Sagardoa: Basque cider tradition and txotx service
I
Origin
Gipuzkoa, Basque Country
II
Description
Sagardoa (Basque natural cider) is the original drink of the Basque Country, produced from varieties of bitter-sharp apples available only in this region. It is still, low-alcohol (5-6%), highly acidic, cloudy, and consumed in the sagardotegia — the cider house — from January through April in a ritual called txotx. At the txotx call, guests form a line at the open barrel (kupela). Cider is poured from a height of 40-60cm into a wide glass held at knee height — this aeration carries the volatile esters that give sagardoa its character. Each pour is 1-2cm only: the cider must be drunk before it goes flat, which happens within 30 seconds.
III
The Thread
Not yet written for this entry.
IV
Flavour Context
Not yet written for this entry.
Pillars V — VII
The full training pages are part of membership.
Quality hierarchy, sensory tests, and where the dish lives or dies — on every entry in the Library.
Enter · from $49 a year