Drinks Around the World: Spritz (Italy)

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Spritz is the name of a variety of drinks but the original hails from Venice and the Veneto region. Created when under Austrian rule (hence its Germanic name), it is made by mixing equal measures of Prosecco wine (a very dry sparkling wine), the bitter liquor, Campari and sparkling mineral water. The Campari gives it a vivid orange colour. Chill with ice and add a slice of orange and an olive and enjoy watching Venice waltz pass (but get out of St Mark's Square to keep the prices in check!!).

I find the drink very refreshing and have seen variations in other parts of southern Germany, Switzerland and northern Italy.
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This is the last of a monthly series that has run for two and half years featuring iconic and traditional drinks from various locations around the world. The drinks have varied dramatically including hot and cold beverages, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic, some well-known and others unknown to most people.

Photo Credit: drink

Drinks Around the World: Hot Chocolate (Switzerland)

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While people have been eating chocolate for only a couple of hundred years, chocolate has been taken as a beverage for over three thousand years (started in central America). To me, Switzerland is the home of hot chocolate drinks and is the best drink choice whenever visiting this scenic alpine country.

Hot chocolate comes in two types - the less-than-satisfying watery powdered drink served up in many places around the world or the silky smooth rich, thick, deep brown drink that tastes like a liquid chocolate cake. Switzerland serves up more of the latter and was a drink I enjoyed in a number of places around Switzerland whether perched on the peak of Lucerne's Pilatus or wandering the streets of one of the Swiss towns.

However the highlight is the wonderful unassuming granite storefront called La Barbare (their French website) up a staircase overlooking Lausanne (and on the famed Camino de Santiago or Way of St James) where the effervescent Marta has been serving up her magic brew since 1950. Served in a conical cup, the thick syrupy hot chocolate tastes like a liquid truffle and makes for a superb start of the day with a fresh croissant.

Don't miss the chance to enjoy a wondrous hot chocolate in Switzerland!!
At the start of each month, Travel Wonders highlights a characteristic drink experienced on his travels. Other offerings from western Europe include Spanish Horchata, Bibicaffe from Italy, Dutch anijsmelk, Austria's Almdudler and an English chocolate mocha martini.

Photo Credit: shop

Drinks Around the World: Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc (Blenheim, New Zealand)

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When people mention wine they immediately think of France, Italy, Germany or Spain. However New Zealand rightly deserves its growing reputation for fine cool climate wines, especially crisp sauvignon blanc and mellow pinot noir. Today wine touring has become an increasing tourism attraction throughout much of the country.

The Mecca of Kiwi wines (80 percent of the nation’s production) is undoubtedly the Marlborough region with over fifty wineries dotting the open areas around Blenheim and neighbouring towns. While sauvignon blanc vines dominate the region, riesling, pinot gris, chardonnay and pinot noir (among others) also contribute to the varieties produced in the region.

Wither Hills offer a tour of their fine winery. Initially with a glass of their austere dry sauvignon blanc in hand, our group wander one of their eleven vineyards, this one surprisingly within walking distance of the coast. Sipping wine surrounded by vineyards with a backdrop of rolling hills is one of life’s most relaxing experiences.

A table sits at the other end of a string of vines with a variety of other Wither Hills wines including identical wines from different years. The contrast that a year can make in taste, colour and style is notable – where most drink products look for consistency over the years, wineries seem to look for individual personalities and unique characteristics, the weather and other aspects having such a dramatic effect on flavour, colour, smell and volume in each crop year.

The white wines exhibit strong fruity aromas, some quickly identifiable, some too subtle for my amateur nose, as one of the knowledgeable winemakers guides us through the tasting. Wither Hills believes that exceptional wines are ‘created in the vineyard’ and are constantly enhancing their technique to seek further improvements. While some vineyards are already organic, the entire portfolio will be in the next couple of years.

One story is on the planting of complementary flowering plants to encourage beneficial insects in the vineyard to eat the bad bugs.

As in many wine districts, fine wine is accompanied by fine food. Wither Hills restaurant cater our group for dinner including a succulent lamb ribs with crusted herbs. A superb end to experiencing one of New Zealand’s finest products –Marlborough sauvignon blanc.

