In Nigeria, the Chapman Is a Blank Canvas

For Obehi Ekhomu, the Chapman “is part of our collective Nigerian memory.” Ekhomu is the owner and head chef of Ona Restaurant and the bar Ona Cloud, in Lagos, and she describes the homegrown nonalcoholic drink as “a national treasure.” 

It’s true: I haven’t come across a Nigerian restaurant without a Chapman on the drinks menu. The delightful, ruby red mocktail combines sodas—orange, lemon and lime—with black currant cordial or grenadine, bitters (often Angostura), fresh citrus and cucumber. Traditionally served in a dimpled beer mug over ice with a straw, it is refreshing, lightly effervescent and subtly sweet. 

The Chapman has many origin stories. Some say that it was created when a man named Chapman, who was a regular at Lagos’ Ikoyi Club, asked for a bartender’s choice, which was this drink. It eventually caught on and was named after him as a courtesy. Another history—which is more widely held to be true—is that the late Sam Alamutu, a hospitality expert, hotelier and bartender, created it for his wife, who didn’t drink alcohol. 

Regardless of its origins, today, it’s everywhere, including in a ready-to-drink format courtesy of the Lagos-based company Quacktails, whose founders Dare and Mosun Aderinokun describe the classic as “bright, zesty and comforting.”

The best part about the Chapman is that it’s completely customizable. Bars across the country turn it into a full-proof cocktail with various spirits, or liqueurs like Campari or Aperol. Quacktails, meanwhile, has a boozy version made with gin, which adds a strong botanical backbone. Others add fruit: Nok by Alara, a contemporary pan-African restaurant, for example, adds strawberries and mandarin oranges to the soda. My own version of the drink calls on homemade zobo (aka hibiscus) cordial with ginger and cloves, along with Nigerian bitters in a nod to Agbo, a class of herbal tonics and elixirs made by Yoruba women in southwest Nigeria.