Mauby

Mauby (in Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Lucia, St.Kitts and Nevis Jamaica, St. Vincent and The Grenadines, Grenada, Guyana, Bermuda, Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda and Anguilla), also known as maví (or mabí) in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, mabi in Haiti and Martinique, and maubi in the Virgin Islands and Dutch Caribbean islands of St. Eustatius, St. Maarten and Saba), is a tree bark-based beverage grown, and widely consumed, in the Caribbean. It is made with sugar and the bark and/or fruit of certain species in the genus Colubrina including Colubrina elliptica (also called behuco indio) and Colubrina arborescens, a small tree native to the northern Caribbean and south Florida. Recipes usually include other ingredients as well, spices such as aniseed being very common. Mauby was traditionally a fermented beverage made in small batches, but is now predominantly a commercial non-fermented soft drink.[1]

Fruit stand selling mavi at a car show in Puerto Rico

Maví bottles from Ponce, Puerto Rico; left bottle has mabí, the right one is empty

Haiti and the Dominican Republic are two of the largest Caribbean exporters of the bark and leaves. Often the drink is fermented using a portion of the previous batch, while sometimes it is consumed unfermented. Mauby is often bought as a pre-made syrup and then mixed with water (sparkling or still) to the consumer's taste, but many make it themselves at home or purchase it from neighbourhood producers or street sellers. Its taste is initially sweet, somewhat like root beer, but changes to a prolonged, but not astringent bitter aftertaste. To many, it is an acquired taste, and has been known to cause an initial laxative reaction unexpected to many first-time drinkers.