauby women' who carried vats of the homemade brew on their heads through the streets, and it's still poured from big jugs at roadside stalls and lunch counters today.
Why it's made this way: Its bittersweet, slightly medicinal flavor divides outsiders but is a genuine taste-of-home for Trinidadians, tied to Sunday lunches and street-corner vendors for over a century.
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Part of World of Street Food — 690 dishes from 118 countries.
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