I travelled as a guest of Qantas Airways on The Great Crusade, a promotion highlighting the best of New Zealand while following the endeavours of the Qantas Wallabies to win the Rugby World Cup. The journey can be followed via Twitter hashtag #greatcrusade.

Blenheim Vacations

Drinks Around the World: Brennivin and Hakarl (Iceland)

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Iceland is packed with natural wonders, a wild landscape undergoing constant changes by smoldering volcanoes, thunderous waterfalls, steaming lava fields and meandering glaciers.

Iceland's remote existence introduces unusual traditional drinks and food. The traditional national drink, not consumed regularly today, is brennivín. Literally meaning burnt wine, it is made by fermenting the pulp of potatoes and mixing it with caraway seeds. Enjoyed (and I use the word loosely) from a shot glass and served freezing cold, brennivín tastes like a fiery molten rye bread singeing the throat as it is swallowed. This potent caraway-flavoured schnapps is ominously and appropriately nicknamed 'Black Death' (svarti dauði) and could warm the body with one mouthful during the harsh winter months.

For the full traditional Icelandic experience, this firewater is taken with hákarl,a kind of fermented shark meat.

In times past, the long harsh winters and rough seas necessitated a survival instinct with food. Seafood, lamb and seabirds were preserved in many ways, smoked, salted, dried and pickled to provide nutrition and sustenance during the cold. One of the most bizarre foods, from Viking times, is hákarl.

And not just any shark, but Greenland shark. Born without kidneys, the shark is poisonous if eaten fresh. Caught, packed into the shoreline's gravelly beach and weighed down with stones, the toxic liquid is leeched out over a few months before the flesh is wind-dried on racks.

The resulting product is deceivingly served with toothpicks in small cubes like the finest cheese. The pungent ammonia-ridden flavour strikes before the cube first touches the tongue and with a further eye-watering aftertaste similar to cleaning fluid. Once the shock subsides, the next morsel or two are better (blocking the nose helps a little) but hákarl is an acquired taste that most modern Icelanders must struggle with.

I encourage everyone to explore the various local food and drink delicacies of the various countries. Only eaten on a special occasion or served to unsuspecting visitors, brennivín and hákarl provides one of the most challenging and unique eating experiences, with Viking heritage, that shouldn't be passed up and which encapsulates the spirit of this stunningly scenic and rugged volcanic nation.

Photo Credit: black table

Reykjavik Vacations

Drinks Around the World: Pomegranate Juice (Morocco, Turkey)

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The translucent seeds of the pomegranate glitter like rubies in the afternoon Moroccan sun. And nothing could refresh the body like pomegranate juice escaping after a few hours battling the hawkers, traders and crowds (and offers of mint tea) in the packed, humid, tangled labyrinthine souk in Marrakesh. Rarely sighted in Australia, pomegranates and pomegranate juice seem exotic luxuries that I was keen to taste.

Pushing the pomegranate into this primitive looking but cool machine, only hundreds of little red berries (called arils) remain. These hundreds of tiny liquid sacs are placed in a juicer along with a touch of orange blossom water (it's new to me too!), to produce a blood red syrupy juice.

The tartness startles a dry mouth with the first sip (a bit like cranberry) but remains just sweet enough to be truly refreshing and thirst quenching.

Marketing of the product makes it sound like liquid tiger balm, associated with being the magic elixir for a whole host of diseases and ailments. It is undoubtedly healthy with lots of vitamins but I suspect the claims are vastly overstated.

Available throughout parts of north Africa, the Middle East and Turkey, seek out a local stand for juice from this wonderful juice and help recover from the parching desert heat.

Photo Credits: juice, pomegranate

Marrakech Vacations

Drinks Around the World: Palm Wine (Ghana)

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Both a suspicion of local liquids that travelling in Africa brings and the unappealing look of the foamy, milky offering in a local bowl should have ensured that I never tasted palm wine or nsafufuo that the local Ghanaians call it (the Nigerians call it emu which entertains this Australian). Little specks of vegetable matter (or were they small insects) loll on the surface like holiday-makers on their favourite summer beach.

