Cool drinks: Aguas frescas beat the SoCal heat

ON COUNTERS of neighborhood taquerías and Oaxacan restaurants, at Salvadoran farmers market stands and Eastside backyard parties, even at swank Hollywood restaurants, you can see the huge glass vitroleros, beehive-shaped jars filled with aguas frescas in a spectrum of stunning colors. Each flavor is like a point of reference on a color wheel: the deep magenta of jamaica (a variety of hibiscus flower), the pale green of honeydew melon or cucumber-lime, the scarlet of just-made sandía (watermelon), rice-based horchata's milky white.

By Amy Scattergood

July 2, 2008