In a quiet lane in Hyderabad’s Lakdi-ka-pul, Mohammad Idrees sits in front of his tiny stall, which might seem like a normal soda store to any customer. But as time passes, university students, girls with heavy shopping baggage, and men in formals slowly form a crowd around the shop, sipping what Idrees likes to name his signature drink, the masala ice-cream soda.
There is a story behind this exciting name for one of Hyderabad’s most famous summer thirst quenchers, Ibrahim’s ice-cream soda. Contrary to what its name suggests, the drink is neither masaledaar nor does it have ice cream. It’s a plain, fizzy liquid bottled in a glass can. But the instant you take a sip, the masala’s zing and the vanilla flavor’s sweetness are positive to hit your taste buds.
Attached to Ibrahim’s ice-cream soda are the reminiscences of many Hyderabadis who used to buy the drink from Idrees’s keep for Rs 5, almost too many years again. Priced at Rs45 now, the shop boasts more than 80 years of records, established as it was when the British presence became sizeable in the Deccan vicinity. In a long time, Ibrahim Cool Drinks changed into a reputable dealer of tender drinks to authorities’ offices, including the Andhra Pradesh Secretariat, beginning in the 80s.
“I was a regular client at the shop from my early days. We used to come here as schoolchildren, and I go to Idrees Saab every time I am in town again. It’s a drink unique to his keep, and the taste is unmatchable,” a client at Ibrahim’s Cool Drinks says. Ibrahim’s Cool Drinks was begun by way of Idreeher, who used to buy the soda bot from Aladdin, a company that was the foremost producer of ice cream in the town. After the employer stopped manufacturing, Ibrahim maintained the recipe and commenced manufacturing the ice cream soda in small quantities.
“After I took a fee from my father, I set up a factory unit wherein we began production of ice-cream soda. It changed into the most effective way in the late 1980s when I developed the masala powder and added it to the drinks on clients’ requests. But masala soda quickly became a hit, and from then on, our keep became synonymous with masala ice-cream soda in the metropolis,” Idrees explains.
Today, the stall is broadly managed by Idrees’s son Owais, who works as an IT professional during the day and spends the night on the stall. Owais explains why ice cream soda has a niche market compared to many different popular cool bars inside the metropolis.
“We do now not use a refrigerator to cool our liquids. We cool the inner boxes with ice cubes, which might be synthetic at our manufacturing facility. Drinks preserve their natural flavor best while they may be no longer refrigerated but cooled inside the maximum organic way feasible,” Owais claims. Though willing to expose the exact mystery components of the masala, Owais says it’s just a mixture of many species used inside the kitchen.
“The masala adds a zing to the soda; however, at the same time, it is likewise top for acidity and forestalls the occasional soda burps,” he laughs. Outside the stall, a small glass board with a black marker wrote the foundation and history of the ice cream soda drink. According to the legend, ice cream soda was fabricated from an innovation that passed off manner lower back in 1874. While many claim to have created it, it’s believed that McCay Green from Philadelphia became a unique inventor.
“Green, at some point, desired to have chilled soda but couldn’t discover any ice cubes. For this reason, he introduced some ice cream to his soda to make it chilled. He appreciated the taste and started popularizing the drink. It is stated that during his will, Green reputedly said, ‘Engrave it on my grave that I was the inventor of ice cream soda,'” Owais narrates.