With a feigned look of pleasure I cautiously lift the bowl to my lips. To my surprise, a semi-sweet fluid drips onto my tongue like a velvet candy bar. Quickly I enjoy a few more mouthfuls of this luscious drink, bored of lukewarm beer and treated water. Though there is no sense of alcoholic taste or odour, palm wine is potent and is a poor mixer with the harsh Ghanaian sun. It has a similar flavour to creamy liquors but is somehow more refreshing and natural.

Palm wine is popular throughout West Africa being stored in all kinds of strange vessels from fancy local artistic calabashes to sun-cracked plastic bottles. Often available by the glass or cup in markets, palm wine varies in sweetness, the unsavoury cloudy appearance being no clue as to the intensity of flavour.

Collection requires athletic folks to scamper up the tree using a vine or rope to support them. After a careful cut, the tapper strategically places a container or gourd at the base of the palm fronds to collect the dripping palm nectar (which instantly starts fermenting on leaving the palm).

I have no idea if it is true but I was told that monkeys drink the alcoholic potion, intoxicated primates tumbling uncontrollably from the palm trees in an uncivilised display from our biologically near relatives. Ghanaians telling the story teeter unsteadily mimicing the drunken monkeys, laughing uproariously but I don't know if the joke is on the poor monkeys or the gullible visitor listening to the tale.

If you get the chance in Ghana or neighbouring country (and you most likely will), accept the generous offer to taste this delicious and velvety potion.

Photo Credits: palm wine container, palm wine, tree climber

Accra Vacations

Drinks Around the World: Mint Julep (USA)

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I have always been tempted by the cool and refreshing tastes of mint-based drinks. This month brings us the Mint Julep, a product of the American south.

It was late in the afternoon on an oppressive day. The Louisianaians barman served in a voice like the neighbouring Mississippi River - slow, deep and muddy - and made the drink with the same slow, steady precision. The wooden bar seemed unchanged for many a decade and somehow seemed so suited to the area and the drink.

Simply muddle (softly mash) a handful of spearmint leaves with sugar and a spoonful of chilled water (the barman swore by the importance of the spoon of water). Tip into a glass, add bourbon and crushed ice and the drink is ready.

The tang of the mint makes the julep an extremely refreshing drink on a humid day while the sweetness offsets the strength of the corn whisky. The mint julep is renown as the drink of choice during America's most famouse horse race, the Kentucky Derby.

Similar in recipe to a mojito and a Brazilian caipirinho, mint leaves make a wonderful addition to many drinks and is worth trying at home as summer approaches.
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At the start of each month, Travel Wonders highlights a characteristic drink experienced on his travels. Previous Drinks Around the World include Mint Tea from Morocco, a Bloody Caesar from Canada, a Pisco Sour from South America and the Singapore Sling

Photo Credit: mint julep

Drinks Around the World: Irn-Bru - The Scottish Wonder Drink

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The drink Around the World for May is Scotland's favourite soft drink (soda), Irn-Bru. One of the very few carbonated drinks to outsell Coca-Cola in a marketplace anywhere in the world, this radioactive orange-coloured drink is sugary sweet and slightly bubbly with a taste that sits somewhere between citrus (a mix of lemons and tangerines?) and vanilla. While living in Britain for several years and despite a general dislike of overly sweet drinks, I got quite hooked on its strange intoxicating flavour, catchy nationalistic taglines and quirky ads(check a few out here, here, here and here - there are many others).

Like a few drinks, it comes with the wonderful story of the secret recipe of 32 different ingredients (supposedly including caffeine and quinine, so it will keep you alert, clear your mind and protect you from malaria) being only known by two people who are never together, the brewing secret being held behind a secure Swiss bank vault.

I have found it in Australia, so check out your local speciality drink stores and try the unusual flavour so loved in Scotland.
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Travel Wonders highlights a characteristic drink experienced on his travels. Prior articles have featured drinks including Austrian Almdudler, Green Mint Tea from Morocco and Bibicaffe (Italy).

Drinks Around the World: Anijsmelk (Netherlands)

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Wandering around the Netherlands for a while and it is obvious they have a love of licorice (especially salted licorice - an acquired taste indeed). As a parallel, a popular drink is anijsmelk (literally anise milk) which is simply made by adding a couple of anise sugar cubes and a dash of honey into a glass of warm milk.

