Chapter 6 Talk about drinks

The drinks mentioned here are non-alcoholic, that is, soft drinks. In today's common language, it is the "water" in "drinks". Soda is an imported product, and it has only been introduced to China for 150 years, which is about the same time as Hong Kong was ceded.Soda water first entered China and was called "Dutch water". Whether it is a Dutch start-up or not, because there is no research in this area, I dare not speak. Wang Tao, an early reformist, mentioned Dutch water many times in his diary "Wandering Suilu" during his travels in Europe, and described it in detail.Recently, I accidentally read 39 Beijing city management regulations from the 32nd year of Guangxu to the 2nd year of Xuantong, one of which is about the "Regulations on the Administration of the Production and Sale of Soft Drinks", which was promulgated in the 34th year of Guangxu.In the regulations, there are clear and strict regulations on the scope of soda, the management of production and processing, the inspection of imported raw materials, and the hygiene management requirements. It can be seen that the production, sale and drinking of soda were common at that time.In this regulation, soda water, Dutch water and soda water are called together, which may be different at that time.One of the regulations is that it is not allowed to use saccharin, pigments (referring to pigments) and flavors for blending. When car sugar (that is, edible white sugar) and foreign sugar must be used, that is, blending with fruit juice, the container must be sterilized.I thought of watching TV recently, reporting that an illegal soda maker in the suburbs of Beijing was banned, and they actually used industrial flavors and saccharin as chemical raw materials to manufacture fake "Fanta" soda, which is really worrying.I didn't expect the "regulations" ninety years ago to still apply today.

In some cities in our country, early soda or Dutch water was sold in Western pharmacies, a fact that is hard for people today to imagine.I think it is probably because the main raw materials for making soft drinks, such as citric acid and baking soda, belong to the category of medicines, and the working procedures meet the requirements of "preparations" in western pharmacies.This soda processing is, of course, produced and sold on a small scale. When I was very young, I often heard my old grandmother repeating the "railway soda" I drank in the Northeast.Listening to her description, it seems that this kind of soda is poured into a glass beforehand and served on the table, because she always emphasizes that there are two bright red cherries in the glass, and the cherries cannot be poured out if they are in a soda bottle.According to time calculations, the time when she drank this soda was about before the Northeast changed its banner, when Yang Yuting and Chang Yinhuai were in power, that is, between 1925 and 1927.What she often recalls is Harbin's "Kvass", which was sold in beer bottles two years ago. "Kvass" is made by fermenting bread as raw material. Compared with wine, it is between similarity and dissimilarity.The quality of "Kvass" sold a few years ago was very poor, far from authentic "Kvass".The Harbin "Kvass" mentioned by the old grandmother was produced and sold in "White Russia" in the Northeast at that time, and it was too late for the rest of my life, so I don't know what it tastes like.In the mid-1950s, the Moscow restaurant of the Beijing Exhibition Hall (then known as the Soviet Exhibition Hall) opened. There was a "Kvass" drink, which was also the size of today's beer bottle. After pouring out, the color was slightly darker than beer, accompanied by some impurities and raisins , clear and sweet, with a lot of bubbles, it is very appetizing to accompany meals.

By the 1930s, China's soda industry had matured and created many famous brands, such as "Mabaoshan soda" and "Zhengguanghe soda", all of which were famous in the 1930s and 1940s.Until "Coca-Cola", "Sprite", "Fanta", "Pepsi" entered China to compete in large numbers, there was still a huge market for soda in China, and people in different cities loved their own soda very much.For example, people in Beijing drink "Arctic Ocean", people in Tianjin are thirsty for "Shanhaiguan", people in Shanghai drink "Zhengguanghe", and people in Shenyang drink "Bawangsi", and they are very proud of it.

Sherbet coexists with soda, and sherbets can be divided into high and low grades. The lowest-grade sherbet is the sherbet sold along the street. Most of this kind of sherbet is made by hawkers. Most of them are prepared with pigments, and it is inevitable that they will be prepared with saccharin and flavor.The hawker puts the sherbet in a large wooden barrel, puts ice around it, and sells it along the street in summer, and there are indeed customers.The high-end ones are bottled, and most of them are bottled after blending with concentrated fruit juice.The best ones are those produced by brand-name manufacturers, such as the Mabaoshan Soda Factory, which also produces sherbet, with well-printed registered trademarks on the bottles.The sherbet has the right concentration and can be drank down after opening the bottle.The history of Chinese drinking sherbet is much earlier than that of soda.The western rose brine mentioned in the article is probably the concentrated juice mixed with sherbet.

