Thai Drinks You Must Try: 10 Refreshing Drinks in Thailand

Thailand's food gets plenty of attention, but the drinks deserve their own place on your must-try list.

In a country where tropical afternoons can make an ice-cold drink feel like a minor life event, Thailand has developed an enormous variety of refreshing beverages.

You'll find creamy iced teas, strong traditional coffee, freshly pressed sugarcane juice, colorful herbal drinks, tropical fruit shakes, and coconuts opened right in front of you.

Whether you're wandering through a night market, sitting at a local restaurant, or cooling down beside the beach, here are 10 Thai drinks you should try during your trip.

1. Thai Iced Tea (Cha Yen – ชาเย็น)

Few drinks are more instantly recognizable in Thailand than Cha Yen, or Thai iced tea.

Strongly brewed tea is sweetened and served over plenty of ice, usually with condensed or evaporated milk to create its signature creamy taste and orange appearance.

It's sweet, rich, refreshing, and available almost everywhere.

You'll find Cha Yen at:

• Street-food stalls
• Local restaurants
• Night markets
• Cafés
• Shopping malls

Every shop seems to make it slightly differently, so don't be surprised if you develop a favorite.

Taste: Sweet, creamy and strongly brewed
Best enjoyed: Very cold on a very hot day

2. Fresh Coconut Water (Nam Maphrao – น้ำมะพร้าว)

Sometimes the simplest option is one of the best.

Fresh young coconuts are sold throughout Thailand, particularly around beaches, markets and tourist destinations.

The vendor simply opens the top, adds a straw, and your drink is ready.

Once you've finished the coconut water, you can often scoop out the soft flesh inside with a spoon.

Taste: Light, naturally sweet and refreshing
Best enjoyed: Straight from a chilled young coconut

Few drinks have better beach credentials.

3. Fresh Fruit Shakes

Thailand's tropical fruit selection makes fruit shakes difficult to resist.

Small smoothie stands can be found almost everywhere in tourist destinations, often displaying colorful rows of fresh fruit waiting to be blended.

Popular choices include:

• Mango
• Watermelon
• Pineapple
• Passion fruit
• Banana
• Coconut
• Dragon fruit

Some vendors add syrup, sugar, milk or condensed milk, so if you prefer yours less sweet, simply ask.

Taste: Depends entirely on your fruit of choice
Best enjoyed: Immediately after ordering

Discover More → Thai Fruits You Must Try (2026 Guide)

5. Butterfly Pea Drink (Nam Anchan – น้ำอัญชัน)

One of Thailand's prettiest traditional drinks gets its color naturally from butterfly pea flowers.

The drink can appear deep blue, but something interesting happens when acidic lime or lemon juice is added:

It begins turning purple.

Butterfly pea drinks are commonly combined with lime, honey or sugar and served cold.

You'll also see butterfly pea used in Thai desserts, rice dishes and modern café creations.

Taste: Mild and floral, often sweetened with honey or sugar
Best part: Watching the color change

Tiny beverage chemistry lesson included free of charge. 🧪

6. Thai Herbal Drinks

Walk through a Thai market or food court and you may notice containers filled with brightly colored drinks you've never seen before.

These are often traditional herbal beverages.

Popular varieties include:

Roselle (Nam Krachiap) – Deep red with a sweet and slightly tart flavor

Chrysanthemum tea (Nam Kek Huai) – Light, floral and usually sweet

Lemongrass drink – Aromatic and refreshing

Pandan drink – Mildly sweet with the distinctive fragrance of pandan leaves

Bael fruit tea (Nam Matoom) – Made from dried bael fruit with a unique sweet aroma

They're a fun way to try flavors that aren't commonly found in Western drinks.

7. Thai Lime Tea (Cha Manao – ชามะนาว)

If Thai iced tea sounds too creamy, order Cha Manao.

Strong Thai tea is combined with lime and sugar, then served over ice.

It's lighter and more citrusy than Cha Yen while still retaining the strong tea flavor.

Particularly useful when Thailand's afternoon heat begins negotiating with your will to continue sightseeing.

Taste: Sweet, tart and refreshing
Best for: Hot afternoons

8. Fresh Sugarcane Juice (Nam Oi – น้ำอ้อย)

You'll often know you're approaching a sugarcane juice stall before you see the finished drink.

Long sugarcane stalks are fed through a pressing machine, squeezing out fresh juice directly in front of you.

The resulting drink is naturally very sweet and usually served chilled or over ice.

Sometimes lime or other citrus is added for extra freshness.

Taste: Naturally sweet and grassy
Best experience: Watching it being pressed fresh

9. Traditional Thai Iced Coffee (Oliang – โอเลี้ยง)

Before modern specialty cafés appeared across Thailand, there was Oliang.

This traditional Thai coffee drink has a strong roasted character and is usually served sweetened over ice.

Traditional Oliang blends can contain coffee alongside roasted ingredients such as grains, depending on the recipe.

Don't confuse it with the enormous world of modern Thai coffee shops either.

Thailand now has an impressive contemporary coffee culture, particularly in Bangkok and northern Thailand.

Taste: Strong, roasted and sweet
Best for: Coffee drinkers looking for something distinctly local

10. Fresh Thai Fruit Juice

Sometimes you don't need anything complicated.

Fresh fruit juice stalls are common throughout Thailand and often display bottles or piles of colorful fruit at the front.

Depending on season and location, you may find:

• Orange
• Pomegranate
• Pineapple
• Watermelon
• Guava
• Passion fruit

Fresh juice makes an easy grab-and-go drink while exploring markets or walking around town.

Just remember that some prepared juices may contain additional sugar, so ask if that's something you want to avoid.

Where to Try Thai Drinks

You won't need to search particularly hard.

Try:

• Local markets
• Night markets
• Street-food stalls
• Traditional restaurants
• Food courts
• Beach cafés
• Modern coffee shops

Night markets are particularly good because you can usually find several different drinks in one place.

Order something you recognize first.

Then point confidently at the mysterious blue container next door.

That's how the research progresses.

How to Order Less Sweet in Thailand

Thai drinks can sometimes be considerably sweeter than international visitors expect.

If you'd like less sugar, you can say:

“Wan noi” (หวานน้อย) = Less sweet

Or:

“Mai wan” (ไม่หวาน) = Not sweet

However, some ingredients such as premixed syrups or condensed milk already contain sugar, so completely unsweetened versions aren't always possible.

Learning wan noi may become one of the most useful two-word combinations of your Thailand trip.

Which Thai Drink Should You Try First?

If ten drinks have created an unexpected beverage crisis:

 🧡 Most iconic: Thai Iced Tea
🥥 Most refreshing: Fresh Coconut Water
💙 Most colorful: Butterfly Pea Drink
☕ For coffee lovers: Oliang
🩷 Most unusual: Nom Yen
🍉 Best tropical choice: Fresh Fruit Shake
🌿 Most traditional: Thai Herbal Drinks

Or conduct the only reasonable scientific experiment and try all ten during your trip.

Preferably not simultaneously.

Taste Another Side of Thailand

Thailand's drinks tell their own little story about the country.

Tropical fruits reflect the climate.

Herbal drinks preserve traditional flavors.

Thai tea and Oliang remain everyday favorites.

And modern cafés continue reinventing familiar ingredients in completely new ways.

So while you're exploring Thailand, don't only ask:

“What should I eat?”

Occasionally ask:

“What should I drink?” 🍹