Thai Drinks: Iced Tea, Pink Milk, Fresh Juices and Local Spirits

In a hot country, drinks matter. Thailand has a huge range of them, from sweet iced teas and coffees to fresh fruit shakes, herbal drinks steeped from flowers and roots, and beers that are poured over ice. Many are sold from the same carts and kiosks that sell food, and most are made to order in a minute or two.

They share a few traits. Most are served very cold, many are very sweet, and nearly all can be adjusted if you ask.

Thai tea and lime tea

Cha yen, Thai iced tea, is the best-known Thai drink abroad. Black tea is brewed strong, often through a cloth filter, sweetened with sugar and sweetened condensed milk, poured over crushed ice and finished with a splash of evaporated milk on top. Its deep orange colour comes from the Thai tea mixes most vendors use, which are usually blended with colouring and sometimes vanilla-like flavourings, rather than from the tea leaves themselves.

Without milk, the same tea becomes cha dam yen, iced black tea, sweet and strong. Cha manao is iced tea with lime juice, sugar and sometimes a pinch of salt, sharp and refreshing on a hot afternoon. Many vendors also sell a green version, cha khiao, made with a sweetened green tea mix.

Coffee, old and new

Thailand's traditional coffee is kafae boran, old-style coffee, dark-roasted and filtered through a cloth sock, served hot with condensed milk or iced and sweet. Oliang is its black iced cousin, sometimes brewed from a blend that includes roasted grains and seeds. Kafae yen, iced coffee with milk, is sold almost everywhere.

Alongside this sits a large modern café culture, much of it using beans grown in the northern hills around Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. Espresso drinks, cold brew and pour-over coffee are easy to find in any town.

Pink milk and other sweet drinks

Nom yen, iced milk, is usually pink. It is made with a bright red sweet syrup known as sala syrup, mixed with milk and condensed milk over ice, and it tastes of sugar and a faint floral fruitiness. It is popular with children and students and is sold at most drinks stalls, sometimes as nom chomphu, pink milk. Other milky iced drinks include iced cocoa, iced Ovaltine-style malt drinks and iced green tea latte.

Fresh juices, shakes and coconuts

Fruit shakes, nam pan, are blended to order from fresh fruit, ice, syrup and sometimes a little salt. Watermelon, mango, pineapple, banana, passion fruit and mixed fruit are common, and the vendor will usually make whatever fruit is on the cart. Nam som, orange juice, is often pressed from local green-skinned tangerines and may have a pinch of salt added to bring out the flavour. Nam manao, lime juice with sugar and salt, is drunk as a cooling drink in its own right.

Coconut water, nam maprao, is drunk straight from a young green coconut, chilled and opened with a few strokes of a heavy knife. Scrape out the soft flesh with a spoon when the water is gone. The nam hom variety, aromatic coconut, is especially prized for its sweet, fragrant water.

Flowers, roots and herbs

A whole family of Thai drinks is made by steeping flowers, leaves, roots or fruit in hot water, then sweetening and chilling the result. Many are linked with traditional ideas about cooling the body in the heat:

• Nam dok anchan: butterfly pea flower, a striking deep blue. A squeeze of lime turns it purple, because the colour changes with acidity.
• Nam takhrai: lemongrass, light and fragrant, often served warm in spas or iced at stalls.
• Nam krachiap: roselle, a tart, cranberry-red drink made from the dried calyces of a hibiscus.
• Nam kek huay: chrysanthemum, pale gold and mild, found in Thai-Chinese shops and in bottles.
• Nam lamyai: longan, made from dried longan and very sweet, often with the fruit left in.
• Nam bai toei and nam khing: pandan and ginger drinks, fragrant and warming.

Bottled and canned versions of many of these are sold in convenience stores, but freshly made ones are usually less sweet and taste much brighter.

Beer and local spirits

Thailand's best-known beers are Singha, Chang and Leo, all lagers and all sold in bars, restaurants and shops across the country. Beer is very often drunk with ice in the glass, a practical habit in the heat that slightly dilutes a strong lager over a long meal. It is normal at casual restaurants and nobody will think it strange.

Lao khao, white liquor, is a clear spirit distilled from rice, often sticky rice. It is strong and is the traditional drink of rural gatherings, festivals and village celebrations, sometimes made by community producers. Thailand also produces brown spirits made largely from sugar cane molasses, sometimes with rice, which are often called Thai whisky but are closer to rum in style. They are usually drunk with soda, ice and sometimes cola. Sato, a fermented rice wine, is traditional in the northeast.

Alcohol sales in Thailand are restricted to certain hours of the day, and are generally banned on major Buddhist holy days and during elections. The rules have been revised in recent years, so it is worth checking what applies at the time of your visit.

Bags, cups and how to order

Drinks to take away were traditionally poured over ice into a small plastic bag, tied tight around a straw with a rubber band and carried by a loop of string or the knotted top. Bagged drinks are still common at markets, but most stalls now use plastic cups sealed with a film lid, pierced with a wide straw. Bring your own cup and some vendors will happily fill it.

Because many drinks are very sweet by default, a few words are useful:

1. Wan noi: a little sweet, less sugar.
2. Mai wan: not sweet, no sugar.
3. Mai sai nam khaeng: no ice.
4. Nam plao: plain drinking water.
5. Sai tung or sai kaew: in a bag or in a cup.

Ice in Thailand is generally made commercially from purified water, and the cylindrical tubes with a hole through the middle are a common sign of factory-made ice. Order a drink with your food, sit for a while, and try something new each time. The drinks stall is one of the best small pleasures of any Thai street.