Even though most Koreans drink only water (or a bit of barley tea) with meals, Korean culture is full of wonderful, traditional Korean drinks. With a cuisine as rich and varies as Korean cuisine, after all, how could they not? Though there are too many tasty, ultra-healthy Korean drinks to count (must less talk about here), a few of them stand apart as the best and most popular drinks in Korea.
Soju
Soju is, without a doubt, the most internationally popular of all Korean drinks. A distilled liquor traditionally made from rice, but also from sweet potatoes, wheat, and other starches, soju ranges from quite strong to mildly strong, and is a traditional part of Korean social gatherings. It can be drunk on its own, or mixed with other ingredients to make soju cocktails.
Korean Beer
Though it didn’t originate in Korea, Koreans still love beer. Brought to Korea by the Europeans, beer is one of the most popular Korean drinks, with three name brands sharing most of the country’s market. These are Cass, Hite, and OB, and all of them are lagers. Korean beer is generally light and dry and very refreshing– it’s especially good to wash down a big bowl of dolsot bibimbap.
Korean Wines
There are literally hundreds of types of Korean wine. Some of them are drunk casually, others are mixed, and still more are used for medicinal purposes. The most common type of Korean wine is probably rice wine. There are several types of rice wines, and they are among the most widely drunk of all Korean drinks. The most common are:
- Cheongju: a clear rice wine similar in flavor to Japanese sake
- Takju: a thick rice liquor (sometimes made from other grains). Commonly white and milky in appearance.
- Makgeolli: an unfiltered rice wine
Other Korean drinks and wines are made from fruit and herbs. Some of the more popular Korean fruit wines are made from acacia, quince, plum, cherry, and pomegranate. Ginseng and other medicinal herbal wines are also used to treat a variety of illnesses.
Korean Teas
It seems like there are more varieties of Korean tea than you could possibly taste in a lifetime. Made from just about anything you can think of (roots, fruits, leaves, grains, fungus, you name it), Korean teas are hugely prized for their medicinal qualities. Full of antioxidants and other good-for-you ingredients, their health benefits are a huge reason why tea is the most popular of all Korean drinks. There are literally hundreds of types of Korean tea, and some of the most popular are:
- Bori-cha (Barley Tea): made from unhulled, toasted grains of barley, this is the most widely drunk tea in Korea. Full of antioxidants, this nutty-flavored tea is drunk with meals and served either hot or cold.
- Saengang-cha (Ginger Tea): this is a wonderful tea to cool you off on a hot day or warm you all the way to your toes on a cold one. Made with fresh ginger, Asian pears or persimmons, orange zest, and sugar, this sweet, pungent tea has been drunk for centuries to ward off the common cold.
- Nok-cha (Green Tea): Green tea has show to have a myriad of health benefits, and is drunk throughout Korea.
- Insam-cha (Ginseng Tea): Made from dry or fresh ginseng root, insam-cha is drunk to increase one’s energy. Many commercial Korean drinks are based off this general recipe, and marketed as “energy drinks.”
Photo by: 
Recent Comments