Anis liqueurs are indigenous to Greece, Asia and the Middle East. The aromatic seed of the herb Pimpinella anisum is found throughout the nations that rim the Mediterranean Sea, in the fields, in local foods and, perhaps most of all, in the drinks that form so important a part of Mediterranean life.

In southern France sunny afternoons are spent languishing on the terrace at the local café, lazily watering down a half-emptied glass of pastis with more water, diluting the spirit but extending the experience.

Italian feast days are begun as less formal dinners are ended, with short glasses of sweet sambuca liqueur, inevitably accented with a few coffee beans.

Praised for years as a stomach-settling herb, anise is suspected to have been used to flavor alcohols for longer than history has been recorded. That it so perfectly complements the olive oils, cheeses, garlic and other pungent tastes of the Mediterranean is an added bonus.

The anise spirit that is probably most familiar to North Americans is also the one most dissimilar to its Mediterranean brethren, Italian sambuca. What makes sambuca unusual is that following distillation (from anise and various botanicals), it is heavily sweetened. This suits the liqueur well for its typical role, enjoyed in or alongside an after-dinner espresso. On special occasions, though, sambuca assumes a special role — in Italy, momentous gatherings such as weddings and Christmas celebrations always start with a welcoming drink, normally sambuca. This tradition provides one explanation for the coffee connection. In the old, agrarian days coffee was a precious commodity and so the number of beans your host put in your glass reflected the esteem in which you were held.