Local Drinks

1. Чой

   Choy

   Tea

   Usage

   A drink made by boiling or steeping the leaves of the tea plant. A choykhona (teahouse) is the place where people drink tea, and a modern choykhona also serves hot food, usually oshi palov. Tea is poured a little at a time into a shallow bowl and topped up

2. Чойи сиёҳ

   Cho-yi si-yoh

   Black tea

   Usage

   "Choyi siyoh" is built with the ezafe -i. Green tea is "choyi sabz". Black tea is the usual pour in winter and in cold mountain guesthouses

   Grammar Note

   The ezafe -и links a noun to the adjective that follows: choy + i + siyoh, "black tea". The same construction gives choyi sabz, green tea

3. Ширчой

   Shir-choy

   Shirchoy (milk boiled with tea, finished with butter)

   Usage

   Milk boiled with tea, eaten with clarified butter (raghani zard) stirred in. It is "eaten", not "drunk" — bread is usually broken into it for breakfast. Common in mountain households

4. Дӯғ

   Dugh

   Dugh (churned yoghurt drink with the fat taken off)

   Usage

   Jurghot with its fat churned out in a guppi, drunk in the hot season to quench thirst and served alongside other dishes. It is 91% water, 0.05–0.1% fat, 3–3.5% protein. Chakka and qurut are both made from it

5. Айрон

   Ay-ron

   Ayron (soured milk drink)

   Usage

   A jurghot-type drink that quenches thirst and aids digestion, made by souring camel, yak, goat or sheep milk in a mashk (skin bag) and leaving it 12–24 hours. It is widespread from Iran and Asia Minor through the Caucasus to Central Asia and Kazakhstan

6. Шарбат

   Shar-bat

   Sharbat (sweetened fruit-juice drink)

   Usage

   A sweet drink of pressed fruit juice mixed with sugar, credited with a medicinal effect.

7. Компот

   Kom-pot

   Kompot (drink of fruit simmered in sweetened water)

   Usage

   Murabbo, kompot and sharbat are cooked from fruit such as apricot, pear, plum and mango. In eateries it usually arrives in a jug on the table

8. Оби маъданӣ

   O-bi maʼ-da-ni

   Mineral water

   Usage

   Bottles are often carbonated, so ask for "obi oshomidani" (drinking water) if you want it still

   Grammar Note

   Ob (water) takes the ezafe -и to link to maʼdani. The final -ӣ of maʼdani is a separate, adjective-forming suffix, not the ezafe

9. Қаҳва

   Qah-va

   Coffee

   Usage

   The roasted, ground beans of a tropical tree, and the drink made by boiling the grounds or pouring hot water over them, with or without milk and sugar. Cafés exist in central Dushanbe, but outside the city tea is the default and coffee may simply not be available.

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