This section is a little old, but, somethings I have found out about Tuba..
First, its cheap here. 1 gal. = 100p, most of the quality where I live is about the same..I have got some thats watered down especially on holidays where its in demand.
How to make it much better...I buy it by the five gallon container and transfer it to the standard one liter or bigger coke bottles.
I place them in a dark closet and leave them for a month. I use a small hose and siphoning to do the transfer.
I then transfer them to another container (coke bottle) making sure that the hose does not reach the bottom of the original container.
The red mango bark used to turn the naturally white tuba to a red color settles in the bottom of the bottle. This bark is what normally gives the slightly bitter taste to the tuba. The object here is to remove as much of the bark sediment as possible. And from my understanding is used mostly in the tuba from Leyte.
Every month I repeat the first step...I try to do this for up to a year depending on how many times I need tuba (more on holidays)
Note: Fill bottles to the top leaving no space for air, If you don't you will end up with nothing but coconut vinegar. The stuff that is a year old is bahalina and is considered the best..strongest and smoothest
The stuff that is less than 6 months is called bahal and depending on how much you recycle it to get the bark out can be good also.
It seems the key to getting smooth, sweet tuba is how much you recycle it to get the bark out...I'm lucky as one of my brothers in law helps with the recycling as sometimes there is up to thirty litters to be recycled.
Drinking the stuff...most locals here (I can not speak for anywhere else) usually either drink the tuba straight and chase it with coke/pepsi or mix it about 75% tuba to 25% coke/pepsi. If your drinking with Filipinos there will usually be one that's the "ganner" or the one that pours...its an act of politeness..I really haven't determined if there is a age based thing associated with that or what. It seems to me that when drinking with Malines family the younger brother is usually the ganner, however on occasion I am.
My method must work as many of the locals have commented on the tuba I have here at the house...
When I first got here and had a party at the house I did like I use to do in the States, just go the the store and buy liquor. Now I just serve Tuba and Beer....Its a lot cheaper and I find that most prefer it. I prefer to mix it with Pepsi as it seems sweeter than Coke.
Just a little warning, I have also found that if you over do it, you will not have to worry about being constipated for a few days