Ever Had Boiling Hot Coke Before?

This was a new one for me. Everyone knows that room temperature Coke is disgusting, and it must be served on ice instead. So it was a bit of an eyebrow-raiser when I saw this on the menu of a local Hong Kong-style dessert cafe here: Hot Coke with Lemon. "Really? That's boiling hot Coke?? Ugh - is that any good??," I asked. Apparently it's used as a remedy up in Hong Kong when you're sick. OK, this one I have to try.

Not surprisingly, all the carbonation was gone, so it was flat. But it was actually much better than I thought it would be, especially with the Cantonese way of overloading hot drinks with lemon slices. It tasted like hot sweetened tea with lemon, and in many ways was similar to the honey lemon tea that one brews to soothe sore throats...although a bit more syrupy and artificial. Indeed, if someone had told me that I was just drinking hot tea without mentioning Coke, I probably would have believed them. OK that was a pleasant surprise. Maybe I'll try the ginger version next time I'm in HK.