British Squash and Cordial in the USA

Squash is one of the most ordinary things in a British kitchen and one of the least familiar to an American one. It is also, for reasons of simple physics, the single most efficient category to import. This guide covers what it is, why the flavours are unfamiliar, and what to buy.

What squash is

Squash is a concentrated fruit syrup that you dilute with water, usually cold, in a glass or a jug. It is not a soda, not a juice, and not the same as an American powdered drink mix. It comes in a large plastic bottle, it lives in the cupboard until opened, and British children drink an enormous amount of it.

The dilution runs to roughly one part squash to nine parts water, which is the fact that matters most for importing. You are shipping concentrate rather than water, so a 2 litre bottle produces something on the order of 20 litres of finished drink.

Why America has no equivalent

The nearest American products are powdered drink mixes and the flavoured syrups sold for coffee and cocktails, and neither fills the role. Powdered mixes are a different format entirely. Coffee syrups are far sweeter and thicker, meant by the spoonful rather than the glassful, and using one as squash produces something too sweet to drink.

Squash sits in a gap: an everyday, low-cost, dilute-to-taste soft drink that a family gets through weekly. There is no American aisle for it.

The blackcurrant question

Blackcurrant is the flavour most British people would name first as a childhood drink, and it is close to unknown in the United States. The reason is agricultural history rather than taste.

In the early twentieth century the growing of Ribes plants, blackcurrants among them, was restricted in the US because they host white pine blister rust, a disease that threatened the timber industry. The federal ban was lifted in the 1960s but state-level restrictions persisted in places for decades afterwards. Two or three generations of Americans grew up without blackcurrant; grape filled the same slot instead.

That is why Ribena reads as exotic in an American kitchen and utterly ordinary in a British one. If you are buying it for an American friend, it will not be nostalgic for them. It will be new.

The UK introduced a Soft Drinks Industry Levy in 2018, charging manufacturers by the sugar content of their drinks. Rather than pay it, the industry reformulated at scale. That is why so much British squash and so many British soft drinks now say "no added sugar" on the front, and why low-sugar versions are the default on a British shelf rather than the alternative. An American shopper used to full-sugar drinks as the norm finds that inversion surprising.

Squash or cordial

The words overlap in British usage, but there is a real distinction on the shelf. Squash is the everyday family drink: large bottle, mild flavour, heavy dilution, low price. Robinsons Apple & Blackcurrant is the archetype.

Cordial is the smaller bottle with a more concentrated and more considered flavour, priced higher and aimed at adults. Crushed Lime & Mint is a mixer flavour rather than a children's one, and it works with gin or white rum as readily as with water.

Ready to drink, and why it is worse value

Worth being straight about this. There is a ready-to-drink Ribena, and for importing it is poor value per serving, because you are paying to ship water you already have at home.

It earns its place in exactly two situations: if you have never had blackcurrant and want to try it before committing to a large bottle of syrup, or if you want the drink exactly as it is sold cold in a British shop. Otherwise buy the concentrate.

Getting the dilution right

Follow the bottle, then adjust. Most people under-dilute at first with full-sugar squash and over-dilute low-sugar versions, because the sweetness is no longer there to carry a thin mix. Slightly stronger than the label suggests is usually right for the no added sugar bottles.

Sparkling water instead of still makes a passable homemade soda, and is a common way for adults to use squash. Ribena diluted with boiling water rather than cold is the traditional thing to give a British child with a cold.

Where to start

If you want volume, take the 2 litre Robinsons, which covers nearly 40% of the free-shipping threshold in one item. If you want the British childhood flavour, take Ribena. Everything is in Squash & Cordial.

How ordering works

Everything here is sourced in the UK and shipped to the United States Delivered Duty Paid, so every import duty and tax is included in the price you pay and nothing is collected on delivery. Orders dispatch within 1–2 business days and usually arrive 1–3 business days after that.

Shipping is a flat $39.99 on orders under $99 and free above it. New customers can use NEW10 for 10% off a first order.

Related reading: British soft drinks in the USA and how shipping British groceries to the USA works.