Bolivia’s drinks are shaped by the same forces as its food: altitude, climate and history. On the cold Altiplano, mornings start with thick, hot corn drinks that feel more like breakfast than a beverage. In the warm valleys, fermented corn beer has been brewed for centuries and still flows in traditional chicherías. The southern valleys around Tarija and Chuquisaca grow grapes at remarkable altitudes, producing wine and singani, Bolivia’s national spirit. And in the tropical lowlands, fruit juices and chilled corn drinks take over.
For travelers, the drinks are one of the easiest and most enjoyable ways to connect with local culture. You can sip api at a market stall with office workers at 7 a.m., share a Paceña with new friends at sunset, or join a toast where a few drops are poured on the ground for Pachamama, Mother Earth. Every drink comes with a story.
If you are also planning what to eat, our Bolivian food guide and our guide to the best street food in Bolivia pair well with this one.
Api is the drink of the Bolivian breakfast, and if you visit La Paz, it should be one of the first things you try. It is made from ground corn, most often purple corn (api morado), cooked with water, cinnamon, cloves and sugar until thick, sometimes with fruit or orange peel added. The result is a hot, sweet, slightly spiced drink somewhere between a smoothie and a thin porridge. A white version, api blanco, is made with white corn and often milk, and many stalls will happily mix the two.
Api is ancient. The name comes from the Quechua word for a thick corn mazamorra, and according to the Wikipedia entry on api, the drink has been consumed since pre-Columbian times and was mentioned by the chronicler Inca Garcilaso de la Vega. It is widely sold at La Paz’s Alasita fair and in the markets of Oruro, and its smell fills bus terminals and cold Altiplano afternoons.
Api almost always comes with a pastel, a large fried pastry filled with cheese and dusted with sugar, or with buñuelos, sweet fritters. In La Paz, the morning stalls at Mercado Rodríguez and Mercado Lanza are great places to try it. Go before 10 a.m. for the freshest pots.
Tojorí is api’s lesser-known cousin, made from ground white corn cooked with cinnamon and cloves into a thick, creamy drink. It is less sweet and less colorful than api morado, but just as warming, and it is especially popular in La Paz and Oruro on cold mornings.
Coca tea, made by steeping coca leaves in hot water, is everywhere in the Bolivian Andes. Hotels and hostels often offer it free at reception, and many travelers drink it to help with the altitude. It has a mild, grassy flavor, similar to green tea, and a gentle stimulant effect that most people compare to a weak coffee.
Coca is legal and culturally important in Bolivia, where the leaf has been used in traditional medicine, rituals and daily life for thousands of years. It is worth knowing, though, that while coca tea is a popular altitude remedy, its effectiveness has never been systematically studied, so it should not replace sensible acclimatization. Our altitude sickness guide covers the proven basics.
There are also two important rules for travelers:
If you are heading to high-altitude adventures in Peru, such as Rainbow Mountain with Rainbow Mountain Travels, you will likely be offered coca tea there too. Enjoy it locally, and leave it behind when you fly home.
Bolivian cafés and homes also serve a range of herbal teas, known as mates, including anise (mate de anís), chamomile (manzanilla) and other local herbs. Many Bolivians drink them after meals to aid digestion, which, after a plate of pique macho, is very understandable.
Bolivian lunch almost always comes with a refresco, a homemade cold drink. These are some of the most common.
One caution: refrescos and blended juices may be made with tap water or served with ice. Homemade refrescos are usually made with boiled water, but it is always worth asking, especially in your first days. Our guide to drinking water in Bolivia explains the risks.
Chicha is a fermented corn drink that has been brewed in the Andes since long before the Inca, and in Bolivia it is most closely associated with the Cochabamba valleys. It is cloudy, yellowish, lightly sour and mildly alcoholic, with a yeasty, earthy flavor that divides opinion. Some travelers compare it to a rustic farmhouse beer. Others compare it to something less flattering.