Although having an aroma a little like fennel or Turkish raki, the flavour is far more delicate, mild, slightly spicy and fragrant and certainly not an over-powering licorice taste.

Originally made by crushing aniseed into milk, the Dutch believe it is ideal before bedtime (especially when the weather is cold as the advertisement indicates) aiding sleep and helping digest any large dinners. With the cubes being tiny, the small packets of anijsbokjes can be bought on the web.
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At the start of each month, Travel Wonders highlights a characteristic drink experienced on his travels. Other offerings from western Europe include Spanish Horchata, Bibicaffe from Italy, Sour Cherry Beer or Kriek from Belgium and French vin chaud.

Drinks Around the World: Caipirinha (Brazil)

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Sitting in a quiet bar overlooking the dazzling vista of Iguazu Falls, I can hardly imagine a more refreshing drink than a Brazilian caipirinha. Simply mash small chunks of lime and sugar together in a glass. Add lots of ice and a special distilled sugar-cane alcohol called cachaça and the drink is complete. The same drink is also made using other tangy fruits including lemons and passionfruit.

The lime and cachaça provide a superb contrast of sweet and sour and makes for a tangy thirst-quenching drink in the humid falls climate.

In Australia, I have enjoyed on several occasions a variation called caipiroska made on vodka instead of the Brazilian cachaça.

While I've never seen a caipirinha outside of Brazil (it wasn't even available on the Argentinian side of the falls!), make sure you check out the national drink of Brazil.
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At the start of each month, Travel Wonders highlights a characteristic drink experienced on his travels. Other offerings from South America include coca tea from Peru and the famous Pisco Sour, available over much of South America.

Photo Credit: caipirinha

Drinks Around the World: Horchata (Valencia, Spain)

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Valencia and eastern Spain is famous for a traditional sweet milky drink called Horchata (or orxata de xufa in the local Catalan language). Originally introduced by the Moors around 1000 years ago, the drink is so popular that horchaterias, a kind of cafe, are in several of the Valencian towns.

Made from tigernuts (the tuberous roots of a kind of grass) mixed with water and sugar, and served icy cold, it looks like a milkshake and tastes of a very sweet non-dairy milk. Too sweet for my tastes, it is surprisingly refreshing. The highlight of the drink is that it is typically accompanied by tasty finger-shaped pastries called fartons that can optionally be coated in chocolate or filled with custard.
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Travel Wonders highlights a characteristic drink experienced on his travels. Prior articles have featured drinks as widely varied as Vietnamese slow-drip coffee, Austrian Almdudler, African zobo, Green Mint Tea from Morocco and cherry beer (Belgium).

Photo Credit: horchata

Drinks Around the World: Bibicaffe (Italy)

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Again a product of an age-old family recipe, Bibicaffe is one of the more unusual soda drinks I have ever tasted. Bibicaffe is a bottled, mildly carbonated coffee drink - a sparkling espresso. While a fraction sweet to me (though at least it is real cane sugar), Bibicaffe has subtle flavours of caramel and vanilla woven into a strong coffee flavour, presenting one of the most unusual drinks I've tried and very refreshing straight from the bottle (small bottle with the traditional bottlecap) on a hot Italian day (exploring Pompeii).

Alternatively, Bibicaffe is served in cafes poured over ice and with a dash of cream (like a bubbly macchiato). Reading their website, it is also used in a range of suggested cocktails. Incidentally, the Bibicaffe website is one of the most painful and cheesy sites I've ever witnessed with cringe-worthy music and painful cartoon-like graphics. Visit at your peril!!

For those who like coffee, Bibicaffe is well worth trying when exploring the wonders of Italy. Whether it is for refreshment or a bit of a lift, it is one of the most unusual and best soda drinks I've drunk and a real taste of Italy.
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Travel Wonders highlights a characteristic drink experienced on his travels. Prior articles have featured drinks as widely varied as Vietnamese slow-drip coffee, Austrian Almdudler, Green Mint Tea from Morocco and cherry beer (Belgium).

