Aguardente de cana, sugarcane spirit distilled on the island, stirred with bee honey and citrus juice using a grooved wooden stick called a caralhinho. Sharp, sweet and considerably stronger than it tastes.
Where to eat it: 1 restaurant across 1 city.
Poncha started as a fisherman's drink on Madeira's south coast, made from the cane spirit that was a by-product of the sugar industry and drunk against cold and damp. The traditional version is lemon, honey and aguardente in fixed proportions, stirred rather than shaken with the caralhinho, a stick turned specifically for the job. Passion fruit and tangerine versions came with tourism and are now poured alongside the original in the Zona Velha and in the poncha bars of Câmara de Lobos, which remain the reference point.
Tip from the editors. Dissolve the honey into the juice before the spirit goes in. Add the aguardente first and the honey will sink and stay there.
Barreirinha Bar Café sits above the old bathing complex in the Funchal Zona Velha, a seafront terrace running from morning coffee to weekend DJs.
Try: Poncha and snacks
Order: A poncha on the terrace as the light goes off the water.
Tip: Morning coffee and late drinks happen in the same room. Weekends run to 02:00.
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