Every time I went to a foreign country, one of my favorite thing is to look for some special beverage or juice in local grocery store or supermarket, like in Taiwan, almond tea is everywhere, but not in Beijing, I like it very much, and after I returned to Beijing, I finally find a Taiwan dessert shop named Meetfresh （http://www.meetfresh.com.cn）who sell this kind of almond tea, but almost triple cost than in Taiwan, anyway, I can have it sometimes.
Actually in any metropolis like Beijing, you can find any international brand beverage easily, but there are always some different from taste to price position. Some obvious difference here is:
coke（carbonated beverage) is way more cheaper than in Europe and US, water is moderated cheaper, fruit juice is expensive relatively. For example, with less than 1 buck, you can get 1.5- 2.0 liter coke, while you can only got a pop can( 300-400mm) in US vending machine,
Local brand carbonated beverage such as 北冰洋 is pretty expensive than coke, just like coke in US，but I like it when I am in BBQ or hotpot restaurant.
Among those beverage, I do like one brand which is 农夫山泉(http://www.nongfuspring.global/), I can not guarantee if the bottle water they made is a quality level product, but I think they have put a lot of thought on the design of their product, and I like buy their product, from this point of view, they do not lower their standard as most domestic entrepreneur did. So I have some belief in their product. Hopefully no future scandal exposed for this product (you know, China market is nothing importable ….)
Nongfuspring also have some energy beverage which I think it looking good as well, but I don’t think it as good (functional) as Pocari , because it is a little more sweet than Pocari, but it has different flavors from cherry to lemon, which make it more tasty than Pocari.
Some Chinese style almonds milk and cold tea is out there, I am not sure if all people would be getting used to it, but it’s good for me, as I don’t like juice and carbonated beverage.
Plum juice is a special one, because it is sour flavor and usually considered as a traditional beverage. TingHsin group from Taiwan now is the largest producer for this product pillar (my own feeling in supermarket, not based on the real statistic data), you can try it out.
The last one is the common lemon tea, but it is my favorite one for a long time, it’s coming from Hong Kong brand , check it out below, not much fashion design, but still tasty
Some tips
Convenient store and supermarket is good place for getting yourself a beverage, but convenient store would be more handy, such as in 7-11,Watsons
Special beverage such as soda water or imported beverage would be usually in Watsons, or international chain supermarket, such as WalMart (lots of walmart is out of business during these years in Beijing)
BHG supermarket would be a good place to find most local or imported beverage.
PS， For the liquor lover, check it out, thinking of it as a Chinese vodka, (Second one is imported beer.) This article is about Chinese liquor
