Sugar cane juice, butterfly pea flower tea, fresh lime soda, Thai iced tea — the street drink culture.
Strong orange tea brewed with spices and condensed milk, poured over ice — the colour is distinctively orange; sweet, creamy, essential.
The same tea base with fresh lime juice instead of milk — sharper, refreshing, less sweet.
Sweetened milk with sala syrup — pink, sweet, cold; a childhood drink Thais grow up on.
Fresh-pressed from sugar cane stalks by roadside machines; very sweet, best with ice; 20–30 THB; a hot-day essential.
Vivid blue tea made from dried butterfly pea flowers; adds a splash of lime and it turns purple — naturally caffeine-free; increasingly available in cafes.
Street carts throughout the city sell most of these for 15–30 THB — look for the glass bottles or jugs lined up, a reliable sign of a working drinks stall.
Ice from established carts and restaurants is generally safe, made from filtered water in cylindrical or tubular shapes at commercial ice factories rather than home freezers.