I'm at a cafe in Hualien, Taiwan with my laptop. Due to a miscommunication, I accidentally ended up with the "healthy plum vinegar" instead of the "Korean citron tea".
"Healthy plum vinegar" tastes like someone soaked umeboshi (Japanese pickled, salty plums) in vinegar and then watered it down and served it with ice.
I think these are the characters: 健康梅果醋
Here is a photo of the healthy plum vinegar:
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Healthy Plum Vinegar
LFT, people will buy anything. Try OB.
OB
What is OB?
This acutally happened to me 3 times - all at cities on the east coast of Taiwan at a cafe called 85 degrees. Two times it was "plum vinegar" and the other time was some kind of cranberry-plum drink (that tasted like umeboshi).
Another communication problem is getting a "black tea latte" at Starbucks when I ask for a "black tea".
OB
OB are the initials for Oriental Brewery. It's a brand of beer sold in Korea, although not now owned by a Korean company. It's not quite as bitter as Hite beer.
Umeboshi
The plum vinegar and the cranberry-plum drink both tasted like umeboshi? Perhaps most drinks at that place pretty much taste like umeboshi too.
One of the things that I found quite interesting when I was in Kaohsiung (in southern Taiwan) was that just about every drink with the exception of plain water had sugar in it. Not just a teaspoon of sugar but a whole LOT of it. The green tea was sweeter than cola.
Kaohsiung
After Japan I also thought the sweet green tea was unusual. I think it's high fructose corn syrup, not sugar. (I don't like the taste of corn syrup.)
They sometimes put it in lattes also, or will ask "do you want sugar" and then hand me a small packet of corn syrup.
Taiwan has a lot of great drink shops, but finding a good drink either requires the ability to read Chinese, or the help of a local.
Something not sweet
Any suggestions on drinks in Taiwan NOT loaded with corn syrup or sugar or would that be asking too much?