Something to wash the food down - besides the pint and the coke…ok, and Pepsi

We pretty much chow down three types of food last time, I am sure everybody must be feeling a bit tingling along the pipe.  With food all around you, do you think the drinks would be too far away?  But seriously, if you want beer, go to a pub.  If you want coke (and/or Pepsi), there are 7-11s.  When you come to 夜yè市shì, why settle for the frequently-stored-in-the-freezers?

 

Let see what you can play with.  Be experimental, be ignorant, be brave!!

四sì果gǔo冰bïng (NT$40~45/plate, choice of 4 toppings, and additional NT$10 with condensed milk) is, like猪zhü血xěi糕gaü, my favorite under the 'ice' category.  It is like Hagan Daz with choice of nuts or sprigles, 四sì果gǔo冰bïng is made of chopped ice topped with four dressings of your delight.  Like盐yíen酥sü鸡jï, you can see everything in front of you for you to choose.  My combination mostly consisted of Chinese mesona jelly (仙xïan草căo), lotus seed (莲lián子zĭ), white fungus (白bái木mù耳ĕr), and green beans (绿lù豆dòu).  Of course you can also choose from red beans, strawberry jam, sliced salted carambola (star fruit), sweet yam mixed tapioca (five types of those: big, small, assorted color, purple, etc.; I really couldn't quite tell the difference).  The lady of the stand after adding the toppings into the container/plate, turns on the ice grinder and fills the container/plate with ice and then pure a scoop of sugar water on top.  When you eat, remember to mix everything with the ice and sugar water.  The thought of this really makes my mouth water.  Think I'll help my self with one after I am done.

There is a type of juice stand, which is not really a juice stand.  We'll call it 杨yáng桃táo冰bïng (ice carambola / star fruit juice) or 酸süan梅méi汤täng (ice prune juice) (NT$25~35/cup, based on cup size).  The stand normally uses huge transparent cylinders to hold the juice.  Some stands offer three types of juice, some may offer more than five.  Besides the mentioned two most common juice selections, there may also be 冬döng瓜güa茶chá (a type of squash, sweetened and boiled into juice, not really a tea as the name suggests), 甘gän蔗zhè汁zhï (ice sugar cane juice), and 青qïng草căo茶chá (a type of bitter herb).  These types of juice serve more than just thirst quenching.  Most of these drinks actually, by Chinese herbology, carry the effect of reducing the heat in the inner organs caused by consuming food - especially fried food.  They also help with bowl movements (note: note cure, just help).  Wonderful, isn't it??  We put the poison right next to the cure (or the cure right next to the poison?)!!  Idea courtesy of her Mother Nature.

Not exciting enough?  Here comes something that might gross you with the name and with the name only.  It's called 青qïng蛙wä下xìa蛋dàn (NT$50/cup) - eggs laid by frogs. You must be "O.M.G" out there in unification.  Relax, it's just a nickname for the toppings in the drink.  It's, again, another type of tapioca.  Originally it's from boat sterculia seed, which has a transparent to milky white gel like surface with a black seed in the middle, looks like the eggs of the frogs, hence the name青qïng蛙wä下xìa蛋dàn. Just like other juice, this also carries the detox and heat reducing effect.  However, since boat sterculia seed is actually not that easy and common to acquire, it is replaced by tapioca.  The taste of this drink actually comes from honey and sugar.  Either tapioca or boat sterculia seed does not have a distinct flavor of its own.

And derived or evolved from青qïng蛙wä下xìa蛋dàn, comes the now worldwide phenomenon 珍zhën珠zhü奶năi茶chá (NT$25~35/cup, hot or ice, small or big)- the pearl tapioca milk tea!!  Ok, when I said 'worldwide phenomenon', I may have exaggerated a little bit (treat you to a cup if you know where I imitate this phrase from); although I do know besides the usual Chinese societies in the Asia, franchise of this type of drinks can also be seen in California, New York where the Taiwanese communities are.  When we conquer, we don't stick a flag to declare ownership, we wheel our favorite food stand in.  Now that's what I call a true conquer.  But enough of that.  The drink stands or small shops used to sell milk tea (yes, tea).  When珍zhën珠zhü奶năi茶chá swept the country from the south, one had to make a special request for the tapioca NOT to be added into the drink.  Owing to my lactose intolerance, I normally request for the milk to not be added, and a choice of either black or green tea with the tapioca.  Again, the tapioca basically has no distinctive taste.  Even so, if it is not properly, you'd feel like chewing down a robber bullet.  A properly prepared tapioca will be chew and soft.  The taste of the drink mostly comes from the tea, so the tea is also a key element whether the money is well spent.

Ok, we did good today!!  Let's take a break and be back for the last three.

I am getting my self a四sì果gǔo冰bïng now.


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