Mabí

Step 1: Rinse the 1 oz mabí (mauby) bark under cold water. Put it in a pot with 2 cinnamon sticks, ⅔ oz fresh ginger, 1 tsp aniseed, 4 cloves and 1 litre of the 4 ¼ cups water.

Step 2: Bring to the boil, then simmer gently, uncovered, until the liquid is a deep reddish-brown and smells strongly of spice and bark.

Step 3: Turn off the heat and leave to steep for 15 minutes. Strain into a large, clean bucket or jug, pressing on the bark; discard the solids.

Step 4: Stir in the 10 ½ oz light brown sugar until fully dissolved, then add the rest of the cold 8 ½ cups water. Check the temperature: it should be lukewarm, no hotter than 95°F.

Step 5: Add the 1 cup mabí from a previous batch (madre). Now pour the mabí back and forth between two large jugs from as high as you safely can, 10–15 times, until it is covered in a thick tan foam.

Step 6: Cover with a clean cloth and leave at warm room temperature (25–82°F) for 24–36 hours. It is ready when the foam rises again on its own, small bubbles appear and it tastes bittersweet with a slight sourness.

Step 7: Pour into clean plastic bottles, leaving a quarter empty, and refrigerate. It keeps 3–5 days and gets sourer, fizzier and slightly more alcoholic as it sits. Open the caps daily to release pressure. Throw it away if mould grows, it turns slimy or smells rotten.

Step 8: Serve very cold over 12 ice cubes, pouring from a height so it foams in the glass.