Vietnam Drink: Specialties Only In Vietnam

In the minds of foreigners all around the world, the image of Vietnam is always attractive and exciting. From the scenery, the food, to the drinks that can only be found in Vietnam. Vietnam attracts international friends from food culture to unique drinks that no other can find. These drinks are made from available ingredients and processed according to a specific recipe.

1. Organic Juice

• - Nước mía (Sugarcane Juice)

Sugarcane Juice is an organic juice and one of the best summer drinks in Vietnam. It is not hard to find a sugarcane juice shop in the heat of summer. Sugarcane juice tastes better than many other drinks because it is supplemented with fresh kumquats or lemons. With sweet taste from sugarcane and sour taste from kumquat, sugarcane juice can satisfy all visitors. 

You can easily find this beverage all over Vietnam. 

• - Nước dừa (Coconut Water)

Coconut is grown mostly in the Southwest of Vietnam. Due to its mild sweetness and ability to help you beat the heat on hot days, this fruit is highly well-liked. Along with sugarcane juice, coconut water is also sold on the street. To enjoy this drink, people are usually cut above the left head. Some people like to add a little sugar to taste while others prefer to drink its pure sweetness with a few ice cubes. 

Coconut water can be seen as a traditional condiment. It helps to sweeten your food, so coconut water is often added in many traditional Southwestern dishes. 

In addition, coconut cream is also another condiment for many desserts such as Rice Ball Sweet Soup, Chè, Ice-cream, etc.

• - Nước sâm (Ginseng juice)

Ginseng juice is a Vietnamese herbal tea with a sweet and cool taste, often served with ice. This is considered the perfect sidewalk drink to enjoy in Vietnam's hot and humid weather. According to Oriental medicine, the most basic formula of ginseng juice includes sugarcane, nettle leaves, grass roots and corn silk, which have welding properties, helping to cool down the body.

• - Nước rau má (centella juice) 

Centella smoothie is a popular drink among Vietnamese. This beverage, which is offered in the majority of eateries across the nation, really tastes more like cucumber water than anything else. While traveling the nation, this beverage will help you stay hydrated in the humid climate of Vietnam. The same street vendors that sell sugar cane juice can be found where this beverage is sold. The ideal places to go are everywhere there are people, especially in crowded places like parks, markets, schools, universities, etc.

This simple drink has been upgraded with buttery mung beans and lightly sweet coconut juice, and occasional toppings such as aloe, herbal jelly or tapioca pearls. 

• - Sinh tố (Smoothies)

Smoothies are everywhere in Vietnam with lots of fresh fruits: dragon fruit, apple, jackfruit, avocado, custard apple... along with ice and condensed milk or yogurt.

2. Coffee

• - Cà phê sữa đá (Iced Milk Coffee)

According to CNN's assessment, iced milk coffee has reached the top 10 must-try drinks when traveling to Vietnam. A drink made from coarsely ground coffee beans. With only a small filter to make each drop of coffee into a cup containing condensed milk and ice, it creates an irresistible taste that is "sobering up".

Diners can easily find iced milk coffee in most coffee shops in Vietnam. Enjoying a cup of iced milk coffee mixed with the bustling atmosphere on the sidewalk in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City is also a must-try experience.

• - Cà phê phin

Only Vietnamese people in Southeast Asia consume Phin coffee. It's surprising that foreign visitors like coffee in this manner so much.

Vietnam is the largest producer of Robusta coffee in the world. Even if Robusta is not as appreciated as Arabica coffee, Vietnamese coffee is manufactured in a unique and distinctive method. 

It is not difficult to see people clutching coffee cups while strolling around the streets. Enjoying a cup of coffee at any time of the day on the sidewalk or a corner of a bar and sitting and chatting with friends has become a part of Vietnamese culture.

• - Cà phê trứng

Coffee lovers should visit Vietnam. It exports coffee at a second-place global level (after Brazil). Vietnam's traditional method of serving coffee is hot or cold, with plenty of condensed milk added for sweetness. In the hot season, especially in the southern portion of the nation, the iced form is a wonderfully cooling snack.

In Hanoi, egg yolks and condensed milk are added to make an additional well-liked variation known as "egg coffee" (ca phe trung). These egg coffees from Vietnam have gained popularity recently. They have a somewhat tiramisu-like flavor and are frothy and enjoyable to taste.

With the creamy egg coating that resembles meringue and the deliciously sweet flavor, egg coffee might nearly be referred to as a dessert. However it came about, we're simply happy it happened! According to tradition, the beverage was created because there was a shortage of milk during war time.

• - Cà phê muối

If Hanoi is famous for egg coffee, Saigon has iced milk coffee, in Hue there is also a coffee that everyone is proud of, which is Cà Phê Muối (Hue salted coffee) - a specialty of the ancient capital Hue.

Although Hue salted coffee is not as old as iced milk coffee or egg coffee, it just appeared about 10 years ago, but has quickly gained popularity. And now it has become a typical Hue coffee. 

The cup of coffee is a combination of sweet, bitter and salty taste thanks to being mixed with fermented milk and fine salt. The drink consists of condensed milk underneath, a layer of fermented milk with salt and a traditional aluminum coffee filter on top. After waiting for about 3 minutes, the color of the coffee cup gradually changes as the black coffee drops gradually fall into the pure white salt cream. Diners stir well, add ice cubes to enjoy.

Salt serves as a neutralizer, bringing out the sweetness of milk and mellowing the bitterness of coffee. An excellent cup of coffee is made with just the proper quantity of salt, which gives the beverage a deeper flavor.

