Jamu

There is a folk tale that Indonesian princesses would drink jamu to sustain eternal youth and beauty to serve their kings. Certainly these herbal tonics seem to have originated in the royal courts of Java more than a thousand years ago and are still drunk widely today. Sometimes they are taken as powerful natural medicines, other times for health-giving properties. Jamu falls into eight taste groups, each representing a different stage of life, and ideally you should drink one after another, working your way from a sweet-sour childhood, through the spicy teenage years and eventually culminating in a sweet end of life. Many are delightful, including an inky green betel leaf extract with a spicy fragrance, and vivid yellow turmeric and lime elixir that you can feel doing you good. Others are a real test, such as sambiloto jamu, which can cure or frighten away ailments with its excruciating bitterness.