<p>Nigerians may be fond of a glass of champagne but it’s another fizzy drink--and one that’s unashamedly non-alcoholic--that’s dearest to their hearts.</p>.<p>Garnet red and tooth-achingly sweet with a surprisingly tart kick, the Chapman is served with a slice of orange and cucumber in a pint glass with a plastic straw.</p>.<p>“This is our drink, not champagne,” said Toyedayo Osilaja, a patron of the Ikoyi Club, one of the oldest private clubs in Lagos, Nigeria’s thriving commercial capital.</p>.<p>“The (champagne) fever is dying. You’ve had enough hiccups and heartburn,” he said. “The Chapman is just a popular drink we all love.”</p>.<p>The Chapman’s universal appeal is undeniable in a religiously conservative country where temperance is widely seen as a virtue. It’s a staple on restaurant menus and a favourite at weddings; President Muhammadu Buhari serves it at meetings; bestselling novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is on the record as a fan. Enjoyed by both children and adults and eyed by beverage companies as a next big mass-produced hit, the Chapman is sometimes referred to as a “Nigerian sangria”.</p>.<p>But that’s a misnomer, as unlike in Spain and Portugal, it’s not made with wine but soft drinks, while the orange and cucumber is a garnish.</p>.<p>Other than getting the approximate colour right, there’s no standard way to make a Chapman. That’s partly because despite the drink’s ubiquity, its origins are shrouded in mystery.</p>.<p>Rumour has it there once was an expat by the name of Chapman who worked at a club in Lagos and made the drink. Others maintain it was a Nigerian.</p>.<p>No one knows for sure, though everyone agrees it was conceived in the country and is a made-in-Nigeria drink.</p>.<p>“It’s been (served) here for the longest,” said Osilaja, staking a claim on the Chapman for the Ikoyi Club, as a barman in a black waistcoat pours a Chapman from a drink dispenser on the bar.</p>.<p>In a sign of the drink’s importance, the first thing Osilaja did when he accepted a volunteer post as bar advisor was to standardise the drink’s recipe across the expansive club’s 15 bars.</p>.<p>He considered it was being “badly mixed” and for months he allowed only his most trusted bartender to prepare the drink. Members are thrilled with the result, he reports happily.</p>.<p>“There’s some story about a Chapman making it but we have no records,” said Osilaja, adding that he’s enjoyed Chapmans for all his 46 years at the club his parents first brought him to as a child to enjoy the pool, tennis courts and other facilities.</p>.<p>A splash of Angostura bitters is considered the hallmark of a perfectly executed Chapman, giving it echoes of the cocktails enjoyed during the British colonial era.</p>.<p>“It looks like the earlier versions had ingredients that were a little more British than the current one--bitter lemon or lemonade and tonic water--instead of Sprite,” said David Wondrich, a cocktail historian based in New York.</p>.<p>“With those ingredients, its origins in a British club are more likely, although most British colonialists would have put alcohol in it.”</p>.<p>Like other colonial-era drinks, including the Singapore Sling, the Chapman is probably an African cousin of punch, said Wondrich.</p>
<p>Nigerians may be fond of a glass of champagne but it’s another fizzy drink--and one that’s unashamedly non-alcoholic--that’s dearest to their hearts.</p>.<p>Garnet red and tooth-achingly sweet with a surprisingly tart kick, the Chapman is served with a slice of orange and cucumber in a pint glass with a plastic straw.</p>.<p>“This is our drink, not champagne,” said Toyedayo Osilaja, a patron of the Ikoyi Club, one of the oldest private clubs in Lagos, Nigeria’s thriving commercial capital.</p>.<p>“The (champagne) fever is dying. You’ve had enough hiccups and heartburn,” he said. “The Chapman is just a popular drink we all love.”</p>.<p>The Chapman’s universal appeal is undeniable in a religiously conservative country where temperance is widely seen as a virtue. It’s a staple on restaurant menus and a favourite at weddings; President Muhammadu Buhari serves it at meetings; bestselling novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is on the record as a fan. Enjoyed by both children and adults and eyed by beverage companies as a next big mass-produced hit, the Chapman is sometimes referred to as a “Nigerian sangria”.</p>.<p>But that’s a misnomer, as unlike in Spain and Portugal, it’s not made with wine but soft drinks, while the orange and cucumber is a garnish.</p>.<p>Other than getting the approximate colour right, there’s no standard way to make a Chapman. That’s partly because despite the drink’s ubiquity, its origins are shrouded in mystery.</p>.<p>Rumour has it there once was an expat by the name of Chapman who worked at a club in Lagos and made the drink. Others maintain it was a Nigerian.</p>.<p>No one knows for sure, though everyone agrees it was conceived in the country and is a made-in-Nigeria drink.</p>.<p>“It’s been (served) here for the longest,” said Osilaja, staking a claim on the Chapman for the Ikoyi Club, as a barman in a black waistcoat pours a Chapman from a drink dispenser on the bar.</p>.<p>In a sign of the drink’s importance, the first thing Osilaja did when he accepted a volunteer post as bar advisor was to standardise the drink’s recipe across the expansive club’s 15 bars.</p>.<p>He considered it was being “badly mixed” and for months he allowed only his most trusted bartender to prepare the drink. Members are thrilled with the result, he reports happily.</p>.<p>“There’s some story about a Chapman making it but we have no records,” said Osilaja, adding that he’s enjoyed Chapmans for all his 46 years at the club his parents first brought him to as a child to enjoy the pool, tennis courts and other facilities.</p>.<p>A splash of Angostura bitters is considered the hallmark of a perfectly executed Chapman, giving it echoes of the cocktails enjoyed during the British colonial era.</p>.<p>“It looks like the earlier versions had ingredients that were a little more British than the current one--bitter lemon or lemonade and tonic water--instead of Sprite,” said David Wondrich, a cocktail historian based in New York.</p>.<p>“With those ingredients, its origins in a British club are more likely, although most British colonialists would have put alcohol in it.”</p>.<p>Like other colonial-era drinks, including the Singapore Sling, the Chapman is probably an African cousin of punch, said Wondrich.</p>