Bissap, gnamakoudji (ginger juice) and bangui palm wine: everyday drinks in Côte d'Ivoire

In Côte d'Ivoire (in West Africa, French-speaking, the world's largest cocoa producer), besides soft drinks and beer, you will often come across three local drinks: deep-purple bissap, fiery ginger gnamakoudji, and milky-white bangui palm wine. They turn up at roadside stalls, in maquis (inexpensive open-air eateries), at weddings and at festivals, and are a shortcut to understanding everyday local tastes.

Bissap: a deep-purple hibiscus drink

Bissap is made by boiling the dried calyces of roselle (Hibiscus sabdariffa, known in French as oseille de Guinée), then sweetening it with sugar; it is usually served chilled. The name bissap comes from Wolof, a language of Senegal, and red drinks of this kind are popular throughout West Africa; elsewhere they go by other names, such as zobo in Nigeria and karkadé in Egypt.

In Côte d'Ivoire, bissap is sold by street vendors, at drinks wholesalers, in restaurants and in supermarkets. It is a staple at gatherings such as weddings, and demand rises during Ramadan.

Gnamakoudji: ginger juice with a kick

Gnamakoudji is a drink made from fresh ginger: the ginger is grated or blended into a paste, the juice is squeezed out through a cloth, and pineapple juice, lemon and sometimes vanilla are added before it is served chilled. It is common in Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal, Mali, Guinea and Benin.

The name is generally thought to come from Dioula, meaning something like "spicy water" — a fitting description of ginger's pungent heat. Many locals prefer it freshly made and properly hot, and tend to think little of bottled versions. If you are trying it for the first time, take a small sip to test the heat.

Bangui: wine that flows from the palm tree

Bangui is the common Ivorian name for palm wine, made by the natural fermentation of palm sap: freshly tapped, it is rather sweet; left to stand, it gradually ferments and becomes alcoholic, turning milky white and slightly fizzy. Different ethnic groups have their own names for it: the Abidji people, north-east of Abidjan, for example, call it morlorlofou, and places where palm wine is drunk are often called bandjidrome.

Commonly used species in Côte d'Ivoire include the oil palm, the raffia palm and the ron palm. The traditional way of tapping an oil palm is to fell the tree and cut an opening in its heart to draw off the sap, so the tree does not survive; raffia and ron palms are mostly tapped from the top of the living tree.

Palm wine is more than a drink. Among the Abidji, for example, it is used for libations or shared at the Dipri new-year festival, at engagements and bride-price ceremonies, at funerals and in ancestral rites; it is also drunk to restore strength after farm work and at gatherings with family and friends. In some villages, tapping palm sap is also an important source of income.

The three drinks at a glance

One line for Asian readers

Bissap tastes much like the roselle (hibiscus) tea familiar in Taiwan, and gnamakoudji is like a strong ginger juice with pineapple; as for bangui, if you are invited to a ceremony, first watch how your hosts pour libations and share it, then simply follow their lead.

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References: Wikipedia – Ivorian cuisine; NKOSI – Guide des boissons africaines; Aziato et al., Int. J. Biol. Chem. Sci. (2020); Essoh et al. – Le vin de palme chez les Abidji (2023); Scientific Reports – Palm wine in Côte d'Ivoire (2020); The Africa You Don't Know – Ya bissap, ya gnamakoudji (2012)