Drinks Around the World: Hofbrau - Bavarian for Beer (Munich, Germany)

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For most visitors to Munich, a trip is not complete without a visit to the world-famous Hofbräuhaus and a Maß of Hofbräu. While it has a mild reputation as a place full of young drunk backpackers, I discovered very little of that. However, the beer hall is extremely Germanic. An ompah band replete with players in leather shorts and feathered felt hats pumps out their traditional brass band German music with lots of people with lowered inhibitions singing along swaying to the rollicking tunes, rich with Bavarian gemütlichkeit. Bar women skilfully dart around the tables holding several large glasses (Maß) of beer, each a litre in volume.

The main beer is Hofbräu, a malty refreshing quite bitter brew. While nowhere near as exotic as many boutique European beers (such as smoky beer from Bamberg or the monastic beers from Belgium), Hofbräu is far tastier than most nations' commercial offerings. A darker dunkel beer is also on tap along with a variety of other beers.

Matching hearty German food is available including melt-in-your-mouth crackling pork knuckles and sausages (and several other pork dishes) served with vegetables that seem to be a variation of either potato or cabbage (potato balls, potato pancakes, sauerkraut, red sauerkraut). Don't they grow other vegetables in Germany? Staff wander the tables selling large pretzels if only a snack is required.

The beer hall has a shady and remarkable history. Hitler espoused his racist and incendiary propaganda outlining the principles of what became the Nazi Party in the main hall (and the quare outside) in the early 1920s and unsuccessfully attempted to seize power in 1923.

While the Hofbräu is touristy, it is a worthwhile afternoon or evening diversion during a visit to Munich and a chance to enjoy a tasty beer, good food and see a little German history (see the Hofbrauhaus short history video for more).
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At the start of every month, Travel Wonders highlights a characteristic drink experienced on his travel. Three previous beers have featured in this series: the Belgian classic monastery beer, Chimay, the unusual Lambic beers of Belgium and the most northern beer in the world (Mack Pilsner).

Drinks Around the World: Chocolate Mocha Martini (Hotel Chocolat, Cambridge, England)

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guest drink around the world article by Hotel Chocolat, which I can recommend for their superb chocolates.

The ancient university city of Cambridge lies fifty miles northeast of London, surrounded by the low-lying farmland of East Anglia. It’s small and picturesque car-free city centre – where cafes and shops sit amongst ancient university buildings and narrow cobbled lanes – is perfect for a walking tour of the sights.

On clear autumnal afternoons in Cambridge a light mist settles on the River Cam, and weak wintry sunlight bathes the crisp brown leaves littering the perfect lawns of the historic university colleges. In this season of shortening daylight, red cheeks and wrapped-up scarves; warmth, comfort and indulgence are craved. All these can be found in this sumptuous cocktail recipe from Hotel Chocolat – a British luxury chocolatier and cocoa grower, based in a town close to beautiful Cambridge.

To make this unusual gourmet chocolate cocktail, you’ll need a bar spoon or similar, a mixing glass, a chilled Martini glass and strainers.

Take a high quality double espresso shot, around 50mls of hot coffee, melt in two bar spoons of Hotel Chocolat Liquid Chocolat – 100% Cocoa and stir together to make an excellent high quality mocha.

Pour this into a mixing glass; add 2 shots (50ml) of vanilla vodka, and half a shot of gomme syrup to sweeten the rich dark chocolate and coffee flavours a touch.

Top off the mixing glass with ice and mix well in a shaker, then double strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with a sprinkle of the delicious liquid chocolate powder and sink into an armchair by the nearest log fire.

Check out a video showing a Chocolat Mocha Martini being made.



This is a real winter warmer of a cocktail that mixes the rich bitterness of coffee and fine cocoa with the smooth sweet flavour of vanilla vodka. Hotel Chocolat is the only British chocolatier to own their own cocoa-growing estate, found on the Caribbean island of St Lucia. Further inspiration for cocktail recipes and other gourmet chocolate cuisine can be found on their website along with a wealth of information on fine single estate cocoa for the discerning chocoholic.

Drinks Around the World: Kriek - Sour Cherry Beer (Belgium)

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Some years ago, I received a strong recommendation to try a kriek - "it is unlike any beer you will have ever tasted". And boy, were they correct.

Kriek is a sour-cherry flavoured beer, brewed in a special manner called lambic. A typical mix of wheat, hops, water and malt is exposed to wild yeasts and bacteria (sounds almost medicinal), fermented rapidly, with sour cherries added after the fermentation.

