Bolivian Spanish word
el mocochinchi
Meaning: cold drink of dried peach in sweet cinnamon water
Where it is said: Bolivian. The Diccionario de americanismos marks mocochinchi as a word of Bolivia. Here you meet it at a salteña stand and a lunch comedor in Sucre, and at a lunch house in Cochabamba.
Start with lesson 1
Greeting at any hour and saying your nameLesson 1, level A0
Start lesson 1How it is used in Bolivia
A whole dried peach floating in a big glass jar, served ice-cold. Alongside plain jugo it's the classic salteña companion, and asking for it by name is a small sign you're settling in.
How to use it
Order it by name like any drink: 'un mocochinchi, por favor', or ask whether they have it. At a salteña stand the vendor may offer 'jugo y mocochinchi', and it comes cold from a big glass jar.
At an almuerzo it can be the refresco that comes with the set lunch, so you may hear 'refresco de mocochinchi'. Asking what the day's refresco is ('¿de qué es?') is a normal question.
In Cochabamba it is also sold on the street, ladled from big glass jars on carts, and poured into a small bag with a straw if you are in a hurry.
Examples
¿Qué tiene para tomar? ¿Tiene mocochinchi?
What do you have to drink? Do you have mocochinchi?
De tomar hay jugo y mocochinchi, casero.
To drink there's juice and mocochinchi, casero.
The vendor's answer at the salteña stand.
¿Con refresco de mocochinchi?
With mocochinchi to drink?
The señora at a comedor, offering the lunch's included drink.
Un silpancho y un mocochinchi, por favor.
One silpancho and one mocochinchi, please.
A real exchange
At a lunch house in Cochabamba
You
¿El mocochinchi es el de los frascos grandes? Cuénteme qué es, y de paso me trae un vaso, por favor.
Is mocochinchi the one in the big jars? Tell me what it is, and while you're at it bring me a glass, please.
Waiter
Ese mismo. Es refresco de durazno seco, hervido con canela; el durazno del fondo se come al final. Bien fresquito, a Bs 5 el vaso. Ya se lo traigo.
That's the one. It's a drink of dried peach boiled with cinnamon; you eat the peach at the bottom at the end. Nice and cool, Bs 5 a glass. I'll bring it right over.
The Bs 5 is the story's own example price, not a real one.
Good to know
- Origin
- Strictly, the word names the fruit: ASALE defines mocochinchi as a peach peeled and dried in the sun, and Wiktionary calls it a dried peach from which a particular drink is made. When you order, 'un mocochinchi' means a glass of the drink.
- Not to be confused with
- Somó is a different drink: thick, sweet corn. In Cochabamba it travels with mocochinchi, in the same big glass jars on street carts.
Questions people ask
What is mocochinchi made of?
Sun-dried peach boiled with cinnamon and sugar, then served cold, with the softened peach waiting in the glass.
Is it spelled mocochinchi or mocochinci?
Mocochinchi, with 'ch' in the last syllable: that is the headword in the Diccionario de americanismos and in Wiktionary.
Sources
What this page says beyond the chapters of the course comes from these sources.
- ASALE, Diccionario de americanismos: mocochinchiaccessed 21 October 2026
- Wiktionary: mocochinchiaccessed 21 October 2026
Learn it in a real situation
Food, Restaurants, and Dietary Needs