Poncha Bars in Madeira: Where to Drink It and How

A proper poncha is made in front of you, in a small bar, for a few euros. Lemon, honey and sugarcane spirit go into a jug, someone spins a wooden stick between their palms until the honey has vanished, and the glass is in your hand in under a minute. Which bar matters less than whether it is made that way.

In short

• The classic is poncha pescador: lemon, honey, cane spirit. The fruit versions are softer and easier.
• Watch it being made. A poncha poured from a bottle is a different drink.
• It is mostly spirit, and it does not taste like it. Count each glass as a double.
• The best poncha bars are small, cheap and away from the Funchal seafront.
• If you are driving, have it at the end of the day, not in the middle.

What goes into it

Three things and a stick.

• Aguardente de cana. A clear spirit distilled from Madeiran sugarcane, usually 40 per cent or more. You can see it made at Porto da Cruz (more below).
• Honey. Bee honey in most bars. Some add cane honey (mel de cana) for a darker, deeper taste.
• Citrus. Fresh lemon juice for the traditional version. Passion fruit, tangerine and orange for the others.

The stick is the mexelote (you will also hear it called the caralhinho, a word best not translated at the family table). It has a small star or disc at the bottom and is rolled fast between the palms until the honey dissolves into the spirit.

The versions you will see

Start with a pescador so you know what the drink is, then order what you like.

How to tell a good poncha bar

• The jug is on the counter. Fresh lemons, a jar of honey, the stick. That is the whole kit.
• You stand. Poncha is drunk at the bar on the way from one thing to another. A stool is a luxury.
• There is something salty. Peanuts in their shells or tremoços (lupin beans), free or nearly.
• The price is low. In a village bar a poncha costs a few euros. In Funchal’s old town it is more, and no better for it.

Be wary of the reverse: a laminated menu of twenty flavours with cocktail names, and a glass that arrives at your table ready poured.

Where to drink it

Our own short list, sorted by the kind of stop it is rather than by fame: shop counters, a harbour square, mountain roads, a market stall. Opening days vary, so check before you make a trip of it.

Behind a grocery counter: central Funchal

The old way to drink poncha in the city is standing at the back of a mercearia, the corner grocery. These keep shop hours and close on Sundays, so go before dinner.

• A Mercadora, Rua do Hospital Velho. Next to the Mercado dos Lavradores, open since 1966 and still fitted out with its original shelving. The poncha is served at the little tavern inside the shop. It closes early on Fridays and Saturdays. A poncha here fits neatly around the market, which is also where the Fisherman’s Quarter walk begins.
• Mercearia do Bento, Rua dos Tanoeiros. On one of the oldest streets in town, in the Bento family since 1974. The bar is a small counter at the side of the shop, and the poncha is what people come in for. Closed on Sundays and holidays, with shorter hours on Saturdays.
• Rei da Poncha, Rampa do Cidrão, a few steps from Mercearia do Bento. When the grocery is shut, this one stays open into the evening, until midnight during the week and 1 am on Fridays and Saturdays (closed on Sundays). More flavours than the mercearias, busiest on Friday nights, peanuts or tremoços with each round, and ponchas from roughly €2.50.

Old town after dark

The Zona Velha, around Rua de Santa Maria, is where Funchal goes out. It is touristy and the dearest area on this list. The painted doors on the same street are the heart of the Doors of Funchal walk.

• Venda Velha, Rua de Santa Maria. Open from late afternoon into the small hours, with DJs some nights. Its party piece is the metre of poncha: a long wooden board of small glasses in mixed flavours, built for a group. Loud and fun if that is the evening you want.

Câmara de Lobos: where it started

The fishing town 20 minutes west of Funchal is where poncha is said to have begun, as the drink fishermen took before going to sea. Several poncha bars line Largo do Poço, the square by the harbour. It is also where the West Coast audio tour starts, so a poncha at the end of the day brings you back where you began.

• Bar Filhos D’Mar, Largo do Poço. Pouring for more than 40 years, and often named as the best poncha in town. The pescador is stirred with the stick in front of you, and there are a couple of house inventions if you want something odder.

In the hills: Serra de Água and Poiso

• Taberna da Poncha, Serra de Água. On the old road up the Ribeira Brava valley towards Encumeada, open every day from the morning until late, and going for about 70 years. The floor crunches with peanut shells, because that is where they go, and the walls are papered with business cards. Tour groups stop at midday, so late afternoon is better. A fair reward after the Vereda da Encumeada.
• Casa de Abrigo do Poiso, ER103. An old stone mountain shelter at about 1,400 m, on the road between Funchal and Pico do Areeiro, now a restaurant with a big bar and a fireplace that is lit for much of the year. It has long been known for its poncha; recent reviews describe a new owner, so check it is still made fresh at the bar. The place to thaw out after sunrise on the peak or the Vereda do Areeiro, with a bowl of soup. Remember you are on a mountain road: one glass, or a driver who is not drinking.

The east: the rum mill and a Sunday market

• Engenhos do Norte, Porto da Cruz. One of the last mills still making aguardente de cana, steam-driven, in a building from 1927, beside the Porto da Cruz beach. It is open to visitors all year, and from March to May you can watch the cane being crushed. Next door you can taste the spirit on its own, and have a poncha made with it.
• Barraca d’Avó, Santo da Serra market. A stall at the Sunday farmers’ market in Santo António da Serra, about half an hour from Funchal. Locals lean on the counter for a morning poncha, which may come with milho frito (fried cornmeal cubes). The market runs from about 9:00 into the afternoon; get there before 11:00 to beat the crowd.

Drinking it sensibly

Poncha is sweet and cold and goes down fast. That is the trap. Most of the glass is cane spirit, so a single poncha holds more alcohol than a large glass of wine. Eat something with it (the peanuts are there for a reason), and do not have one before a mountain road.

Portugal’s drink-drive limit is 0.5 g/l, and 0.2 g/l if you have held your licence for less than three years, which is lower than in England and Wales. Outside Funchal, most of the bars above are reached by car, so the easiest plan is a taxi, or one poncha at the end of the drive. Our driving guide has more on the roads themselves, and what to eat and drink covers the rest of what you will find in the glass.

The Tropi Guide app’s road tours finish in the right towns for a poncha, and they work offline in the valleys where your signal drops.