Opening the bottle results in a truly pungent wet earth odour (more odour than aroma!), pouring as a deep red drink where the head disappears almost immediately (more like champagne than beer). The taste is not beer-like at all - a tart, dry flavour with a slight touch of bubbles and a biting sourness somewhere between cranberry and lemon juice, but closer to lemon. The mouth tends to shrivel at the reminder of the taste and even has a similarity to cider.

For me, I could never manage more than one but it was a surprisingly enjoyable and palate cleansing. It is an appreciated taste among proud Belgian beer drinkers. The brewing technique is treasured and limited to a tiny pocket of Belgium. My description is probably unjust but it is a unique taste experience and worth seeking out as a drink around the world should you wander through .
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At the start of every month, Travel Wonders highlights a characteristic drink experienced on his travel. Only two previous beers have featured in this series: the Belgian classic monastery beer, Chimay and the most northern beer in the world (Mack Pilsner).

Photo Credit: kriek

Drinks Around the World: Zobo (Nigeria)

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Many years ago, I spent a year travelling through Africa overland starting in Morocco and ending in Zimbabwe. One of the most remarkable aspects of Africa was the broad variety of local drinks created, brewed, cooked and mixed.

In a number of small towns in Nigeria, a refreshing drink called zobo was offered to visitors or available in the market. The rich red beverage is created by adding a generous handful of hibiscus buds and sugar to boiling water (making it safe to drink!!) and brewing for around 10 or 15 minutes. Left to cool, pineapple juice and sometimes ginger are added to make for a refreshing cool drink that tastes of a mix of a tart herbal tea and tangy juice. While in Nigeria, I had to be extremely cautious that cold water or ice had never been added, it tastes best chilled and is fairly easy to recreate at home.
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At the start of every month, Travel Wonders highlights a characteristic drink experienced on his travel. Previous non-alcoholic Drinks Around the World include Indian Masala chai, Mint Tea from Morocco, Vietnamese slow-drip coffee, Coca Tea from Peru and Austria's herby Almdudler.

Photo credit: Drink

Drinks Around the World: Masala Chai (India)

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I have only been to India once but my endearing memory is of the superb and varied masala chais served throughout the country. Whether sold by a jaunty chai wallah (someone who serves or sells tea) at a railway station or sold from a rickety stall, heated on charcoal stoves and poured into a clay cup for a few rupees, the sweetened and strongly spiced brew acts as an uplifting instant refresher. I drank at least one cup every day seeking the wonderful Indian markets for the most rustic examples. The smallest villages had chai wallahs eagerly endorsing their fine products.

While recipes and ingredients vary from maker to maker, the primary ingredients are cardamon seeds, cloves, cinnamon sticks, ginger root, fennel and black peppercorns mixed with black tea in boiling water. Strain the tea and spices, add a generous amount of sugar or honey to bring out the intensity of the spices and add milk to taste. While chais are sold in packaged form in Australia (and probably America and Europe), none capture the delicate spicy sensation brewed in India from scratch.

Mostly, masala chai was served with a flamboyant high lift of the pot, ceremoniously poured into a cup from a distance. Chai captures the essence of India and is an experience not to be missed in this remarkable and culturally varied nation.
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At the start of every month, Travel Wonders highlights a characteristic drink experienced on his travel. Previous non-alcoholic Drinks Around the World include Mint Tea from Morocco, Vietnamese slow-drip coffee, Coca Tea from Peru and Austria's herby Almdudler.

Photo Credits: Smoky stall, mixing chai

Drinks Around the World: Mack Pilsner Beer and Midnight Sun (Norway)

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Seeing the midnight sun seemed a forlorn hope. The clouds appeared entrenched across the bright evening sky, a reminder that Narvik doesn't see the sun set for almost two months in summer.

I settled into a quiet bar for an evening drink to see if the cloud might lift and allow the sun to peek through at midnight. What could be more appropriate than a bottle of Mack Pilsner, brewed in nearby Tromso, the world's most northerly brewery and most in the bar appeared to be tempted to this choice.

