# What Is Horchata? Searches +185% for a Drink With Moorish Roots
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Answer-first summary: Horchata, with "what is horchata" searches up about 185% in summer 2026, is a sweet, creamy Mexican rice drink flavored with cinnamon. It descends from "horchata de chufa," a medieval Mediterranean tiger-nut drink whose name and technique traveled west under Moorish influence and were adapted to rice in the Americas.
Primary topic: what is horchata
Published: 2026-06-18
Updated: 2026-06-18
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- Alt text: A glass of creamy horchata with cinnamon and rice beside cinnamon sticks
- Visual description: Horchata, with "what is horchata" searches up 185% in 2026, is a Mexican rice drink with medieval Moorish roots.
- Caption: Horchata, with "what is horchata" searches up 185% in 2026, is a Mexican rice drink with medieval Moorish roots.
- Visible entities: Horchata, Horchata de chufa
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## What's happening
"What is horchata" is up about 185% in 2026, per Google Summergeist, driven by the matcha-horchata latte breakout and a wider summer interest in cold, creamy, dairy-free drinks [1]. The search wave is a new audience meeting a drink that is everyday in Mexico but unfamiliar elsewhere.
## The history behind it
The name "horchata" comes from the Latin hordeata (barley water), and the medieval Mediterranean version was made from chufa (tiger nuts) — a drink associated with Moorish Spain and the Valencian region [2]. Spanish colonists carried the name and the soaking-and-straining technique to the Americas, where it was adapted to rice, cinnamon, vanilla and sometimes almonds or melon seeds — the Mexican horchata most people now search for [3].
## Why it matters
The food-history value is that a 2026 breakout search is a medieval Mediterranean drink that crossed an ocean and changed its base ingredient. For the matcha boom and wider cafe trends, see the articles below.
## How to try it
Mexican horchata is easy to make: soak white rice with a cinnamon stick for a few hours, blend with water and a little sugar, and sometimes almonds or vanilla, then strain through a fine mesh or cloth. Serve over ice. Store-bought horchata works too, especially in horchata lattes. If you want the original, look for horchata de chufa, the tiger-nut version, at Spanish shops. For the matcha boom and the drink's broader cafe context, read below.
## Sources & References
1. “Biggest Summer Food and Drink Trends of 2026, According to Google.” Martha Stewart (2026) https://www.marthastewart.com/summer-food-and-drink-trends-2026-google-12004095
2. Alan Davidson “The Oxford Companion to Food.” Oxford University Press (2014)
3. “cinnamon.” Encyclopaedia Britannica (2024) https://www.britannica.com/plant/cinnamon
Related canonical pages: [Matcha](https://thefoodthatshapedus.com/food/matcha) | [Matcha Fusions: The 1,000-Year-Old Tea Behind the 2026 Cafe Craze](https://thefoodthatshapedus.com/collections/matcha-fusions) | [Cinnamon](https://thefoodthatshapedus.com/food/cinnamon)