The drink is deeply rooted in Cochabamba’s history. According to the coordinator of a chichería museum in Tarata, quoted by the Cochabamba newspaper Los Tiempos, chicha was Cochabamba’s first industry, produced in large volumes and sent to Bolivia’s mining centers and major cities. The most common version uses yellow corn, but chicha can also be made with purple corn and even with quinoa, amaranth and other Andean grains.
Traditional chicherías are often simple, unmarked homes rather than bars. In Bolivia, a white flag or cloth hung outside a door usually signals that fresh chicha is ready. Towns around Cochabamba such as Quillacollo and Punata are well known for it, and our Cochabamba guide covers the region.
A word of caution: chicha is homemade, fermented in large vessels, and can be tough on unprepared stomachs. Try a small glass rather than a full jug, choose a busy chichería, and do not plan it the night before a long bus journey.
Singani is a clear grape brandy and the pride of Bolivia. It has been produced for around five centuries, originally to supply the wealthy silver-mining city of Potosí, and today it is the base of Bolivia’s favorite cocktails.
What makes singani unique is the law behind it. According to the Wikipedia entry on singani, it is protected as a Denomination of Origin and Geographical Indication by the Bolivian government, and since the 1990s formal regulations have required the grapes to be grown at 1,600 meters (about 5,250 feet) or higher. It must be made from a single grape variety, Muscat of Alexandria, which gives it an intensely floral aroma. As Wine Enthusiast reports, production is legally restricted to specific high valleys, including Tarija, La Paz, Chuquisaca and Cinti, and the Casa Real distillery in Tarija produces around 80 percent of domestic bottles. The spirit gained international attention when filmmaker Steven Soderbergh launched his Singani 63 label in the United States.
Travelers often compare singani with Peruvian pisco, and they are relatives, but singani’s single grape, high-altitude vineyards and floral profile make it distinctly Bolivian. Try it in a chuflay, Bolivia’s signature cocktail of singani, ginger ale or lemon-lime soda and a squeeze of lime. For the history in depth, see our guide to singani, Bolivia’s national drink, and for recipes, our roundup of the best singani cocktails.
Bolivia is one of the highest wine-producing countries in the world, and most of its wine comes from the Tarija valleys in the south. The altitude gives the grapes intense sunlight and strong temperature swings between day and night, producing aromatic whites and structured reds, with Tannat considered the country’s signature red grape.
Tarija’s Valle de la Concepción is dotted with bodegas that offer tastings of wine and singani, and many travelers who reach the south make it a highlight. If Tarija is not on your route, you will find Bolivian wines on the menus of better restaurants in La Paz and Sucre, and it is well worth ordering a bottle to compare with Argentine and Chilean wines.
Beer is Bolivia’s everyday social drink, and every region has its loyalties. Paceña is the best-known national brand and the classic choice in La Paz, often enjoyed with a view of Mount Illimani. Huari is a popular premium option, Potosina represents Potosí, and Taquiña is Cochabamba’s local favorite. La Paz also has a small but growing craft beer scene, especially in neighborhoods like Sopocachi.
Beer is often shared in Bolivia. Friends typically order large bottles for the table and pour into small glasses, and before the first sip you may see someone pour a little on the floor as a ch’alla, an offering to Pachamama. If you are invited to join, it is a lovely gesture to follow along.
The Altiplano gets cold after dark, and Bolivians have some creative solutions.
| Drink | Type | Alcohol | Where to Find It | Best Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Api morado / blanco | Hot corn drink | None | Markets and street stalls | Early morning |
| Tojorí | Hot corn drink | None | Markets in La Paz and Oruro | Early morning |
| Mate de coca | Herbal tea | None | Hotels, cafés, markets | Any time, especially on arrival |
| Mocochinchi | Cold dried-peach drink | None | Street carts, lunch menus | Lunch, hot afternoons |
| Somó | Cold corn drink | None | Santa Cruz street carts | Afternoon |
| Chicha | Fermented corn beer | Low | Chicherías around Cochabamba | Afternoon, festivals |
| Paceña and other beers | Lager | Moderate | Everywhere | Evening |
| Tarija wine | Wine | Moderate | Tarija bodegas, restaurants | Dinner |
| Singani / chuflay | Grape brandy / cocktail | High | Bars and restaurants | Evening |
| Té con té, sucumbé | Warm spiked drinks | Moderate to high | Festivals, winter evenings | Cold nights |
Alcohol behaves differently at altitude, and many travelers learn this the hard way on their first night in La Paz. At over 3,500 meters, you dehydrate faster, sleep less deeply, and may feel the effects of alcohol more quickly. Headaches and hangovers can also be confused with altitude sickness, which makes it harder to know how you are really adjusting.
