The world has two fields of thought about avocados: sweet or salty. When people in Mexico, the United States, and Canada think of avocados, we think “guacamole with chips.” In Brazil, Morocco, and Ethiopia, the avocado is usually mixed with sugar in creamy drinks. Whichever side of the debate you’re on, you have to try this layered juice drink from Ethiopia, known as “spris.” This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support!
Spris are layered drinks, of pureed fruit: avocado, mango and papaya are the most common. These drinks are easy to make, super healthy and packed with antioxidants, and bring a little piece of Ethiopia to your own backyard.
First, puree a couple of avocados with a bit of water, the juice of a lime, and sugar to taste. It shouldn’t be watery- more like thin cake batter. I used a cup of water with 2 small avocados.
Pour carefully into your glasses. Rinse out the blender, and do the same with some mangoes, carefully adding them on top of the avocado layer. If you find papaya (our supermarket only had very green papaya), add another layer on top.
Serve with a lime wedge. I ordered this almost every day on visits to Ethiopia, and invariably the waiter would remind me to squeeze my lime over the mango. They frequently serve this with a spoon since the “juice” is so dense. It doesn’t get much healthier than this!
Enjoying a spris (mango + avocado) in Arba Minch, in the south of Ethiopia.
That looks delicious! I never thought of avocado as sweet until I moved to this part of the world. In Malawi it is most commonly mashed with sugar and eaten for breakfast but will have to try a spris. Thanks for sharing.
Oh, thanks for sharing about Malawi! I wonder if around Africa avocado is always sweet? Very interesting!:)
This sounds (and looks) delicious! I can’t wait to try it!
It is so good!!!! 🙂
How many avocados and mangos would you use per person? I am teaching a summer camp next week and this recipe looks awesome for our international cuisine day!
I would say 1 avocado with a bit of water/lime/sugar and 1 smaller mango with a bit of water/lime/sugar would serve a good sized sample for 4 kids. Or smaller samples for 6? Maybe see if you can use cups that are transparent to that the kids can appreciate the layers!:) Also common in Ethiopia is papaya juice on top. Papayas are huge and you would only need one to make a TON of juice. So it depends how many kids you have… but that’s one way to make it go further. If you take pictures, email me one and I’ll post it! I love it!!
Thank you so much! We’ll definitely use clear glasses – the colors are so vibrant in your photos!
I’m really excited for our international cuisine day – I’ll have to check with my boss about pictures, but that would be really cool if you could post them!
Thanks again!
No problem:). Have fun! It sounds like my kids would love your camp….
Reminds me of “La Parisienne” at Bole – used to get that all the time..oh, i can’t wait to go back!!
🙂 Me too!!!!!!! I can’t wait to go back….
Oh, best !