Food
5 drinks to get you through a Korean summer
Haps Magazine Korea
July 16, 2026
(Photo courtesy of Haps Magazine Korea)
Korean summers can be brutal. The humidity hits you before you’ve even left the house, and another iced Americano stops working around the third one.
These are the drinks locals actually reach for when it gets bad.
Sikhye
Cold, lightly sweet, made from fermented rice. Koreans have been drinking this in summer for centuries and it genuinely works. It helps with digestion, which you’ll appreciate if you’re eating well, and it’s satisfying in a way that sugary drinks aren’t. Grab it canned from any convenience store or find the fresh version at a traditional restaurant. The fresh version is worth the effort.
Omija Tea
Five flavor berry tea, which sounds strange until you taste it. It’s served cold, looks like pale pink lemonade, and manages to be sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and spicy all at once. It’s also high in antioxidants and good for liver health, but honestly you’ll keep drinking it because it’s interesting and refreshing, not because it’s good for you.
Boricha
Roasted barley tea, brewed and kept cold in the fridge. No caffeine, slightly nutty, and most Korean homes have a pitcher of it running all summer. It hydrates well in heat, is easy on digestion, and costs almost nothing to make. The kind of thing you forget about until someone puts a glass in front of you and you think, why don’t I drink this every day.
Subak Juice
Blended watermelon over ice, nothing added. Every fruit stall does this from July onward and there’s a reason the lines are long. Watermelon is mostly water, high in electrolytes, and has lycopene which is good for skin and circulation. It’s not complicated. It just works.
Maesil Cha
Green plum tea, made from fermented plums, with a sweet-sour kick that genuinely revives you. It’s been part of Korean traditional medicine forever for good reason. Fatigue, digestion, low energy in the heat, maesil handles all of it.
Most Korean households keep a jar of maesil syrup in the cupboard year round. If someone makes you a glass, don’t turn it down.