Thanksgiving drinks don't need a recipe to last

Graham Okafor set out one pitcher of cold hibiscus tea with Thanksgiving jollof. Guests kept coming back for more. Okafor, a retired building superintendent, had wanted something tart and not too sweet alongside the rice they make the way their mother did on Sundays in Lagos.

Which nonalcoholic drinks earn a lasting place at Thanksgiving? At the seven tables Bonzai heard about, each fills a familiar place in the meal. Five are poured before or with dinner, whether they were first made for a particular dish or simply picked up with the groceries. At two tables, coffee comes out after the plates are cleared.

Okafor has brought back the tea every year. Tomás Reyes, head bartender at The Low Lantern, first mixed cranberry and grapefruit juices, soda and a little rosemary syrup so everyone could have a spritz before dinner. The first pitcher was nearly gone before the meal, and Reyes has made it every Thanksgiving since, for about three or four years. Rosa Gutierrez, a school counselor, first bought sparkling apple cider so her young children could pour it into grown-up glasses. Seven or eight Thanksgivings later, they expect it and still clink their glasses together.

Other drinks need no remembered first pour. Mara Velez, head baker at Larkspur Oven, cannot recall who started bringing ginger ale, only that somebody always does. One year, Velez passed it around while the table was being set because someone wanted a glass. “Everybody drinks it, and nobody has to think about it. That’s enough for us,” Velez said. Rafael Vega, a hospital orderly who works holidays and late shifts, said cold grocery-store apple cider has been on the family’s table for at least a few years. The kids drink it, and nobody has to prepare it.

After dinner, Harold Kim, a retired postal clerk, makes a regular pot of drip coffee and sets out milk and sugar; he takes his plain. He cannot remember when the Thanksgiving habit began, but likes staying at the table to talk. “I remember the plates being cleared, the coffee still warm, and nobody quite ready to get up from the table,” Kim said. Priya Desai, owner at Ember & Bean, serves decaf so guests can have an after-dinner cup without worrying about staying up, with oat milk for anyone who wants it. Desai knew it had become routine when guests began asking for the oat milk before the coffee came out.

At all seven tables, the drink stays because it has a familiar job: five are served before or with dinner, while the two after-dinner pots of coffee give people a reason to linger.

Okafor now usually makes two pitchers of hibiscus tea, with a possible third when family and neighbors are coming by.