Roaming South America

Chicha: The Many Faces of an Andean-Amazonian Drink

September 21, 2025

When you travel through Ecuador and Perú, the word chicha pops up in conversations like it’s one universal drink. But here’s the trick: chicha doesn’t mean the same thing everywhere — and what arrives in your cup (or gourd bowl) might surprise you.

Chicha in Perú

In Perú, chicha is everywhere. The purple, non-alcoholic chicha morada is basically the national soft drink, sold in every restaurant. Sweet, fruity, and spiced with cinnamon and clove, it’s so refreshing you’ll order a second glass without thinking twice. Then there’s chicha de jora, the highland corn beer. Farmers sip it daily, roadside stalls sell it in plastic jugs, and it shows up at festivals in big clay mugs called potos. It’s tangy, sour, and rustic — a little funky, like a homemade craft brew that doesn’t always follow the recipe.

Chicha in Ecuador

Cross into Ecuador, and things change. You rarely see chicha for sale in towns. In the Sierra, chicha de jora still exists, but it’s mostly tucked away in Indigenous communities, saved for fiestas and rituals. On the coast, fruit-based chichas might appear during celebrations, but they’re not part of daily life. And in the Amazon? That’s where chicha still reigns — but not in the way travelers might expect.

Chicha de Yuca, AKA Masato - Strong and not Sweet

In places like Coca, Ecuador, you’ll hear about chicha de yuca, also called masato in Perú. This isn’t a sweet soda — it’s a daily staple in Kichwa and Shuar homes, served in big bowls to family and guests alike. Thick, earthy, sometimes sour, it’s made from cassava that’s boiled, mashed, and fermented. Traditionally, the fermentation was started by chewing the cassava and spitting it back into the batch — a fact that either fascinates or terrifies outsiders. But the meaning of the drink is bigger than its flavor: sharing chicha is the Amazonian equivalent of offering coffee or tea. Refuse it, and you risk refusing their welcome.

So is chicha “necessary”?

No, not necessarily. Not because it is or isn't delicious or refreshing. It’s necessary because it’s cultural currency — a sip of belonging.

If you’re traveling through the region, here’s what to expect:

• Chicha morada (purple corn, often fruit-spiced) — sweet, refreshing, safe. Like ordering fruit punch with cinnamon at a market stall, but all natural. Basically Peru’s national soft drink, second only to Inca Kola.
  • Fruit-based chichas during fiestas (e.g., chicha de piña, papaya).
  • Usually lighter, sweeter, and only semi-fermented.
  • Not common day-to-day.
• Chicha de jora (fermented maize beer) — tangy, gritty, sour/bready. Good for people who like beers with character. Used in rituals, but also just a farmer’s daily beer.
  • Found in Indigenous communities (Otavalo, Saraguro, Chimborazo region)
  • Usually tied to fiestas, rituals, or family gatherings
  • Rare in city life; almost invisible in restaurants
  • Sometimes made with fruit added (naranjilla, babaco)
• Chicha de yuca / masato — thick, earthy, more texture than flavor sometimes. You sip respectfully; the flavor is less the point than the act of sharing. Sometimes offered to tourists as part of “community visits.”
  • Made daily in Kichwa, Shuar, Waorani households.
  • Offered to guests in bowls. Strong tradition of hospitality.
  • Not commercial — you only get it if you go into communities.
  • Sometimes they also ferment chonta (peach palm fruit) seasonally.

Take a sip, smile, say thanks, and pass the bowl along. You don’t have to love every version of chicha — but by trying it, you’re tasting not just a drink, but centuries of tradition still alive today.

Chicha: Sips, Stories, & Surprises in the Amazon-Andes

When you travel, you expect plazas, rivers, markets. What you don’t always expect is a bowl of fermented cassava, passed around like sacred water. But in Coca — and in many spots across Ecuador and Peru — that bowl is chicha, and it tells a whole story.

Walking Through Town & Into Flavor

Right now, I'm in Coca, Ecuador. This town is in the western Amazon Basin. Coca has the malecón, river views, boats, jungle smells — but chicha de yuca is one of those small things you might miss unless someone offers. And when they do, suddenly you’re part of something deeper: community, tradition, belonging.

Sitting With the Bowl: Culture & Courtesy

Having the bowl handed to you is the ritual: don’t refuse. A couple of polite sips, a smile, a “gracias por compartir,” and you’re in. If you’ve had chicha de jora before, it’s easier. If it’s masato, brace for surprises — but it’s still an honor.

The texture, taste, sourness vary by who made it, how long it fermented, whether they used saliva in the starter (yes, that’s often part of traditional masato prep), how much water or cassava starch. So don’t judge one bowl by another.

More than the Flavor

• Chicha connects land, people, history. The types of corn, the cassava, the taste, even the fermentation method link you back centuries.
• It’s hospitality. In the Amazon, refusing feels like refusing welcome.
• Tradition & identity: highland women in places like Nabón, Cuenca, are reviving chicha de jora not just as food/drink, but as cultural sovereignty. There’s pride and memory in every grain.

Type	Flavor / Texture	Where You’ll Find It	What to Do When it Arrives
Chicha morada	Sweet, fruity, mild	Everywhere Peru; tourist/restaurants	Drink freely. Compliment sugar/fruits
Chicha de jora	Sour, tangy, “rustic beer”	High Andes (Peru & Ecuador), farms, fiestas	Sip, compare to beer. Be honest.
Chicha de yuca / masato	Earthy, thick, sometimes chewy/sour	Amazon docks, Indigenous homes, villages	Take a small bowl, hand-around, thank deeply.

References & “Proof from the Field”

Here are some verified sources if you want to drop in footnotes or “further reading”:

• Traditional Fermented Foods from Ecuador: A Review (Guerra et al., 2022) — compares many fermented drinks, including chicha de jora and chicha de yuca.
  PMC
• Local domestication of lactic acid bacteria via cassava beer... (Colehour et al., 2014) — about Shuar people in the Ecuadorian Amazon, daily cassava chicha, microbes etc.
  PMC
• Saccharomyces cerevisiae populations & other yeasts associated with indigenous beers (chicha) of Ecuador (Piló et al.) — scientific look at yeast diversity in chicha produced from various sources like maize/cassava.
  Pubmed
• Fermented beverages among indigenous Latin American societies (Lasso García et al., 2024) — insights on chicha de yuca: nutritional value, preparation, tradition.
  Frontiers
• “Ancestral Peruvian ethnic fermented beverage ‘Chicha de Guiñapo’ …” (Vargas-Yana et al., 2020) — on purple corn chicha in Arequipa, health benefits & historical roots.
  Journal of Ethnic Foods
• News piece: De la cosecha al restaurante: las mujeres ecuatorianas que revitalizan la chicha (El País, 2025) — how women in the highlands are reviving chicha de jora as heritage/cultural/political act.
  El Pais

My Impressions

Coca isn’t just river + market: it’s a junction of stories. Each bowl of chicha is one of them. If you’re blogging towns, don’t gloss over the small rituals. Those sips are more memorable than many big tourist sights.