China Is the Place for Exotic Juices

Just in the past few months I’ve had blueberry juice (in Beijing) and bayberry juice (in Shanghai):

Blueberry Juice and Yanjing Beer Bayberry Juice

This got me thinking about some of the other interesting juices in China. Although not so exotic, I never saw watermelon juice and cucumber juice on the menus back home (no, I have never hung out in health spas). But they’re regular features on the menu in Shanghai.

Then of course there’s kiwi juice and strawberry juice.

What interesting fruit or vegetable juices have you had in China?

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John Pasden

John is a Shanghai-based linguist and entrepreneur, founder of AllSet Learning.

Comments

  1. In Korea I’ve had pomegranate juice in addition to the ones you mentioned, minus blueberry.

  2. They sell asperagus, ginseng, bamboo, and strawberry juice in the supermarket here, (plus more I can’t remember) and we’ve tried the bambooo and strawberry. Bamboo was sweetish, and the strawberry was ok until you got to the chunky strawberry goo at the bottom.

  3. owshawng Says: July 28, 2007 at 7:10 pm

    Have you ever had fresh squeezed sugar cane juice? I’ve had it in Singapore and Taiwan. In the US I’ve found black tea flavored with fresh squeezed fruit juice like kiwio watermelon.

  4. I wouldn’t consider it exotic, but I really miss the cartons of Yoghurt that I used to live on in Chengdu. I have yet to find anything like it here in the States – not even in the Asian grocery marts.

  5. Tamarind Juice down in Yunnan, though I prefer the same juice from Myanmar. The Chinese version is a bit watered down. Further down in Thailand they are now selling coconut juice in bottles.

  6. And yet, it’s so darned hard to find some good orange juice.

  7. Greg Pasden Says: July 29, 2007 at 1:46 am

    In the mall, I actually saw them selling shot glasses of grass ground up into juice. and it wasn’t cheap!

  8. No way, that orange juice you get at any convenience store is tops of the pops, although usually I opt for the grapefruit juice. You know, the one with the cool bottle.

  9. I’ve given up on orange juice – most of what I see can only be called “orange beverage”. I drink a lot of coconut juice, and aloe flavoured yogurt.
    the most interesting drinks I’ve found are in pizza hut – they seem to be quite creative there. the “twin berry” one seems to have actual blackcurrants in it – one of my favourite berries. 🙂

  10. I suppose you have all heard of prune juice. How they could get juice from a dried plum (prune), I always wondered.

    Do they ever make juice from dragonfruit?

  11. Greg Pasden Says: July 29, 2007 at 7:53 am

    Have you seen the new sports drink in Japan? It’s called “Calpis”. Say it 3 times allowed and what does it sound like? Can you imagine how that might sound on a commercial, “I feel so refreshed after drinking Calpis!”

  12. I once found Love Juice here on a menu in Dalian.
    Watermelon and Orange Juice mix.

    The possibilities for jokes are endless:
    “Hey, have a taste of my love juice…”
    or
    “You got some love juice on your chin there.”

  13. Lisa R-R Says: July 29, 2007 at 8:51 am

    On a few visits to Nanjing I have been offered warm corn juice, sold in pitchers at lunch or dinner.
    It was fine!

  14. Tomato juice — with SUGAR. blech. Tomatoes are a vegetable regardless of what its technical definition is.

  15. eden: I’ve never had my conception of the roles of fruits and vegetables challenged more than when I’ve been living here in China. Just yesterday I had potato-fruit salad at Pizza Hut.

  16. The classic Taiwanese drink: papaya milk. I love it.

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