Boiled Coke with Ginger and Lemon Recipe

The first time I heard of and tasted boiled coke with ginger and lemon was during breakfast at Tai Hing, a roast pork/diner chain in Hong Kong. My initial reaction: "Boiled Coke? What the?" And then a second later: "I MUST TRY IT RIGHT NOW."

Boiled Coke with ginger and lemon started off as a popular cold remedy in Hong Kong, but now it's a popular anytime drink that's found at pretty much all Hong Kong diners. As a first-time, not sick drinker, I found it surprisingly pleasant. The cold and fizzy are gone, but you're left with sweet, spicy, a little tart, a smidge medicinal—all things that feel restorative on a cold day or in a stream of warmth going down a sore throat.

I made a batch at Serious Eats HQ for the rest of the office to taste. Everyone was skeptical but liked it more than they expected to. Or at least they thought it would be nice to drink while sick, not so much to drink for fun.

If you've never had boiled Coke with ginger and lemon, try making it at home. The name is pretty self-explanatory, but I wrote up a recipe anyway.

Feel free to tweak the amount of lemon and ginger or to cook for a shorter amount of time depending on your flavor preferences—this is not a hard-and-fast recipe. (Just don't boil it for too long; you're not making a syrup.) Some recipes suggest leaving the lemon out of the boiling stage and adding it at the end.