TUBA
Tuba is an alcoholic drink made from the sap of the coconut tree. Filipino farmers introduced the making of tuba, or coconut sap liquor, to Guam during the Spanish period.
Safford explains, "The sap is obtained from the flower-spadix of the coconut. This very much like cider just beginning to ferment. The tips of the spadix branches are sliced afresh each morning. They are tied in a bundle, and bleed into a bamboo joint hung to receive the sap. Care must be taken to clean the bamboo vessel each day, as putrefying insects give to the tuba a bad taste. In four hours the tuba becomes pretty sour. The natives distill it into a drink called aguardiente, which is very intoxicating. Stopped at a distillery on the river’s edge to taste some aguardiente, but found it inferior in taste to Mexican mezcal."
For more information see Safford's, Useful Plants of Guam, 2009 facsimile edition, page 237.
Safford explains, "The sap is obtained from the flower-spadix of the coconut. This very much like cider just beginning to ferment. The tips of the spadix branches are sliced afresh each morning. They are tied in a bundle, and bleed into a bamboo joint hung to receive the sap. Care must be taken to clean the bamboo vessel each day, as putrefying insects give to the tuba a bad taste. In four hours the tuba becomes pretty sour. The natives distill it into a drink called aguardiente, which is very intoxicating. Stopped at a distillery on the river’s edge to taste some aguardiente, but found it inferior in taste to Mexican mezcal."
For more information see Safford's, Useful Plants of Guam, 2009 facsimile edition, page 237.