Rum is the liquor of choice in the Caribbean, and most islands distil their own brand. You'll find rum distilleries, factories and museums all over the islands, from Jamaica and Barbados to Trinidad and Tobago, with the most famous brand, Bacardi, being made in Puerto Rico. Rum comes in three distinct varieties: white rum , a sweet, fruity drink used as the base for the popular Caribbean cocktail, Ti-Punch; ambered rum , which is white rum aged in barrels of oak, from which it gets its darker colour and slightly more dense flavour; and the richest rum of all - old rum , aged for three to six years in barrels of oak from North America that once contained bourbon or whisky.

Caribbean beers are refreshing and moderately light, somewhere between their European and American counterparts. Particularly good are Jamaica's Red Stripe, St Lucia's Piton lager and ubiquitous regional favourite, Carib, which is brewed on Trinidad and Tobago. Others include Antigua's pale lager Wadadli, the Barbadian and Bahamian lagers Banks Beer and Kalik, and the Dominican Kubuli, made with the island's spring water.

Fantastic fruit juice concoctions are a great alcohol-free alternative: the quality of Caribbean citrus fruits is very high, and limes, lemons, oranges and grapefruits are available freshly squeezed in most cafés and restaurants, as well as by the side of the road. The roadside is also the place to buy delicious coconut water - vendors simply sell you the unripe coconut with a hole drilled through to the delicious sweet water inside, and a straw. Tropical fruit juices such as pineapple, mango and papaya are also widely available, as is a delicious cranberry-coloured beverage made from the flowers of the slightly sour sorrel plant, and the almost creamy, milky-white juice of the prickly and dark-skinned soursop.

Tea and coffee are readily available but - with the exception of strong, rich roasts from Jamaica and Dominica - tend to be of negligible quality; instead, many islanders will drink a cup of milky hot chocolate made from the shavings of a locally grown cocoa stick with their breakfast.

There are also some local forms of soda : the ubiquitous Tang, which comes in different flavours, Jamaican cream soda and home-made ginger beer, for which the island is justly famous.