The Chinese delight in fine cuisine, and beverages are no exception. Winter melon tea and cooling green lentil soup are typical summer refreshments. It is only recently that such traditional beverages have been supplemented by a variety of fashionable soft drinks, juices and milk drinks. Smartly packaged and easy to carry, these inexpensive new beverages are fast becoming midsummer necessities.

What did the ancient Chinese drink in the sweltering summer months? Historical records describe how the citizens of the Sung capitals drank pear, sour plum and papaya juices, green lentil soup, red and bitter teas, honeyed ginger drinks and herbal beverages, as well as sweet coconut and plum wines. These beverages were sold by peddlers, who stacked cups and beverages on small tabletops which hung from a bamboo carrying pole.

Drinks were cooled with ice which was stored up in cellars during the winter. Ice was never immersed in the drink, but rather placed around the container to lower the temperature.

In later times on Taiwan traditional drinks came to be sold from push-carts. Peddlers freeze the beverage in an earthen-ware urn and sell it out of a large glass container. Winter melon tea, green lentil soup and salted plum juice are also frequently made in the home.

Soda pop began to spread to Taiwan from Europe and America about 60 years ago. Drinking fashionable soda soon became a symbol of status. At that time most people drank it only at weddings and special celebrations.

Along with economic progress and improved standards of living came an increase in beverage consumption. In response to consumer demands, beverage manufacturers have made continual efforts to improve the quality and increase the variety of beverages in Taiwan. This article will concentrate on Taiwan's non-alcoholic, ready-to-drink beverages.

Every summer grocery stores and supermarkets display a vast array of beverages, from carbonated drinks and fruit and vegetable juices, to milk drinks and health tonics-all available in countless brands and flavors.

Taiwan's earliest carbonated beverages were clear sodas. In 1949 the Black Pine Company began producing sarsaparilla, now a particularly popular soft drink in Taiwan. The Chinese feel that sarsaparilla has special body-cooling properties, and with the addition of salt, can help cure a summer cold.

Soon flavored sodas such as Apple Sidra entered the beverage market. At that time apples were a rare commodity on Taiwan and Apple Sidra, although expensive, was an appealing item.

In 1968 Coca-Cola appeared on the Taiwan market, with Pepsi-Cola soon to follow, providing stiff competition for sarsaparilla and clear soda manufacturers. But cola's popularity was short-lived. When research in the early seventies revealed its high caffeine content, and the ability of one of its ingredients, phosphoric acid to erode the teeth, Chinese consumers went back to clear soda.

Aware of this trend the Pepsi Company began producing artificially flavored Warinta Orange and Lemon Sodas. Coca-cola began making Wonder Sodas in a variety of fruit flavors. With effective advertising fruit sodas became a new favorite.

The Black Pine Company, undisputed leader in soda production for a number of years, was not to be outdone. It soon caught up by marketing its own fruit soda and called it Cherico Apple Soda. At that time Seven-Up, boasting a unique lime flavor, also joined the line-up.

In 1982 the King Car Company shook the soda market when it developed a new sarsaparilla made with barley. After experimenting with a number of flavors including grapefruit and sour plum, they discovered that the addition of barley root to sarsaparilla created a pleasing flavor.

As carbonated beverages grew in number and variety, fruit, vegetable and herbal drinks were also finding their way onto the market. Taiwan's fruit and vegetable drinks include pineapple, lemon, passion fruit, mango, orange, guava, grape, apple, tomato and carrot juices. More traditional drinks are chrysanthemum, winter melon, fairy grass and barley teas, as well as asparagus, star fruit, sugarcane and sour plum juices.

Fruit juices appeared on the market in 1960 when the Taifeng Company began processing juices made from locally grown fruits. Kekoumei, Black Pine and Bomy fruit drinks followed. The Chinchin Company processed asparagus juice, valued for its cooling properties, for both local and foreign consumption. Sunkist brought orange juice concentrate to Taiwan in 1976, and companies like President, Oasis and Weichuan began processing orange drinks as well.

In addition to carbonated beverages and juices are milk products, which include soy milk, fresh milk, flavored milk, canned coffee with milk, and kefir. Most popular during the summer months are kefir drinks. Produced from milk and acidophilus, they help control the growth of harmful bacteria in the stomach.

The most recent addition to the beverage market is health drinks, including mineral waters and sports drinks. Mineral waters in Taiwan are made from purified spring water. The iron, calcium, magnesium and other minerals in these waters are believed to aid the cure of bronchitis, intestinal catarrh, hyperacidity and ulcers. To make mineral water more flavorful, companies such as Weikang add star fruit and other juice flavors. Sports drinks are beverages containing electrolyte ions which help to restore the body's energy after heavy exercise.

Along with their quest for novel drinks and flavors, beverage companies are also exploring different types of containers.

The first soft drinks in Taiwan were sold in a unique type of glass bottle which had a glass marble stopper wedged into the opening. A hard object was used to poke the marble into the bottle in order to open it.

Glass bottles were soon found to be inconvenient to transport and clean. The contents of a clear glass bottle could spoil when exposed to the sun's rays, or explode in the heat. Eventually beverage companies began to adopt various types of containers from Europe and America.

Sturdy metal cans were initially used, but when these were found to be inconvenient to open, companies began manufacturing disposable fliptop cans and aluminized paper cartons.

