Aww damn I forgot about that!
The best HK Milk Tea in SGV. I also like Cafe Dulce’s HK Milk Tea in Little Tokyo.
Also the Iced Lemon Tea at Savoy is really nice. Use the spoon to smash the lemons so the pulp gets into the tea and adjust the sweetness to your liking with the simple syrup.
That’s an In N Out hack btw since they have lemons, water, and sugar out in the open!
now i gotta try it
Make sure it’s the hot one.
(Also curious about Azay and dot dot wheel cake)
Speaking of teas…Sapp Coffeeshop, I love their Thai Tea, although I think it’s the crushed ice
I do not drink alcohol, but I tend to stick with water, sparkling water, or tea since I’m not a fan of sweetened beverages. That said, I do like ordering salted plum soda or fresh lime soda at Vietnamese restaurants, which are quite refreshing. My favorite aguas frescas are melon, sandia, and tamarindo. If there are shrubs or vinegar sodas on the menu I sometimes give them a try (like at Gjusta). At bars I often ask for a dash of bitters in my soda water for a little flavor (which have a trace amount of alcohol). Curious to find out the recommendations of others.
Gjusta
Cococane
Guerrilla Tacos
The iced coffee / cold brews were especially delicious at Konbi and Destroyer and were quite excellent with only just ice (no milk of any sort), and also with the food of both places.
The Thai iced coffee at Sapp Coffee Shop was too sweet for me.
Also a bitters in club soda person. If they have orange bitters (or anything else exotic bitter wise, which they often include in drink descriptions on the regular cocktail menu), that is worth trying with club soda as well.
Anything calamansi.
I really like the vanilla bean limeade at Sqirl. I also can’t resist ordering a limeade at any Vietnamese restaurant. If a place has fresh squeezed lemonade or limeade (not the Minute Maid fountain stuff), I will almost always order it.
I also love bubble tea/boba even though it’s so sugary (Iorder it less sweet now!) but a lot of it is nostalgia too, remembering to back in high school and college, sitting with my friends for hours at a boba shop (with no responsibilities except for homework, LOL). I really like the ube halaya drink at Boba Guys.
On weekends at Echo Park Lake, there’s a guy that has an agua fresca stand with like 8 different kinds. $4 for a large (looks like 24 oz, it’s huge) and I usually get watermelon, passionfruit or strawberry.
Ah yes!!! Soda Chanh is one of my favorite things too. But I suck those down too easy. The best one I’ve had in recent memory was from Pho Hue Oi in Redondo. But that is because I haven’t been to little Saigon in ages (hence the reason Cococane isn’t on my list… I just know I would love it…)
Ack! That has my name written all over it… sadly I always get distracted by their cocktails to give their Agua Frescas a try yet…
Argh!! Even at Filipino places it’s hard to find! It’s one of the few reasons to go Barrio Fiesta…
I seldom drink, so I really appreciate this thread. Here are some things that I haven’t yet seen mentioned:
On the high-end:
On the affordable-ish end:
[Also this last tip isn’t LA-specific, but if you ever find yourself in Portland, go to Either/Or for their amazing mocktails section, complete with some coffee-based beverages that will blow. your. mind.]
Dialogue and Somni both offer entirely non-alcoholic beverage pairings for their menus.
Any recommendations for Cococane in the SGV? The first time I heard about it was when some folks were discussing this place in Rosemead but I saw stand walking through the Thuan Phat Supermarket and shops in El Monte. I didn’t catch the name so when I yelped it I was surprised to see at least a few sugar cane places in close proximity.
I’m not familiar with the drink at all so maybe a tour is in order as long as nobody waves me off specific locations.
You really can’t go wrong at Cococane. But maybe the original for a first timer? Just lovely coconut juice with fresh coconut flesh. I also like the coconut-pineapple combination, too.
Oh, I thought Cococane was the drink! Good to know. Sugar cane drinks and the Vietnamese limeade @chinchi, @hanhgry and @Dommy are the most unknown to me in this thread
Thanks for the link! Dryuary is part of what made me think of this subject, also. That’s cool Dave Arnold offers non-alcoholic drinks at Existing Conditions. He did answer a question about mocktails in an episode of Cooking Issues a year or so ago that showed he puts a lot of thought into them. Would love to try his drinks but might have to settle for the Seedlip products you mentioned!