Thickened Almond Drink 杏仁茶

Thickened Almond Drink (杏仁茶), known in Kaifeng (开封) as almond tea, is a sweet, spoonable drink made by scalding almond powder with boiling water poured from a large copper kettle, then loading it with nuts, seeds and dried fruit. The Gulou district government calls it a palace-style drink that is now at home in Kaifeng's night markets, and Hebi Daily describes it as a food that visitors to those markets make a point of trying.

How it is made

The Henan tourism information site describes the sequence at a stall. A little cooled boiled water goes into the bowl first, then several spoonfuls of fine white almond powder, and the two are stirred into a paste. Boiling water from a large copper kettle decorated with dragons and phoenixes is poured in until the bowl is full, and the vendor adds white sugar, toasted black and white sesame, freshly ground peanuts, raisins, fresh almonds, white fungus and goji berries before stirring it smooth. Hebi Daily and the Gulou district government list peanuts, sesame, rose and osmanthus among more than ten toppings. People's Daily Online, photographing a stall at the Gulou Night Market (鼓楼夜市), noted that pouring from the big kettle is not easy: with a poor aim, the hot water scalds the hand.

Flavour and texture

The result is thick, fragrant and warm, sweet and sour, and not greasy. The Henan tourism information site singles out the faint bitterness of almond that stays after the last spoonful. It also explains the name: the old version was thin enough to run off a spoon in a long, fine thread, so it was called tea; today's thicker drink, it says, could fairly be called almond paste.

How it is eaten

The same site says almond tea was once eaten with mooncakes under the full moon of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Today it is a night-market dish: the Kaifeng culture and tourism bureau lists a bowl of sweet-and-sour almond tea among the snacks at the Gulou Night Market, beside stir-fried bean jelly and soup dumplings. The Gulou district government describes it as bright in colour and fragrant.