🍏 Pachai Grove

Green apple, curry leaf & coconut water — Semma NYC

5 min
Apple & Herbal
Tall glass over ice
Semma, New York City
0% ABV
Ingredients
  • 150ml fresh green apple juice (cold-pressed or juiced from 1 large Granny Smith)
  • 6–8 fresh curry leaves
  • 100ml natural coconut water (not coconut cream)
  • 10ml fresh lime juice
  • 5ml simple syrup (optional — adjust to apple sweetness)
  • Ice
  • Thin green apple slice & fresh curry leaf to garnish
Method
  1. 1
    InfuseIn a small saucepan, warm 50ml coconut water with curry leaves over low heat for 2 minutes until fragrant. Remove from heat and cool completely. (Or cold-muddle: muddle curry leaves in the coconut water and let steep 5 minutes, then strain.)
  2. 2
    CombineIn a shaker, combine green apple juice, curry-leaf coconut water, remaining 50ml plain coconut water, lime juice, and simple syrup (if using).
  3. 3
    ShakeAdd ice and shake for 8 seconds.
  4. 4
    ServeStrain into a tall glass over fresh ice.
  5. 5
    GarnishSlide a thin green apple slice onto the rim and float a single curry leaf.

About This Drink

Semma in the West Village is one of New York's most celebrated South Indian restaurants, earning rave reviews for chef Vijay Kumar's commitment to cooking from Tamil Nadu's regional traditions. The non-alcoholic menu applies the same philosophy: no fusion frills, just the clean flavours of South Indian ingredients in a glass. Pachai Grove ('pachai' = green in Tamil) is the simplest of the four NA drinks — green apple juice for tartness and freshness, curry leaf for its unmistakable aromatic bite, and coconut water to link it back to the coastal South Indian landscape. It tastes like a temple garden distilled.

Bartender Tips

Granny Smith apples give the sharpest, greenest flavour. If using juice from a bottle, choose 100% green apple with no added sugar. Fresh curry leaves are non-negotiable — dried ones are flavourless in cold preparations. The curry leaf infusion can be made ahead and refrigerated for up to 3 days.

Origin
Restaurant
Semma, New York City
Origin
South Indian fine dining, NYC
Flavour
Apple & Herbal · Easy
Related
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Where to drink this
Restaurant
Semma
Address
60 Greenwich Ave, New York, NY 10011
Style
South Indian fine dining
Accolades
Michelin Star · James Beard nominated · Time Out's Best New Restaurant

Semma is among the most important Indian restaurants to open in New York in a generation — a restaurant that put South Indian cooking (Tamil Nadu in particular) on the same platform as the North Indian dishes that have long dominated the Western imagination. Chef Vijay Kumar's cooking is precise, intense, and deeply traditional. The drink programme pairs accordingly: coconut, nannari, tamarind, and rooibos in forms the neighborhood has never seen.

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