I swear that Taiwan has more variety of drinks than anywhere else in the world because it is so hot and because it is just what the Asians wanted. It has all the teas and weird concoctions of the Eastern worlds plus all the Western coffees, espressos and their counter parts with a Taiwanese bend. Below are just a few of my findings and my favorites.
This soda itself is not that special but I have not had it since a young child. One of the very vivid memories of my childhood is a freshly opened can of soda, pouring into a glass with ice cubes. Can you just hear the bubbles and the surge of the liquid bubbling to the top of the glass? Don’t you want to quickly drink it before the liquid rises out of the glass? What a cool way to remember a hot summer day.
This is wheat tea. It decreases your “stomach heat,” a traditional Chinese medicine condition. It is very nicely sweet and has no caffeine. This is my go-to drink. Interestingly, there is little to no artificial sugar in Taiwan. Taiwanese rarely puts sugar in their tea or coffee.
This is a lemon soda with a shot of Vitamin C, correctly named CC Lemon! It states that it will give you all the Vitamin C you need in one day and it includes fruit juice.
This is bubble green tea. There are so many tea drinks in Taiwan and they are everywhere in your face. Have you ever been in a gourmet supermarket and feel overwhelmed by all the options you have on say, pasta, when all you wanted was a plain rigatoni box? I got very tired of all the tea choices in Taiwan especially because I am not a big tea drinker. There are variety of green tea, black tea, Jasmine tea, Oolong tea, just to name them off top of my head. Taiwan is a tea drinker’s heaven with tea farms galore. Taiwan produces some of the best Oolong teas in the world. Taiwanese Oolong tea is very sought after.
This is Vitali soda that claims to give you Vitamin B12. The play on words for the name of the product implies that it will give you power. The color of the liquid looks like the color of pee after you had B12. It tastes so sweet that is an acquired taste. This drink was popular in the late 70s with trucks showing the advertising billboard driving around the cities in Taiwan.
This is golden oats tea. No sugar and no caffeine. Guess what? It tasted so good despite that.
White gourd tea. Where else other thanTaiwan can you possibly get white gourd tea? This is a great summer cooling drink and has been around for hundreds of years.
When I have enough time, when I finally reside in Taiwan, I will go through the entire refrigerated shelves of Seven-Eleven and drink every funky concoction there is. Taiwan is a heaven for drinks. No need for solid food anymore!
When you are in Taiwan, remember the best way to chill on a hot summer day is to head toward a Seven-Eleven and try one of these drinks. May your drink be sweet and refreshing!
Peilin Corbanese 