• - Bạc xỉu

Famous as a city that receives a lot of culinary styles from all over the country, Saigon offers a variety and colors with delicious dishes and drinks. Besides iced black coffee and iced milk coffee, Bạc Xỉu considered a symbol of Saigon people, associated with many generations of people. 

Bạc Xỉu comes from the name “Bạc Tẩy Xỉu Phé” in Mandarin of the Chinese community who make up a large part of Saigon. “Bạc” mean White, “Tẩy” means Empty Cup, “Xỉu” means a Little, and “Phé” means coffee. Thus, Bạc Xỉu can be understood as hot milk with a little coffee added. Many people after drinking Bac Xiu called this drink the Vietnamese Latte.

Bac Xiu in tradition is served hot, eaten with a fried dough stick or Vietnamese hollow donuts. But today, to be more suitable for Saigon's year-round hot weather, silver xiu is transformed into a cold drink. Therefore, customers can enjoy both types: Hot and cold, depending on each person's taste. In many places, Bac Xiu is also added to coconut milk for a more diverse flavor, meeting the preferences of some customers.

3. Wine/Beer

• - Bia (Beer)

Each region in Vietnam has a typical beer. For example, Saigonese frequently consume beer 333 or Saigon beer, which is sweeter and has a lower alcohol content than beers from other places. 

In the central region of Vietnam, popular local beers are Huda beer (a combination of the words Hue, the ancient capital of Vietnam and Denmark) and Bia La Ru, a slightly more bitter beer believed to be of French origin. 

If you visit Hanoi without going to the intersection of Luong Ngoc Quyen, Ta Hien and Dinh Liet to try low-alcohol draft beer, attractive side dishes.

• - Bia hơi (Draft Beer)

This is the most popular, delicious and "fresh" draft beer in Vietnam. A street corner beer shop is always attracted by the noise and bustle caused mainly by Vietnamese men. Bia Hoi has low alcohol (under 3%), cheap price (1 USD / 1 liter), so it is very popular with Western customers. The drink is also known as a cultural bridge between locals and tourists . Vietnamese people drink beer with snacks such as green mango, sour spring rolls, boiled snails, etc. 

• - Rượu nếp (Glutinous Rice Wine)

Glutinous Rice Wine is a Vietnamese traditional liquor. Vietnamese men love glutinous rice wine with an alcohol content of about 29.5%. With the “nhậu” culture, Vietnamese often accompany this wine with some special food, such as grilled dried squid, grilled meat or seafood. 

Violet blutinous rice wine has a lighter alcohol content and sweeter taste than regular rice wine. 

4. Tea

• - Trà đá (Iced tea)

Iced tea is a rustic drink so familiar with the lives of Vietnamese people, it appears everywhere from popular to luxurious restaurants or from small alleys to big streets in Vietnam. Iced tea is a type of beverage made from cold tea with crushed ice. 

Iced tea is frequently offered at no charge in restaurants and cafés, and when it is, it only ever costs more than 5,000 VND per cup.

• - Trà sen (Lotus tea)

Tea that has been flavored with lotus is called lotus tea. Lotus tea has evolved into a symbol of Vietnamese tea culture, adding to the global tea culture with its sophisticated preparation, ingredients, and flavor of our nation.

Lotus tea is a blend of green tea grown on the red soil of the highlands and the fragrance of Vietnam's national flower. Every step of the lotus tea-making process requires tact and attention to detail. Choose a good type of tea, filter each lotus flower picked early in the morning, brew the tea skillfully in each petal so that the astringency is reduced, the sweetness is just enough to infuse and the fragrance is faint.

• - Trà tắc/trà chanh (Lemon tea/Kumquat Tea)

Lemon tea is made extremely simple by combining ice, tea, sugar, and lemon juice. Lemon tea, which is offered both on the sidewalk and in restaurants, has a sweet and tangy flavor that is simple to consume.

The same with Lemon Tea, Kumquat tea has the ingredients as ice, tea, sugar and kumquat juice. 

• - Trà xanh Thái Nguyên (Thai Nguyen Green Tea)

Green tea is one of the cultural drinks of Vietnamese people; and has become an essential part of Vietnamese life; from Tet, festivals, weddings to funerals. Tea plants have been grown everywhere since time immemorial, especially in rural or upland areas. The two main types of tea include: fresh tea and dried tea. Both have a relaxing fragrance; However, fresh tea is slightly more spicy and bitter than dry tea.

Thai Nguyen is a province located north of the capital Hanoi. And the specialty of this place is green tea. Due to the extremely suitable climate and soil for tea plants. So green tea in Thai Nguyen is very high quality. Can be considered the best quality in the midland tea region.

The characteristic of Thai Nguyen green tea is the passionate flavor of nuggets . The taste is rich, greasy, delicious umami and long sweet aftertaste.

That's why the Thai Nguyen tea area proudly considers them as the "first-class tea" . Because in Vietnam, it is true that in terms of popularity and popularity, which tea can surpass Thai Nguyen tea.

• - Trà atiso (Artichoke Tea)

Artichoke tea has liver cleansing and detoxifying properties.  There are two versions of artichoke tea: a sweet yellow made from the artichoke flower and a dark bitter black version made from the stem. Artichokes are grown in Da Lat, Vietnam but available artichoke tea packs are popularly sold in supermarkets across the country.

In conclusion, everyone in Vietnam enjoys the drinks listed above. They are not only good for our health but also bring us closer together as we can sip drinks while talking and enjoying life around us. As they will help you learn more about Vietnamese drinking culture, you should try these drinks to understand more about the Vietnamese drink culture.