The herbal tea in Guangzhou is not so much a tea as a beverage. It is made from a variety of herbs and has a strange taste, which many northerners find unsuitable. "Wanglaoji Herbal Tea" is the most famous in Guangzhou. It is said that Wanglaoji was just selling it with a burden at first. I got into a big disaster and didn't dare to show up for many days.Unexpectedly, after these foreigners vomited and diarrhoea, they immediately felt refreshed and recovered from the epidemic.In order to thank Wanglaoji, he gave him a sum of money, so Wanglaoji expanded his business, and the signs of "Wanglaoji herbal tea" spread all over Yangcheng.Later, even cities like Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore had signs for "Wanglaoji Herbal Tea".

Sour plum soup is the most traditional Chinese drink, and it is best to quench your thirst in summer. In "Miscellaneous Songs of the Capital City", there is a sentence "...the hot weather is even more worrying about the heat, and the night is knocking on the copper cup to sell plum soup", which is written about summer nights, selling sour plum soup in the streets and alleys.This kind of street vendor usually uses a trolley to carry a wooden barrel and sells it together with the sherbet. The seller clamps two copper cups between the thumb, middle finger and index finger, and hits each other to make a sound, commonly known as "beating copper". bowl".The sour plum soup on this kind of car is of poor quality, bland and thin, and not very clean. The most desirable thing is that it is kept in an ice bucket, which is very cool. After a cup of sour plum soup, the heat will disappear immediately.

In the old days, there were three best sour plum soups in Beijing, one was Xinyuanzhai, the other was Fengshenggong, and the third was Tong Sanyi.The sour plum soups of the three companies have their own characteristics, but one thing is the same, that is, the best dark plums are selected, repeatedly tormented to remove impurities, and the concentration of sour plum soup is increased by using rock sugar entirely.Xinyuanzhai has the oldest brand name, and besides ebony and rock sugar, it uses the most osmanthus, so it attracts customers with "osmanthus and sour plum soup".In addition to selling ready-made iced sour plum soup, this store also sells "osmanthus sour plum cake" packed in cartons, so that customers can make their own after buying it.In fact, if a piece of sour plum cake is mixed in water, the taste is far from that of the currently sold sour plum soup, even the color is much worse.But this kind of "Osmanthus sour plum cake" has a special flavor when eaten empty-handed. Even foreigners who come to Beijing will buy a few boxes to give away.Fengshenggong is in the north gate of the old Dong'an Market, not far from Donglaishun Restaurant.This store mainly sells dairy products, such as cheese, milk rolls, milk pastry, dried cheese, almond tofu, etc. The sour plum soup is only sold in summer.I remember that when I was young, I was often taken by my family. I always drank a bowl of sour plum soup when I entered the door. Here, the sour plum soup is served in a small porcelain bowl with fine porcelain white glaze. There are traces of brown, which is the reputation of "hanging glaze" widely touted by Fengsheng Gong, which shows the mellowness of its sour plum soup.When the old Dong'an Market was demolished, Fengsheng Gong ceased to exist.It is said that its business in dairy products was assigned to the later Meiyuan Dairy Store.Although Meiyuan also sells cheese, etc., its quality cannot be compared with Fengsheng Gong.As for the production process of sour plum soup, it is even more extinct.Tongsanyi is outside the front door, and the most famous one is Qiuli Gao. When I was a child, I had a cough and was forced to eat a lot of Qiuli Gao. Therefore, I later developed a rebellious mentality towards Qiuli Gao. This rebellious psychology is also related to Tongsanyi’s brand name. Together, I am afraid that Tongsanyi's sour plum soup is also the taste of Qiuli cream, so I have never drank Tongsanyi's sour plum soup.

Of the above three stores, only Xinyuanzhai is still selling sour plum soup, but there is no freshly made and sold iced sour plum soup. The manufacturer has several stores, and the one at the west entrance of Dongliulichang has closed down. Two years ago, the store on the back street of the art museum is still there.There are only two types of sour plum soup. One is the finished product that is bottled and ready to drink.The other is "Osmanthus ebony juice" concentrated in different volumes. It may be due to the improvement of the production process and the insufficient proportion of rock sugar, which is no longer like the Xinyuanzhai sour plum juice.As for "Osmanthus sour plum cake", it has been extinct for many years.