When thinking beer, Norway is not the first country that leaps to mind with the Scandinavian country's habit of heavily taxing alcoholic beverages. But the Mack Pilsner was a refreshing ale, lightly coloured with a tasty hops flavour. While the budget only extended to a single beer, a conversation with a travelling Swede stretched the clock to 11 o'clock but the clouds continued to mask my goal. Refreshed but disappointed, I trudged off to bed.

Next morning, I awoke to the sun streaming through the window in the generous gap in the deteriorated curtains. A little disoriented with the mind slowly gathering some semblance of rational thought but leaping out of bed anyway, I thought I'd missed the inclusive breakfast. Quickly changing and packing stuff in my bag, I glimpsed through the window. With my eyes slowly adjusting for the bright light, there wasn't a single sole on the streets. Narvik was a quiet town but this was ridiculous. Finally gaining some alertness and checking my watch, I was alrmed to discover it was 3:00am.

Feeling stupid, I sheepishly went back to bed, kind of wondering if being awoken by the sun at 3:00am counts as viewing the midnight sun. Whether your goal is to see the sun at midnight, if you ever venture to the northerly reaches of stunningly scenic Norway, make sure you sample a Mack Beer and drink a toast to eternal summer light. Skål.
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At the start of every month, Travel Wonders highlights a characteristic drink experienced on his travel. The only previous beer in this series of over a year is the Belgian classic monastery beer, Chimay.

Drinks Around the World: Slow Drip Coffee (Vietnam)

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With a friend working in the Australian Embassy in Hanoi, I travelled to Vietnam in the very early 1990s - well before there was any semblance of a tourism structure. It was difficult to get around the country at all and to visit any sights outside of the major cities. Despite that, it was one of my finest travel experiences with incredible expressions of generosity and friendship.

Saying all that, one of my endearing memories is of the superb Vietnamese coffee, introduced by the French in the 1800s at a favourite Hanoi cafe crowded with an eclectic mix of staff from various embassies, local cyclo drivers and small groups of friends. Slow drip coffee (cà phê sữa nóng) is produced by sitting a contraption that looks like a metallic top-hat over a cup with warmed sweet condensed milk. The drip filter contains coarse coffee grounds which are tightly compacted with a screw lid mechanism. Pouring near boiling water into the drip filter slowly produces a flavoursome strong brew. The tighter the grounds are compacted the slower the drip rate and the stronger the coffee (it takes at least five minutes for a good cup). Stirring the resultant mix of the syrupy condensed milk and rich coffee produces an ideal silky smooth breakfast treat, which I enjoyed on many mornings.

Strangely served with jasmine tea (coffee with a tea chaser?) it was one of many culinary highlights in this stunning south-east Asian country.

Also popular, though I never had enough confidence in the ice to try it, is Vietnamese iced coffee made using the same technique but with ice to make an apparently delicious creamy and refreshing afternoon beverage.
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Travel Wonders highlights a characteristic drink experienced on his travels. Previous non-alcoholic Drinks Around the World include Mint Tea from Morocco, Coca Tea from Peru and Austria's herby Almdudler.

Photo Source: Coffee

Drinks Around the World: Mojito (North America)

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At the start of every month, Travel Wonders describes a drink of the month discovered on his travels. Popular in Cuba and parts of Central America, the mojito had become a standard drink of the USA and Mexico.

It is simply made by softly mushing a handful of spearmint leaves (maybe those left over from your Moroccan mint tea?) with sugar cane juice (or sugar) and lime juice. Tip this into a glass, add ice and a measure of white rum (the Mexicans use tequila instead). Top up with soda water and your mojito is ready to enjoy. Garnishes seem to vary from a stick of sugar cane to more mint leaves and a wedge of lime.

The mix of mint and lime makes the mojito an extremely refreshing drink on a hot day while the sweetness offsets the potency of the rum.

As the northern hemisphere moves into spring, make an effort to enjoy a tangy and refreshing mojito.

Previous Drinks Around the World include Mint Tea from Morocco, Coca Tea from Peru, Austria's herby Almdudler, a French Vin Chaud, Bloody Caesar from Canada, a Pisco Sour from South America, Singapore Sling, Belgium's Chimay Beer, Scotland's smoky Talisker Scotch Whisky and the Czech Republic's Becherovka.