The sound you make when something hits exactly right. Relief, delight, the first sip on a hot afternoon.
From the family tables I grew up at, to the people I grew up with, to the drink in my hand that makes me feel worthy of the moment.
I grew up between two worlds, and the years that shaped me most were the ones I spent as a kid in Calcutta, where every meal was an event and every drink had a reason. Imli ki chutney thinned with soda, handed over by my nana on a scorching afternoon. Aam panna from roasted green mangoes, smoky and tart, poured tall with torn mint. Nimbu paani with cumin after a bad day. Sharbat the colour of rose, always filled a little too high.
In our cooking there are six tastes, the rasas: sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter and astringent. A good drink touches several at once, and that's what makes it feel finished instead of just nice. One glass could cool you down and steady you at the same time. UFF! is built the same way: mango for sweetness, tamarind for the pucker, a little chili for warmth, salt to hold it all together.
Imli is the reason the first sip makes you pause. Tangy, bright, a little funky in the best way, it wakes up your palate and keeps the mango's sweetness honest. Most drinks lead with sugar. Ours leads with the pucker, and that's why it doesn't get boring halfway through the can.
After a string of health issues, including a brain stent surgery, I cut out alcohol. Call it a quarter-life crisis: I gave up my lease and spent seven months travelling solo through seven countries. Travel runs on alcohol — the wine in Italy, the mezcal in Mexico, the cocktail bar in every hotel lobby. I drank a lot of sad mocktails and tried every non-alcoholic spritz I could find. Not one was the drink I wanted, so I came home and made it.
UFF! is the drink for the dinner party that runs late, for long sunsets and longer laughs, for the people you love and the nights you don't want to end. Real fruit, whole spices, flavors that deserve the front of the shelf. It's available now. If you've been waiting for this too, come get a case.
Usage“One sip in, she said it out loud. UFF! That’s the whole sentence.”
See alsohai, oof, and wow (insufficient).
The flavors that raised us deserve to lead.
