Top 10 Unique and Delicious Drinks in Ho Chi Minh City

Tropical Fruit Tea is a fantastic drink for those who love fresh, healthy fruit flavors and seek a refreshing experience. This tea is made by blending tea with tropical fruits like orange, lemon, mango, watermelon, pineapple, apple, lychee, tangerine, and grapefruit, creating a unique and refreshing beverage perfect for hot summer days.

Tropical Fruit Tea combines the distinct taste of tea with the sweet, sour, and refreshing flavors of fresh fruit. This harmonious blend offers a unique experience for drinkers. It’s also an excellent choice for those wanting to try something new. You can find Tropical Fruit Tea at bubble tea shops, supermarkets, cafes, or even make it at home.

In addition to its great taste, Tropical Fruit Tea is packed with health benefits, as the fruits used are rich in vitamins, antioxidants, and fiber.

REFERENCE LOCATIONS:

Royal Tea System:

• Store 1: 1051-1053 Nguyễn Văn Quá, Q.12.
• Store 2: 173 Thống Nhất, Bình Thọ, Q. Thủ Đức.
• Store 3: 366A18 Phan Văn Trị, P.5, Q. Gò Vấp.
• Store 4: 2/6 Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai, Q.1.
• Store 5: 800 Sư Vạn Hạnh, Q.10.

During hot weather, Beauty Soup is a perfect choice for cooling down while also offering skin benefits. It’s especially popular among office workers in Ho Chi Minh City, who often seek out this refreshing and beauty-enhancing treat.

Beauty Soup is made with a variety of ingredients, including snow fungus, peach gum, lotus seeds, red dates, goji berries, longan, and lotus seeds. Depending on regional tastes, vendors might add other ingredients such as barley, chia seeds, basil seeds, tamarind jelly, and saffron petals. The soup has a thick consistency, with a sweet, refreshing taste, accented by the sourness of goji berries and the fragrance of pandan leaves, longan, and lotus seeds, especially when served cold.

True to its name, this soup primarily serves to beautify: it helps boost collagen production, improving skin health and appearance. In addition, it provides anti-aging benefits, detoxifies the liver, and promotes mental clarity. Due to these incredible benefits, Beauty Soup is becoming increasingly popular and is highly sought after by many.

REFERENCE LOCATION:
Beauty Soup MS.U: 188 Nguyễn Xí, Phường 26, Bình Thạnh, Ho Chi Minh City

Mangosteen is a fruit commonly found in the summer season. When enjoying this fruit, you’ll experience a subtle sweetness with a hint of tartness on the tongue. It’s a real treat when fresh mangosteen is combined with refreshing tea to create a delightful mangosteen tea that’s perfect for cooling down on hot days.

The mangosteen tea has a beautiful light purple color, which is enough to captivate customers before they even taste it. The real magic happens when you take a sip on a hot day—one gulp will leave you feeling completely refreshed and cool. The tea’s tangy mangosteen flavor, paired with the fresh mangosteen pieces and the sweet rock sugar, complemented by the slightly bitter tea, creates a taste that will enchant your senses. Once you’ve tried it, you’ll be hooked on this drink.

In addition to the classic mangosteen tea, many shops continue to innovate with variations, offering unique twists such as mangosteen tea with butterfly pea flower or mangosteen coconut tea.

REFERENCE LOCATION:

Our Tea Shop 10 Years Later: 75 Gò Dầu, Tan Quy, Tan Phu, HCMC

Salted Coffee was first introduced in Hue. The unique flavor of this coffee is said to be the special recipe of a garden coffee shop on Nguyen Luong Bang street. To this day, there is still little information about its true origins or the inspiration behind this one-of-a-kind coffee brewing method.

Typically, coffee has a bitter taste, but the level of bitterness depends on the brewing method. Just like adding milk or sugar, salt is another ingredient that helps balance the bitterness of coffee. Moreover, the addition of salt releases sodium ions, which not only mellow the bitterness but also enhance the flavor, making the coffee more delicious and inviting.

Drinking salted coffee is similar to enjoying regular coffee with milk or sugar. You can choose to drink it hot right after brewing, or you can add ice for a refreshing cold version of this delightful beverage.

REFERENCE LOCATION:

LiHu Garden 꽃 – Bakery: Scenic Valley 2 Apartment, Block C, 2nd Floor, C2.01, Nguyen Van Linh Street, Tan Phu Ward, District 7, HCMC

What could be better than enjoying a cold, sweet-and-sour drink on a hot afternoon? Tamarind Ice is sure to refresh you! Since its introduction, Tamarind Ice has gained attention for its uniqueness and captivating flavor that appeals to the taste buds.

The combination of tangy tamarind and sweet pineapple syrup, with a sprinkle of roasted peanuts on top, creates a delightful and crunchy texture that makes every bite enjoyable.

Although Tamarind Ice can easily become addictive, especially among young people and food enthusiasts, its ingredients and preparation are simple and easy to gather. All you need are sour tamarind, fresh pineapple, and peanuts. The tamarind and pineapple are cooked into a jam, and when you're ready to enjoy it, simply add the jam to a glass, pour hot water over it, stir to dissolve, and add ice. Finally, top it off with roasted peanuts and a little pineapple jam. That’s it — a perfect drink to cool down on a scorching afternoon!

