Egyptian Drinks Guide: Tea, Karkade, Coffee & What to Sip (2026)

The drinks worth trying in Egypt start with tea. Shai - strong black tea, poured extremely sweet and often with fresh mint - is the national cup and turns up everywhere, usually offered to you the moment you sit down or start browsing a shop. Beyond that: tart-red karkade (hibiscus), thick cardamom-scented ahwa (Turkish-style coffee), pale-green sugarcane juice from street presses, and warming winter drinks like sahlab and sobia. Alcohol exists but plays a quiet, background role. Here's what to order and when.

Drinks are woven into Egyptian hospitality - accepting a glass of tea from a host or shopkeeper is an everyday courtesy, not an obligation to buy. If you're getting to grips with the wider etiquette, our Egyptian culture and customs guide covers the social side; this one is about what's in the glass.

Tea (shai) - the national drink

Shai is Egypt's default beverage, drunk all day, in tiny glasses, strong and very sweet. There are two main styles: shai koshari (steeped, the more common) and shai saiidi (boiled hard, Upper Egyptian style, almost stewed). Mint (na'na) is a popular addition, especially in summer. If you don't want it drowned in sugar, say "sukkar shwaya" (a little sugar) or "min gheir sukkar" (no sugar) - though be warned the default is genuinely sweet. A glass at a local ahwa (cafe) costs just a few pounds and buys you a seat for as long as you like.

Karkade (hibiscus)

Karkade is dried hibiscus flowers steeped in hot water and sweetened - a deep ruby-red infusion that's tart, floral and refreshing. It's served hot in winter and, more famously, ice-cold in summer, when it's one of the best things you can drink in the heat. It's a traditional welcome drink at Nubian homes and in Aswan, where the best dried hibiscus is sold by the bag in the spice souk. Karkade is caffeine-free and vegan, and it doubles as a classic Egyptian souvenir - buy a bag of the flowers and brew it at home.

Coffee (ahwa)

Egyptian coffee is Turkish-style: finely ground beans simmered in a small long-handled pot (kanaka) and poured, grounds and all, into a small cup. It's thick, intense, and often scented with cardamom (hab-bahan). Order it by sweetness, not size:

• Ahwa sada - no sugar
• Ahwa mazbout - medium (lightly sweet)
• Ahwa ziyada - extra sweet

Let it settle for a minute so the grounds sink, and don't drink the sludge at the bottom. The traditional cafe where men sit for hours over coffee, tea and shisha is itself called an ahwa - the word does double duty for both the drink and the place.

The cold and seasonal drinks

Sugarcane juice (aseer asab) is the great Egyptian street drink - fresh cane stalks fed through a press to yield a pale-green, intensely sweet juice, drunk on the spot. You'll see the presses all over Cairo and in every town, often at bright juice bars. It's a summer staple and dirt cheap. It's also fresh-pressed to order, which makes it a safer street bet than pre-poured drinks.

Sahlab is a winter warmer: hot milk thickened into a creamy, custard-like drink, sweetened and scented with rosewater, then topped with cinnamon, chopped nuts, coconut or raisins. It's rich, comforting, and the thing to order on a cool Cairo evening.

Sobia is a creamy, sweet coconut-and-rice milk drink, especially associated with Ramadan. Cool, filling and dessert-like.

Fresh juices more broadly are a highlight - mango (manga), guava (gawafa), orange, pomegranate, lemon-mint - blended to order at juice bars for pocket change.

Drink	What it is	Best served	Notes
Shai	Sweet black tea, often minted	Hot, all year	The national cup; very sweet by default
Karkade	Hibiscus infusion	Hot in winter, iced in summer	Tart, caffeine-free, vegan
Ahwa	Turkish-style coffee, often cardamom	Hot, small cup	Order by sweetness; don't drink the grounds
Aseer asab	Fresh sugarcane juice	Ice-cold, summer	Street presses; fresh to order
Sahlab	Sweet thickened hot milk	Hot, winter	Rich, with cinnamon and nuts
Sobia	Coconut-rice milk drink	Cold	Ramadan favourite

Water and staying hydrated

Stick to bottled or filtered water - tap water isn't reliably safe for visitors and it's the usual cause of upset stomachs. Bottled water is cheap and everywhere; a large bottle costs a handful of pounds. Skip ice in cheaper places unless you know it's from filtered water, and be a little cautious with pre-poured cold drinks from unknown sources - freshly pressed juice you watch being made is a safer bet. In the heat of summer or on temple days in Luxor and Aswan, drink far more than you think you need.

What about alcohol?

Egypt is a Muslim-majority country, so alcohol is legal but low-key - not woven into daily life the way it is in Europe, and rarely drunk in public. That said, it's readily available to tourists.

The local beer is Stella (a lager brewed in Egypt since 1897, unrelated to Stella Artois) and the slightly stronger Sakara. Egypt also makes its own wine - Omar Khayyam is the best-known label - and local spirits. You'll find these in hotel and resort bars, licensed restaurants, and at Drinkies, the licensed off-licence chain (with delivery in some cities). Airport duty-free on arrival is another option. Local beer from a shop runs roughly the equivalent of $1-2 a bottle; hotel bars charge several times that. Most all-inclusive Red Sea resorts include local beer, wine and spirits in the package.

A few sensible rules: buy only from licensed sources, drink in private or licensed venues rather than public spaces, and note the legal drinking age is 21. During Ramadan, alcohol service is more restricted - many restaurants pause it, though tourist hotels generally still serve. For more on that, see our note on visiting during the holy month in the culture and customs guide.

The one drink not to miss

If you try nothing else, sit down at a street-side ahwa, order a glass of mint tea, and just watch the neighbourhood go by for an hour - it's the most Egyptian thing you can do for the price of small change. In summer, chase it with an ice-cold karkade or a sugarcane juice from the corner press. Hungry too? Pair your drinks with the dishes in our Egyptian food guide, and browse Cairo food and cafe experiences on our search page.