Today I want to drink a familiar taste 🧋

After living in Taiwan for a while, you'll definitely notice: almost everyone has a drink in their hand. Taiwan has many choices for hand-shaken drinks. Just the tea types can be divided into black tea, green tea, oolong tea, and high mountain oolong. There are also milk tea, fruit tea, winter melon tea, grass jelly tea, and various toppings like cheese foam, pearls, coconut jelly, tea jelly, and grass jelly. What's more special is that you can also choose the sweetness and ice level when buying drinks. Normal sweetness, half sugar, less sugar, no sugar; normal ice, less ice, micro ice, no ice – the first time you buy, you really won't know how to answer. And the taste of each shop is different. Some shops have a stronger tea flavor, some have a more prominent milk flavor, and some toppings are particularly noticeable. After a long time, people seem to slowly find their favorite shops and ordering methods. But when it comes to Malaysia, what comes to my mind are not hand-shaken drink shops, but kopitiams. In Malaysia, many times when eating, people will order a cup of "water" to go with the meal. This "water" is not necessarily plain water; it could be Milo, teh C, kopi O, three-layer milk tea, or even desserts like 'momochacha'. Of course, Malaysia also has chain drink shops, such as Tealive or ZUS Coffee. Some Taiwanese brands have also become familiar names after entering Malaysia, such as KOI Thé (50岚) and The Alley (鹿角巷). However, for me, the most vivid image of Malaysian beverage culture is sitting in a kopitiam, with rice and noodles on the table, and always a cup of "water" beside it. Thailand also has a very representative Thai milk tea. That orange, sweet, and very milky flavor is completely different from Taiwanese hand-shaken drinks and Malaysian kopitiam beverages. Malaysia's 'momochacha' also has a similar dessert in Thailand called Ruam Mit. Although the taste and ingredients are not exactly the same, they both have coconut milk, ice, and many toppings. Rather than saying it's delicious, sometimes it can be described as tasty. Later, I felt that drinks are not just drinks. They also represent the rhythm of life in a place. Taiwanese hand-shaken drinks are like a small joy after class or work; Malaysian kopitiam drinks are like something that naturally appears next to every meal; Thai milk tea is a taste that comes to mind when thinking of Thailand. In a cup of drink, it seems that the daily life of many places is hidden.