The word "feni" is derived from the Sanskrit word "phena" ("froth"); this is thought to be because of the bubbles that form a light froth when the liquor is shaken in a bottle or poured into a glass. It is generally accepted that coconut feni was produced before and then followed to adapt the same procedure for distilling the exotic cashew fruit. Coconut palms are abundant along the coastline of Western India and Goa, whereas the cashew tree was an exotic species brought by the Portuguese from Brazil to India. There is ambiguity about when and who started distilling fermented juice into a spirit.