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 among Hyderabad’s maximum famous summer thirst quenchers, popularly referred to as 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 are taking a sip, the zing of the masala and the sweetness of the vanilla flavor is 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 of records of greater than 80 years, established as it was when the British presence became sizeable inside the Deccan vicinity. For a long term, Ibrahim Cool Drinks changed into the reputable dealer of tender drinks to authorities’ offices, consisting of the Andhra Pradesh Secretariat, beginning from the 80s.
“I was a regular client at the shop, proper from my early life days. We used to come here as school children, and I nonetheless go to Idrees Saab every time I am again in the town. 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 Idrees’s father, Ibrahim, who used to buy the soda bottles from Aladdin, a company that was the foremost producer of ice-cream soda inside 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 ice-cream soda. It changed into most effective by way of the late 1980s that I developed the masala powder and commenced adding it to the drinks on clients’ request. 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 speaking managed by using Idrees’s son Owais who works as an IT professional using 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 whilst they may be no longer refrigerated however cooled inside the maximum organic way feasible,” Owais claims. Though now not willing to expose the exact mystery components of the masala, Owais says it’s just a mixture of many spices which are generally used inside the kitchen.
“The masala adds a zing to the soda; however, at the identical time is likewise top for acidity and forestalls the occasional soda-burps,” he laughs. Outside the stall, a small glass board’s written the foundation and history of the ice-cream soda drink in black marker. According to the legend, ice-cream soda became fabricated from innovation that passed off manner lower back in 1874. While many declare to have created it, it’s far believed that McCay Green from Philadelphia changed into the 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 have 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.
