Bacanha Syrup from France with Aromas from Grasse
Bacanha is a syrup manufacturer from Saint-Soupplets near Paris, founded in 2013 by Allan Barbosa Ferreira and Maxime David. Their Sirop Brut line stands for French syrup with a short ingredient list, Brazilian cane sugar, and aromas from Grasse, noticeably less sweet than usual. Forty varieties range from yuzu to speculoos; we stock twenty-five of them.
Bacanha Syrup stands for French syrup with an ingredient list that fits on a single line. It is mixed, bottled, and labeled in a workshop in Saint-Soupplets, a good 40 kilometers northeast of Paris. When you unscrew a bottle, you smell the fruit, the blossom, or the spice first, and only then the sugar. That is exactly what this brand is about, and exactly why it sits on the shelves at La Grande Épicerie and Galeries Lafayette in Paris.
2013, two cousins, and a Brazilian word
Allan Barbosa Ferreira and his cousin Maxime David founded Bacanha in the Paris area in 2013, born out of a family story. What they felt was missing from the shelves was a syrup that tastes first of its fruit and only then of the sugar.
The name comes from the Brazilian Portuguese word "bacana," which means something beautiful and good, and the cane sugar that forms the base of every bottle also originates from Brazil. At the same time, it echoes the word "bacchanalia," the riotous festival in honor of the god of wine. Thus, in a single word, the origin of the sugar and the joy of celebration come together.
To trigger a sensation through taste: that is how the manufacturer describes its intention to this day. Every new variety is measured against this statement before it is allowed into the bottle.
Today, the company operates as Bacanha Manufacture in a workshop in Saint-Soupplets, where mixing, bottling, labeling, and packaging take place. Everything happens in one place because they want to keep an eye on the batch when dosing the aromas. Bacanha is now part of La French Fab, the network of businesses that produce in France.
From yuzu to speculoos
The manufacturer has forty varieties of Bacanha syrup in its range, sorted into four families: fruits, blossoms, spices, and the sweet varieties for coffee and desserts. We carry twenty-five of these varieties, plus three gift sets, and each bottle holds 400 ml.
The citrus family is led by Organic Yuzu Syrup, our best-seller, with a scent between lemon and mandarin; standing alongside it are bergamot, lime, and verbena. In the fruit category, the range extends from peach, passion fruit, lychee, and strawberry to melon. Things get floral with rose, elderflower, and violet, while basil and mint bring the herb garden into your glass.
The coffee syrups form their own family. Vanilla, hazelnut, salted caramel, cookie, speculoos, and pumpkin spice pair well with roasted notes because they complement the coffee rather than covering it up. For the home bar, there is orgeat, grenadine, mojito, and the organic ginger syrup, which turns into a Moscow Mule in two minutes.
Yuzu, lime, ginger, strawberry, and grenadine are made with real juice, which you can taste in the acidity and read on the label. Four varieties—violet, speculoos, cookie, and pumpkin spice—are not organic products and are therefore simply called Sirop Brut. All others bear the organic control number FR-BIO-01 on the label, and you can recognize them by the word "Bio" in the name.
Sugar from regenerative agriculture, scents from Grasse
The organic cane sugar comes from Native in Brazil, a producer with the Regenerative Organic Certified seal. This standard goes beyond the usual organic requirements and also evaluates soil health.
The aromas, on the other hand, are created in Grasse in the hinterland of the Côte d'Azur, the small town that has been considered the capital of perfumery since the 16th century. Whatever is extracted there from blossoms, herbs, roots, and fruits, whether by infusion or distillation, ends up as essence in these bottles. The same craftsmanship that usually produces perfume is thus found in a glass of lemonade.
"Preserving the authenticity of the aromas and showing their natural richness," as the manufacturer describes its work, is easy to claim but difficult to achieve. In practice, this mainly means putting very little into the product, and most varieties contain only four ingredients. Bacanha consciously avoids dyes or preservatives, which is why the rose syrup remains pale and the mint does not turn the glass green.
What Sirop Brut means
Sirop Brut, or "raw syrup," is a term Bacanha has coined for its own recipes. It refers to a French syrup that is less sweet and significantly more concentrated in aroma than what is otherwise sold under this name.
Every Bacanha syrup maintains the same balance between acidity and sugar, a pH value below 4.5, and around 60 degrees Brix, so that even after dilution, you taste the yuzu, the rose, or the ginger first. This allows you to use it more generously without the glass becoming sticky. Ice-cold, the ratio is one part syrup to eight to ten parts water, still or sparkling.
A 400 ml bottle thus yields around 20 glasses when mixed with tap water. This is also intended as a calculation, because having 20 fewer disposable bottles in the household was part of the idea from the very beginning. The amber-colored bottle with the wooden stopper is reminiscent of an apothecary jar, and the heavy glass keeps light and heat away from the contents. Once opened, the bottle is best kept in the refrigerator for two months.
The story behind orgeat, grenadine, and pumpkin spice
Anyone reading through the range will stumble upon three names that promise something different than what is in the bottle. In all three cases, there is a piece of linguistic history behind them that makes for great dinner conversation while mixing.
Orgeat is named after barley, as the French word "orge" and the Latin "hordeata" point to a medieval barley water that served as a long-lasting milk substitute. Because it tasted bland, almonds were added, and eventually the barley was left out. What remained is the name for an almond syrup with orange blossom.
Grenadine comes from "grenade," the French word for pomegranate, and today primarily denotes a color and a profile: red and berry-like. Bacanha's version contains strawberry, raspberry, and currant in the form of juice. Pumpkin spice, meanwhile, refers to the spices for American pumpkin pie, not the pumpkin itself; at Bacanha, these are cinnamon and ginger.
Lemonade, café au lait, home bar, and kitchen
A Bacanha syrup is not something you buy once and then forget—the bottle would be empty too quickly for that. The citrus and fruit varieties belong in cold water, in sparkling wine, and in cocktails. Organic elderflower syrup makes the Hugo everyone knows, and basil pairs just as well with strawberries as it does with gin and tonic.
Those who brew coffee reach for the organic vanilla syrup or the salted caramel; a teaspoon in a café au lait is enough. In winter, speculoos and pumpkin spice take over the mug, and in the kitchen, yuzu is used with seared scallops and in lemon risotto. Rose belongs in sorbet and verbena in a cold tea infused overnight in the refrigerator.
For gifting, the varieties are available in pairs, such as the Yuzu & Ginger gift set or the duo of vanilla and hazelnut for coffee drinkers. If you prefer Italian, you will find fruit syrups from South Tyrol at Alpe Pragas, and you can find an overview of everything in our syrup selection. One spoonful is enough; the water does the rest.