A few simple rules help:
And plan your big nights around your travel days, not before them. On many public buses in the region, the driver sits in a sealed cabin and there is no onboard staff, so if you feel unwell, there is often no easy way to get the bus to stop.
Most travelers experience Bolivian drinks along the Lake Titicaca to La Paz route, and a few moments are worth building into your plans:
With Bolivia Hop, our onboard hosts are like a local friend who knows where the good api stalls are. They share crazy stories about life in Bolivia and Peru, explain traditions like the ch’alla, and give honest tips on where to eat and drink in Puno, Copacabana and La Paz. You still choose your own restaurants and bars, because our hop-on hop-off passes let you set your own dates and pace. Add hotel pickups in the main cities, border crossing assistance, quick stops at hidden gems and the barge crossing of the Tiquina Strait, and you have a route that is as much about the journey as the destination. It is also a very social way to travel, and plenty of our passengers end up sharing a chuflay with people they met on the bus that morning. Explore our passes for details.
Public buses work well for fluent Spanish speakers who want to travel directly between terminals. For most visitors, though, the hidden costs add up: public buses are licensed only for terminal-to-terminal travel, which means taxis at both ends, arriving about 45 minutes early, no hotel pickups and no stops along the way. Once you add separate tours to see what you drove past, the savings often shrink or disappear. Our Bolivia Hop vs public buses comparison has the full breakdown.
If you are heading into Peru, it is fun to compare singani with its Peruvian cousin, pisco. Peru Hop includes a stop at a traditional pisco vineyard near Ica on its coastal route, and in Lima, Luchito’s Cooking Class teaches you to make a proper pisco sour alongside ceviche. Between Puno and Cusco, Inka Express runs a daytime bus with cultural stops, and from Cusco, Yapa Explorers runs Machu Picchu tours for travelers continuing north.
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Can I bring coca tea home from Bolivia?
No, and you should not try. Coca tea is legal in Bolivia, but coca leaves remain controlled under the UN’s 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs and are illegal to import into most countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom. This applies to loose leaves, tea bags and coca sweets. Enjoy coca tea during your trip, and finish or give away any leftovers before you fly home.
What is the difference between singani and pisco?
Both are grape brandies from the Andes, but they follow different rules. Singani must be made in Bolivia from a single grape variety, Muscat of Alexandria, grown at 1,600 meters or higher in designated high valleys. Pisco is made in Peru and Chile from several permitted grape varieties at lower altitudes. The result is that singani tends to be more floral and aromatic, while pisco varies more by grape and style. The best way to understand the difference is to taste both on the same trip.
Is chicha safe for travelers to drink?
Chicha is a traditional, homemade fermented drink, so hygiene can vary and it can upset unprepared stomachs. Many travelers try it without problems, especially in busy, well-known chicherías, but it is sensible to start with a small glass and avoid drinking it before long journeys. If you have a sensitive stomach, you might prefer to try chicha at a festival or restaurant where you can see how it is served.
What is the most popular drink in Bolivia?
It depends on the time of day. In the mornings on the Altiplano, api is hard to beat. At lunchtime, homemade refrescos like mocochinchi are everywhere. For social occasions, beer, especially Paceña, is the everyday favorite, while singani, often in a chuflay, is the national spirit and the drink of celebrations.
Drink laws and customs rules can change, so check your home country’s official customs guidance before traveling if you are unsure about bringing any food or drink products home. Prices, bar openings and brand availability vary by city and season, and Bolivia’s June 2026 currency float means older price guides may be out of date; confirm prices locally and check current exchange rates with the Banco Central de Bolivia.
Salud, and remember to save a drop for Pachamama.
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