Aluminized paper cartons, called Tetra Brik, were first adopted from Sweden by the President Company for traditional beverages such as asparagus juice, sour plum juice, chrysanthemum tea and winter melon tea. They are made of layers of aluminum foil and DE mounting paper. After sterilization with hydrogen peroxide they are filled and sealed under bacteria-free conditions. In this way the beverage can maintain freshness for a long period of time without the addition of preservatives. The small brick-shaped containers are easy to stack and display, and keep for six months without refrigeration. To drink the beverage, a small straw attached to the side of the carton is poked into a hole at the top. Although unable to withstand the pressure of the CO2 in carbonated drinks, Tetra Brik cartons are widely used for juice and milk beverages.

Paper cartons are also used for milk and juice products. Yet another type of container is made out of styrofoam and plastic which has been pressed into a cylindrical form with a flat face.

Plastic bottles were a significant breakthrough in beverage containers. Kefirs are packed in small translucent plastic bottles. Soft drinks are sold in large transparent bottles made of a synthetic fibrous polymer. These bottles are durable, disposable, light and easy to open. They are also designed with four small holes at the lid which prevent the soda from spurting into the air upon opening.

Another type of soda bottle is made from a thin layer of glass covered by a pressure-resistant plastic membrane which helps the bottle maintain a low temperature. Such bottles are small and easy to carry.

The newest beverage container is the aluminized bag. Inexpensive to manufacture, it is also the lightest of all containers.

With growing competition, beverage companies are placing greater emphasis on marketing and advertising. Black Pine, the oldest and largest of the beverage companies, was the first to use signboards, logos and advertising slogans to promote its products. Its marketing success was further strengthened by the longterm, close relations which it maintains with its consignees. Sunkist also showed a knack for marketing when it moved its retail sales from stores and supermarkets to restaurants.

Sunkist achieved success with a concentrated advertising campaign on prime time television to introduce its product. King Car also realized the importance of advertising when it organized an expensive but successful promotion campaign for sarsaparilla and Mr. Brown Coffee.

Bombarded by a limitless variety of colorfully packaged beverages and alluring advertisements, how does the consumer make a good choice? The best advice is to choose a well-known brand with a recent manufacturing date, and to avoid punctured or damaged cans. As beverages in paper carton containers are particularly vulnerable to spoilage, it is also important that such products have been properly refrigerated.

Always look at the contents listed on the label. Most juices in Taiwan contain about 30% natural juice, mixed with a solution of sugar, citric acid and vitamin C. Diluted juices have an historical explanation. Traditional juice drinks were made of relatively sour or dense fruits such as guava, passion fruit and mango, which had to be diluted in order to be potable. Now, according to law, companies which produce drinks containing 30% or more juice are exempted from commodities taxes.

Currently efforts are being made by the government to add the inspection of a beverage's contents to already existing sanitation inspections. In this way, it is foreseen that cooling drinks in Taiwan will show progress in terms of nutritious contents, as they continue to grow in number and variety.

(Jill Ardourel)

[Picture Caption]

1. Iced juices are popular summer beverages. 2. Taiwan's carbonated beverages include clear and fruit flavored sodas, sarsaparilla and cola.

1. A glass of Seven-Up on ice brings welcome refreshment during the hot summer months. 2. Pepsi, Seven-Up and Coca-Cola are well-known trademarks throughout the world. 3. Mixed vegetable drinks are both tasty and nutritious. 4. Fruit juices packaged in paper cartons should not be stored for long periods of time.

1. Milk drinks are high in nutrition, thirst-quenching and filling. 2.3. Health drinks include mineral waters and sports drinks.

1. The aluminized bag is the latest in novel beverage containers. 2.3. Traditional drinks such as red tea, green grass tea, sour plum juice and star fruit juice are now sold in modern Tetra Brik containers. After sterilization, drinks maintain freshness for a lengthy period of time. 4. Longan tea and coffee, new drinks in Taiwan, are sold in small, flip-top cans.

1. A wide variety of beverages, neatly arranged and displayed, make purchasing convenient. 2. Cold Pepsi and beer are welcome refreshment during the summer. 3. Soft drinks add to the enjoyment of a leisurely conversation.

1. A restaurant waiter uses a concentrate to mix sour plum juice. 2. Children are the greatest fans of fruit sodas.

2. Taiwan's carbonated beverages include clear and fruit flavored sodas, sarsaparilla and cola.

1. A glass of Seven-Up on ice brings welcome refreshment during the hot summer months.

2. Pepsi, Seven-Up and Coca-Cola are well-known trademarks throughout the world.

3. Mixed vegetable drinks are both tasty and nutritious.

4. Fruit juices packaged in paper cartons should not be stored for long periods of time.

1. Milk drinks are high in nutrition, thirst-quenching and filling.

2.3. Health drinks include mineral waters and sports drinks.

2.3. Health drinks include mineral waters and sports drinks.

1. The aluminized bag is the latest in novel beverage containers.

2.3. Traditional drinks such as red tea, green grass tea, sour plum juice and star fruit juice are now sold in modern Tetra Brik containers. After sterilization, drinks maintain freshness for a lengthy period of time.

2.3. Traditional drinks such as red tea, green grass tea, sour plum juice and star fruit juice are now sold in modern Tetra Brik containers. After sterilization, drinks maintain freshness for a lengthy period of time.

4. Longan tea and coffee, new drinks in Taiwan, are sold in small, flip-top cans.

1. A wide variety of beverages, neatly arranged and displayed, make purchasing convenient.

2. Cold Pepsi and beer are welcome refreshment during the summer.

3. Soft drinks add to the enjoyment of a leisurely conversation.