The Ginja Question: What Lisbon Drinks and Why

Before I understood Lisbon I thought ginja was a tourist drink. The shot glasses in the chocolate cups outside the cathedral, the old men selling from small windows, the bright red liqueur that every guidebook mentions and no one explains. It looked like a prop.

Then I had a proper ginja at A Ginjinha (Largo de São Domingos 8, Baixa), which has been on that square since 1840 and sells nothing else. A tiny bar, standing room only, a single drink, 1.40 euros. I understood immediately that this was not a tourist drink. This is what the city drinks. The tourists found it later.

The ginja is a sour cherry liqueur from the Obidos region, aged in oak, sweet and slightly bitter. Served cold, in small glasses, with or without the cherries depending on your preference. In the right place it is not a novelty. It is a fact of being in Lisbon in the same way a bica is a fact.

Lisbon also drinks wine seriously. The wine bars in Bairro Alto and Chiado are the relevant places: Tasco do Chico for the fado-and-wine combination, the Taberna da Rua das Flores (Rua das Flores 103, Chiado) for Portuguese regional wines with food. Natural wine has arrived in Lisbon as it has arrived everywhere but it has not yet overwhelmed what was already here. There are still places where you order a vinho verde or an Alentejo red and drink it without performance.

Go to A Ginjinha once. Order without the chocolate cup. Stand at the counter. This is the instruction.