If you’ve never had the pleasure of finding yourself on the other side of the U.S.–Mexico border, you may not know what Jamaica is. If, on the other hand, you’ve had the opportunity to spend any time at all in that glorious country to our south, you undoubtedly know what it is and probably love it.

Dried Hibiscus Flowers

As for myself, I spent two marvelous years living in Mexico, and one of my fondest memories is of drinking Jamaica nearly every night with my pozole and tostadas at the Tlaquepaque on Avenida Insurgentes in Cuautla, Morelos – shout out! I doubt any of you will ever find yourself on the street I just mentioned in Central Mexico, but if you do and you miss out on the Tlaquepaque’s pozole and tostadas, you will have missed out on everything.

So what is Jamaica, you ask? It’s something of an herbal tea – don’t throw rotten tomatoes at me, tea-purists – that’s made by boiling hibiscus flowers in water. You can find recipes for Jamaica all over the Internet. Some say the hibiscus flowers should be simmered in a sauce pan for about fifteen minutes, others say steeped, like tea, for two hours. A few recipes even say that Jamaica can be had either hot or cold, but I’ve certainly never seen it served hot.

Personally, when I used to make Jamaica on a daily basis, I had a very simple way of going about it:

First, I’d walk down Francisco I Madero (the street I lived on) to the Mercado Nuevo to buy some dried hibiscus flowers. I usually paid around 10 pesos for a tuna fish can full of them. You could also buy them in bulk, but I can’t remember how much it cost to do so. I’ve never bought hibiscus flowers in the U.S., but I’ve read online that you can find them in most major supermarkets. If I needed any sugar, I’d buy some on my way back up the street.

Back at the house, I’d fill a pot, not a sauce pan, about half way with water, toss in the hibiscus flowers that I had bought, and place everything on the stove to boil. Some recipes claim that you should rinse the hibiscus flowers off before using them to prepare your Jamaica, but I never did this; I think they lose a bit of their flavor when rinsed. I would let the Jamaica boil until it rose to the top of the pot and began spilling over onto the stove. I never bothered timing it.

Tepoztlan, Morelos

I’d then pour the Jamaica into a large ceramic jug that I had bought in Tepoztlan, mixing it with cold, clean water and ice. I had to get my ice from an ice cream parlor down the street, but I imagine you’ve probably got some in the freezer. If you like, you can also add sugar to your Jamaica the same way you’d add it to lemonade or iced tea, but it’s not necessary. Sometimes I added sugar, sometimes I didn’t. Obviously, the taste of Jamaica is more bitter without the sugar, but it’s still delicious, especially if you drink it ice cold; I always left my Jamaica in the refrigerator for an hour or two before drinking it. At two or three o’clock we’d drink the Jamaica I had made with our meal, usually tacos, chiles rellenos, bistec a la mexicana, etc.

There are other types of aguas frescas, as they’re called in Mexico, besides Jamaica. One of my favorites is agua de horchata, which is made with rice. It’s awesome! Other good ones include agua de tamarindo and agua de limón, which I always used to drink at a burrito stand called El Gordo in Guanajuato, Guanajuato – shout out #2!! If you’re ever in Guanajuato, DON’T miss out on El Gordo! There’s also El Vagabundo, where you can get some of the best Mexican tortas I personally have ever had – they go great with a nice cool glass of Jamaica!