Vietnam has a wide variety of soft drinks, including locally produced fizzy drinks, energy-boosting concoctions, and fruit juices. Fruit shakes are also popular, made with chopped fruit, ice, water, and milk.
Vietnamese coffee is mostly grown in the Central Highlands. The usual variety served in Vietnamese establishments is robusta, which is black, thick, and very strong. Some people mix it with condensed milk, but this is an acquired taste for most foreign visitors. In the cities, smoother arabica coffee and fresh milk are becoming more popular.
For Vietnamese coffee, look for the sign "Trung Nguyen". For Western-style coffee, visit the tourist areas.
A curious and expensive variety of coffee is "weasel coffee". Arabica beans are fed to a weasel, pass through the animal's digestive system, and are then collected and processed. The passage of the beans through the creature's intestines is supposed to create a more mellow flavor.
Vietnamese tea is mainly green, sometimes with flavorings, and is drunk without milk or sugar. Black tea is also popular, but is also drunk without milk. If you want a traditional cup of tea with milk, stick to the tourist areas.
The range of alcoholic drinks in Vietnam is limited. Apart from expensive imported wines and spirits, most drinks available are domestically produced variations on rice wine or lager-type beer. Rice wine is drunk neat, often straight from the fermentation jar via a bamboo straw, or distilled into a spirit. The wine is also used as a base for the addition of plants, barks, or animals. These are usually drunk for their medicinal purposes, such as snake wine, which is popular with men who believe it enhances virility.
In the north, medicinal wines and spirits can be found easily. In Hanoi, there is a restaurant that specializes in fruit wines and liqueurs from the hill tribe villages.
Beer comes as variations of locally-brewed French-style lager, and as "bia hoi". Also known as "fresh beer", bia hoi is relatively low in alcohol, produced daily, and served ice-cold. It is cheap, ubiquitous, and delicious on a hot day!
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