 Western desserts and sweet treats can all easily be found in Taiwan, but most people here prefer locally made cakes, puddings, and beverages. In truth, it's not hard to see why people love them as they're tasty, inexpensive, and widely available. Finding something good to drink is never much of a problem in Taiwan, as there are drink stores on practically every block in built-up areas. The beverages at these places are almost always mixed by hand, and most of them involve tea. There are green teas, black teas, oolong teas, fruit teas, and milk teas. One of the most popular drinks is called pearl milk tea, which is packed with chewy, sweet, little balls, or “pearls,” made from tapioca starch. Although this drink is delicious, it's also extremely unhealthy. Fortunately, when you go to drink stores, you can ask for your drink to be made with less sugar. Another popular Taiwanese drink is grass jelly tea. Lumps of grass jelly, which is made from a mint-like plant, are mixed with syrup and sucked up through a straw. The cooling, minty flavors of the jelly mean that this beverage is especially popular in the hot summer months. Something else that's sure to cool people down is shaved ice. Bowls are filled with mountains of finely shaved ice and then covered with syrup, condensed milk, and some toppings. Chunks of fresh fruit are a popular choice of topping, and mango seems to be many people's favorite. Kiwi, strawberry, watermelon, and banana are also usually available. For a variation, milk ice is sometimes used for this dish. Not only does this give a different flavor, but it also provides a different texture, since shaved milk ice is much finer. While pieces of fruit would be quite appealing to many Westerners, other popular toppings might seem more unusual. A lot of people like to eat their ice with taro, sweet potato, and red and green beans. These ingredients are actually used in quite a few Taiwanese desserts, and tourists who try them out might be surprised by how much they like them. 在台灣很容易找到西式甜點和甜食，但是大部分的人還是喜歡本土的蛋糕、布丁和飲料。說真的，它們既美味又便宜，而且隨處可得，也難怪台灣人喜愛這些食物。 在台灣要找到好喝的東西從來不是大問題，如果在建築林立的地方，幾乎每隔一條街就有飲料店。這些店裡的飲料幾乎都是親手調製的，大部分是茶飲，有綠茶、紅茶、烏龍茶、水果茶和奶茶。其中最受歡迎的一種叫珍珠奶茶，內含樹薯粉做成的香甜Q彈小粉圓，也就是「珍珠」。這種飲料雖然好喝，卻很不健康。還好你去飲料店時，可以要求你的飲料要「少糖」。 另一項大家很愛喝的台灣飲料是仙草茶，作法是將一塊一塊的仙草（用類似薄荷 的植物做的）混合糖漿，再用吸管吸著喝。仙草喝起來冰涼又帶點薄荷味，因此在炎夏的那幾個月特別熱賣。 還有一種肯定能讓人消暑的就是刨冰。整個碗先堆滿小山高的綿密刨冰，再淋上糖漿、煉乳還有配料。一般最愛加的是大塊大塊的新鮮水果，芒果似乎是許多人的最愛，通常也會有奇異果、草莓、西瓜和香蕉可以選。刨冰有時會變化一下改用牛奶冰，不只味道不一樣，口感也不同，牛奶冰吃起來更加綿密。西方人對水果的接受度高，其他幾種普遍的配料對他們來說就比較陌生，像是許多人喜歡加的芋頭、地瓜、紅豆和綠豆。其實台灣不少的甜點都會使用這些配料，觀光客只要親自吃吃看，也會訝異地愛上它們。 |
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