Thai Galingale Juice
I tried this juice at the floating market north of Bangkok, where it was in one of the stalls on the shore. There were several juices sitting there in large glass vats, and when I ordered the galingale juice (by pointing), the lady who owned the stand ladled a watery purple liquid into a cup full of ice. A Thai friend I was with explained that it's a purple flower called something like chun or chuan, I can't remember exactly. It's pretty difficult to explain the taste - it is similar to the roselle juice in that it kinda tastes like you're eating a flower. But other than than it's slightly sweet and refreshing over ice, great to cool off on the side of the river on a hot summer day in Thailand. Read More >
Roselle Drink from Thailand
This roselle drink is from the same restaurant and same brand as the longan juice. It tastes a lot like rose, or a very light cranberry juice. While it's pretty good and refreshing, I wasn't a big fan of the somewhat artificial-tasting flowery flavor.
It did, however, beat out the longan juice in a side-by-side taste test. I couldn't help comparing since I ordered them both at the same time. I even got a second opinion who agreed that the roselle juice was the better pick out of the two.
Roselle is a type of hibiscus flower, which is used often for making teas and is made into a drink in many other countries as well, including Mexico where it is called "agua de Flor de Jamaica"