Madrid’s last traditional drinks kiosk offers relief from rising heat

 In Madrid’s city centre, Jesus Manuel Garcia is keeping alive a family tradition stretching back more than a century, running a small drinks kiosk known as an 'aguaducho' that his parents opened in 1944.

The roots of the business go even further back to 1910, when Garcia’s great-grandparents first began serving refreshments to passersby in the Spanish capital.

On Tuesday (May 26), as temperature rises in Spain amid a heatwave blanketing other parts of Europe, Garcia offers a range of traditional drinks, including barley water, lemonade slushies and horchata, a sweet beverage made from tiger nuts. 

The drinks at his Narvaez Horchata Kiosk are prepared using natural ingredients and little sugar, which Garcia said keeps them light and refreshing in Madrid’s summer heat.

His customers include long-time residents of the Salamanca neighbourhood as well as tourists drawn by a plaque installed by the city authorities that officially identifies the stand as the last remaining aguaducho in Madrid.

“We are thankful that clients come here every day to freshen up, and to battle Madrid’s suffocating heat with our beverages,” Garcia said, as small queues formed to sample the icy drinks.

Production: Michael Gore, Nina Lopez/Reuters