Location: Northeast China, Qiulin Kvass (*kvasъ)
Travel note: Thinking back a few years, I once backpacked solo through Northeast China for 40 days. During that trip, I visited: Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning provinces in China, and regions/countries like Russia (Vladivostok), North Korea, and South Korea. While traveling, I was deeply impressed by kvass, a drink introduced to China a century ago via the Chinese Eastern Railway by Russian merchant I. Ya. Qiulin. In Slavic languages, 'kvass' originally means yeast, so it's made from Russian black bread (bolshoy khleb) and malt sugar as a base, undergoing saccharification and mixed fermentation with lactic acid bacteria and multiple strains. It tastes unique, rich with the aroma of bread. Recently, I suddenly missed this drink from back then, so I spent about a thousand NTD on air shipping, sending it from Harbin to a Dongguan consolidation warehouse, then to Taiwan. This time, I bought all the flavors. Chilled, I finally got to taste this distinctive flavor again~ Phew~ By Morgan @2024.5.30
