We serve up everything you need! Let’s start by quenching our thirst with a good old’ glass of lassi! A massive portion of buttermilk curd is churned in a blender or ‘madhani’, and seasoned with roasted, salted cumin seeds, crushed mint and ice. the sugary version ramps up the calories with dollops of fresh butter.

Buttermilk, lassi or chhaas is the classic beverage to beat the Indian summer heat. The drink has as many names as regional variants but no one does it like the Punjabis: loud and robust, just like them. A massive portion of buttermilk curd is churned in a blender or ‘madhani’, and seasoned with roasted, salted cumin seeds, crushed mint and ice. The sugary version ramps up the calories with dollops of fresh butter.

Then there’s the real Punjabi lassi drinking ritual to contend with. The beverage is poured into a tall brass cup holding 600-700ml and presented, frothing, with beaming smiles encouraging a second, third, and even fourth helping. In the summer, lassi is a permanent fixture in most Punjabi households, at breakfast with aloo de paranthe, for lunch and in the evenings too, to beat the heatwave or ‘loo’ as it sweeps through the state.

Almost all the roadside dhabas in Punjab insist that meals are finished with a sugared or salted lassi and it’s common to see truckers downing them by the litre in many places.

Lassi is also known to have an intoxicating effect, but unlike alcohol, it just brings on drowsiness for a while: long enough for a nap on a sweltering afternoon.

Less grand variations exist in other states. Uttar Pradesh has its bhang (cannabis) lassi, while in Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Gujarat the butter is removed and the beverage is diluted with water, a healthier option, and perhaps more cooling.

But none produce quite as much lassi as the Punjab, whose villages are famous for their abundant supplies of milk products. In 2008, an ad campaign for HSBC (written by Jeffree Benet of JWT Hong Kong), depicted a Polish white goods manufacturer’s representative sent out to discover why sales in India were so high. On arriving, he stumbled across a lassi parlour, where he was warmly welcomed, and shown several washing machines. The owner told him “I can now mix ten times as much lassi as I used to!”

As a child, I used to drink a lot of ‘aam panna’ — the mango-based summer drink, which is a great cool-down therapy.

Jeet Verma, Bar Manager, Masti – Cocktails & Cuisine, Downtown Dubai

We sat down with Jeet Verma, Bar Manager, Masti – Cocktails & Cuisine, Downtown Dubai, one of the youngest bar professionals in the region, to speak of summer beverages.

Jeet Verma, Jeet’s stint in hospitality started rather early as he grew up in his family-owned restaurants in Rajasthan, India. Later, he graduated from a hospitality school in Goa, India. His journey as a bartender began when a friend showed him a video of Alexander Shtifanov, the world-famous flair bartender. This curiosity led him to start his career with flair bartending, but eventually, he moved to full-time mixology, for it allowed him to be creative with new flavours and concepts for cocktails.

“We serve a Mellow-Yellow, which takes me back to my childhood days of gulping glasses of aam panne. it’s made with homemade mango syrup, cinnamon cordial, and zero-alcohol wine,” he said. The refreshing, tangy, fruity and well-balanced is hugely popular, “It’s one of the favourite mocktails with Indians and even Emiratis.” He’s passionate about bridging the gap between the bar and the kitchen world, learning new flavours and techniques which could be used in the beverage world.

Want to make yourself a cooler? Jeet shares a recipe — “Mum-Bay”, an iced tea-style mocktail — for refreshing, floral, and bitter notes on the palate. Ingredients: Lyre’s Spritz 30ml, Blackcurrant & Hibiscus Tea 60ml, Pink Ginger Cordial 15ml, Rhubarb Soda 30ml, Rose Lemonade 40ml. Mix them up, and voila!

(With inputs from Team, Trumpet Blowers)

Keep blowing the Trumpet! This & many more stories await!