REFERENCE LOCATION:

96 Cao Thang, Ward 4, District 3, HCMC

Bitter Melon Lemon Tea (also known as bitter gourd) has only recently gained popularity, but this trendy drink has already piqued the curiosity of many due to its unique combination of familiar ingredients. The greenish drink is made from Thai green tea, lemon, and fresh bitter melon, served with plenty of ice.

While the vibrant green color is visually appealing, many are initially hesitant about the flavor, wondering how lemon and bitter melon could work together. However, when prepared, the drink contains just a small amount of bitter melon juice, making the Bitter Melon Lemon Tea much more palatable, with a subtle bitterness that’s easy to drink, making it a great choice for refreshing yourself.

The type of tea used for Bitter Melon Lemon Tea is fragrant Thai green tea, which helps mask the strong bitterness of the gourd. The tea base is also mixed with lemon juice, which helps balance out the bitterness, making the drink highly enjoyable. Not only is it a great thirst-quencher, but Bitter Melon Lemon Tea also has the added benefit of helping with weight loss.

REFERENCE LOCATION:

NÚP Tea & Coffee - 906 Truong Sa, Ward 13, District 3, HCMC

The name itself gives away the unique and unconventional nature of this drink, doesn’t it? Mango Salted Oolong Tea is primarily made with ripe mangoes, oolong tea base, and ice. Everything is blended together until smooth. On top, you'll find small chunks of fresh mango and a dash of chili salt. The result is a drink that bursts with the fragrant sweetness of mangoes and an exciting combination of sour, salty, sweet, and spicy flavors from the mango and chili salt.

This drink is perfect for a leisurely evening stroll, sipping on the sweet and spicy oolong mango blend while chatting with friends. In addition, each cup of Mango Salted Oolong Tea comes with a long stick of mild chili, which adds a flavor reminiscent of salted plum. While it may seem strange to pair salt and spice with a drink, if you're up for a truly unique experience, you might just find yourself hooked after the first try.

REFERENCE LOCATION:

Yucha Milktea & Coffee - 71 Tran Huy Lieu, P. 12, Phu Nhuan District, HCMC

The healthy food trend is always met with enthusiasm, and this is no different for the Healthy Smoothies on the menu at The Chai Cafe. You’ll be delighted to enjoy a big-size cup packed with a blend of smoothies, fresh fruits, nutritious seeds, and decadent sauces.

Healthy Smoothies are eye-catching in both appearance and taste. A variety of premium fruits like acai berries, strawberries, and bananas are meticulously layered on top of the smoothie base. Topping it off are thick, fruit-based sauces and oats, giving it an irresistible flavor.

While the Acai bowl offers a tart flavor that awakens your taste buds, the Mana smoothie is perfect for those with a sweet tooth who crave indulgent richness. The cafe offers three sizes: small, queen, and king, priced between 69k and 119k. While it may seem a bit pricey for a refreshing treat, the high-quality ingredients and numerous health benefits make it well worth the try.

REFERENCE LOCATION: 76 Nguyen Dinh Chieu, District 3, HCMC

On a hot day, nothing beats the refreshing feeling of a sweet sugarcane juice that cools you to the core. But plain sugarcane juice is just the beginning; sugarcane juice with coconut cream takes it to a whole new level of deliciousness.

The coconut cream, cooked to a rich consistency, adds a creamy, indulgent layer to the traditional sugarcane juice. When you shake the cup, the white coconut cream gradually blends into the golden sugarcane juice, creating a beautiful pale yellow hue. Topped with shredded coconut, it adds a delightful crunch to every sip. The creamy sweetness dances on your tongue, making each sip a revitalizing experience, with the distinct aroma of coconut lingering after.

Today, it's not hard to find a place offering this tropical delight. A cup costs only around 10k, making it an affordable and refreshing treat. It’s undoubtedly one of the best ways to beat the heat during scorching summer days.

REFERENCE LOCATION: 153 Phan Dang Luu, Phu Nhuan, Ho Chi Minh City.

Soursop Tea is a simple yet refreshing beverage made by combining a variety of teas, such as oolong, green, black, or jasmine tea, with chunks of candied soursop, a squeeze of kumquat, and a touch of rock sugar. This drink went viral on social media because of its unique flavor and universal appeal among all age groups.

The taste of soursop tea is a perfect balance of sweet and sour, with the distinct fragrance of fresh soursop, the mellow sweetness from the rock sugar, and the subtle bitterness from the tea. It's an easy-to-make and highly enjoyable drink. It’s popular not only among the younger generation but also with middle-aged adults who often prepare it at home to cool down in the summer heat.

During the hot summer months, soursop tea is a fantastic way to stay refreshed. Not only does it hydrate and detoxify the body, but it also relieves stress and fatigue from the scorching weather. Plus, the vitamins in it help improve skin health, making it a rather 'healthy' option.

REFERENCE LOCATION:

Soursop Tea Lyly: 003 Lot H, Le Thi Rieng Apartment, Ward 15, District 10, Ho Chi Minh City