Drinks

Drinks apart of malaysian culture, a visitor is often welcome with a cup of drink 'hot or cold' at any home within the city or kampung (Village). Though most of the drinks are non-alcohol because of the majority of the population don't consumer alcohol.

                                                          

Cendol

The most interesting ingredient in cendol (chen-doll) are the thin, green, worm-like, pandan-flavoured flour noodles. These are topped with gula melaka (palm sugar) and a whole lot of coconut milk and shaved ice. Once the ice has melted, it looks like a brown soup with green worms. This may not sound appetising, but it is in fact a very popular dessert. Additional ingredients could include red bean, sweet corn and grass jelly.

Bandung

Even though it shares its name with the provincial capital of West Java, Indonesia, bandung (bhan-doong) is a very Malay drink. It consists of condensed milk with rose syrup. This results in a pink drink which is very sweet. A variation of this is 'bandung cino', which is bandung topped with whipped cream.

Soya Cincau

Known also as the black-white drink, Michael Jackson or MJ, soya cincau (soh-yah chin-chau) consists of soyabean drink (the white) and strips of grass jelly (the black).
If this concoction is a little too daunting at first, why not try them separately? Cincau is mixed with a syrup which is delicious to have on a hot day — the cincau gives a nice crunch to the drink and lots of fun can be had trying to suck it all up by using your straw








  
Teh Tarik

Teh tarik (teh tah-reek) means 'pulled tea' is a Malaysian speciality, its Mainly available at mamak food shops run by the Indian-Muslim community. This very sweet concoction is made of strong tea with condensed milk, which is then 'pulled'. 'Pulling' is the action of transferring the mixture from one mug which is held high to another which is held below it repeatedly, this will result in the frothing of the tea when served and mixes the condensed milk more thoroughly with the tea. A more health-conscious society which still enjoys its teh tarik will ask for it 'kurang manis' — with less sugar.

Teh tarik being the national drink in malaysia, was named after the theatrical 'pulling' motion is very important to the people to as annaully organise a local contests to determine who can tarik the most and the highest, people from all works of life all gather to compete for the title of "Tarik master".

                                                    fig.     A contestant at the Tarik Competition.