What to Drink Before and After a Peruvian Summer BBQ

The grill is the easy part. Anyone can throw anticuchos over coals or char a few choripanes until the edges blacken. What most people forget is the drinking part, and not the beer. In Peru, a long afternoon of grilled meat comes wrapped in a quiet rhythm of herbal drinks: something light before the food, something cold during, and almost always something warm and bitter once the plates are cleared and everyone is leaning back, a little too full.

It is not a health fad. It is just how an Andean or coastal Peruvian family paces a heavy meal so nobody spends the evening clutching their stomach. Here is how to borrow that rhythm for your own summer cookout, with honest notes on what each drink does and where the research actually stands.

Before the food: keep it light

The mistake people make at a barbecue is arriving hungry and immediately drinking something heavy and sugary. By the time the meat is ready, their appetite is wrecked and their stomach is already working overtime.

A Peruvian grandmother would hand you something gentler. Anise tea is a classic pre-meal sip. It tastes faintly of licorice, it is caffeine-free, and anethole, the compound that gives anise its smell, has a long folk reputation for settling a restless stomach before a big meal. The science here is modest. Anise has been studied more for after-eating bloating than as an appetizer, so treat the before-meal version as tradition rather than a proven trick. Still, a warm cup while the coals heat up beats a third soda.

If it is genuinely hot out, brew anise or muna strong, let it cool, and pour it over ice with a squeeze of lime. Peruvians do this constantly in the summer. The same herb works hot in the morning and iced in the afternoon.

During the meal: something cold and a little tart

This is where most American barbecues default to soda or beer, and there is nothing wrong with either. But if you have ever watched a Peruvian family eat, you will notice the table usually has a big jug of something purple or pale gold that is not alcoholic.

Chicha morada, made from purple corn, is the famous one, sweet and spiced with cinnamon and clove. At our shop we lean more toward the herbal side: a cold-brewed lemongrass or muna tea, lightly sweetened, holds up against fatty grilled meat better than you would expect. The slight bitterness cuts through the richness the way a squeeze of lime does on a taco. It also keeps people hydrated, which matters more than anyone admits when the sun is out and the food is salty.

One honest caveat: a cold herbal tea is not a digestive miracle during the meal. Its main job here is hydration and flavor, not breaking down your steak. The real digestive work comes after.

After the meal: the bitter cup that actually earns its place

This is the part Peruvians take seriously, and the part with the most tradition behind it. Once the eating slows down, out comes the bitter herbal tea. In the Andes, that is often muna, a wild high-altitude mint that grows above 3,000 meters. On the coast and in many homes, it is boldo, a glossy-leafed shrub whose tea has been the standard after-a-heavy-lunch drink for generations.

Boldo is the heavyweight here. Its leaves contain boldine, a compound that has been studied for supporting bile flow, which is part of how your body handles a fatty meal. The research is mostly preliminary and done in labs or animals rather than large human trials, so we will not promise it does anything dramatic. But there is a reason boldo shows up in Peruvian kitchens specifically after grilled meat and fried food, and not at breakfast.

Muna is the gentler option. It is minty, soothing, and traditionally sipped after meals across Cusco and Puno to ease that overstuffed feeling. If boldo is the strong espresso of after-dinner herbs, muna is the easygoing chamomile. For a backyard crowd that includes kids and people who do not love bitter flavors, muna is the safer crowd-pleaser.

A simple plan for your next cookout

You do not need to brew five different things. Pick one drink per phase and you will already be ahead of the standard soda-only table. Before the food, a light anise tea, hot or iced. During, a cold-brewed muna or lemongrass in a big pitcher so people pour their own. After, set out a pot of boldo tea for the adults who want the stronger digestive cup, and muna for everyone else.

If you want to brew the after-meal teas properly, keep the cup covered while it steeps. Muna and boldo both carry aromatic oils that drift off as steam if you leave the mug open, and those oils are most of the point. Five to seven minutes covered, then strain. You can browse the rest of our after-meal options in the digestive health collection if you want to build out the spread.

One real caution about boldo

Boldo is the one drink on this list that comes with a genuine warning, so we will not bury it. Boldo leaves contain a compound called ascaridole, and for that reason boldo is meant to be an occasional after-meal tea, not a daily habit. Keep it to a cup now and then around heavy meals rather than something you drink every morning. People who are pregnant, who are breastfeeding, who have liver or gallbladder disease, or who take prescription medications should skip boldo entirely and talk to a doctor first. Muna and anise are far gentler, but if you are pregnant or on medication, it is still worth a quick check with your healthcare provider before adding any new herb.

None of these drinks will undo a plate of three anticuchos and a mountain of fries, and they are not supposed to. They are just the small, civilized ending that keeps a big Peruvian meal from sitting like a brick. Try one at your next barbecue and see if the evening goes a little easier.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. Muna, anise, and boldo teas are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.