Sweet and Salty Sprite: an old school favorite

Here's a Delight Express fun fact: adding a dash of salt in a cake batter can enhance the sweetness. Us clever Hongkies took this idea and used it on refreshments. Sprite/7 Up with Salty Lime (咸檸七) is an old school favorite and can still be sold in Cantonese cafes (茶餐廳/冰室）. And I don't mean saltiness in a savory sense. It actually tastes even more refreshing than ordinary sprite with lemon. The lime, a specific type from Guangdong province in China, is pickled lightly to give it the salty zesty flavor. It complements the fizzy tanginess of sprite perfectly. I personally don't like overly sweet desserts, and always drink a cup of tea to wash out the taste. So I like that the salty lime makes the sprite less sweet, and it doesn't taste like someone just dropped in a tablespoon of salt. The flavors are delicately balanced. And don't compare it to seawater, it's nowhere near as extreme.

The saltiness is also good for replenishing fluids lost from sweating. Hong Kong is so dusty and sticky that one is constantly on a lookout for the perfect ice cold summer beverage. I met a Brazilian-Chinese girl the other day, and she told me Hong Kong is actually hotter than Brazil. Shocking, shocking, we're only sub-tropical! Imagine what it's like in Singapore, where it's right on the equator and a hot beverage is probably the most unpopular item in restaurants. Passengers, thankfully on Delight Express, we serve up four distinct seasons, giving you an equal dose of boiling point summers and brain freeze winters i.e. Syracuse, New York (where we station during the academic year). In Chinese, Syracuse (雪城）translates into Snow City. Look forward to our updates from Snow City arriving shortly later this month!

Bon voyage,
Jenny Cheng