A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common types of drinks include plain drinking water, milk, juice, smoothies and soft drinks. Traditionally warm beverages include coffee, tea, and hot chocolate. Caffeinated drinks that contain the stimulant caffeine have a long history.
Sake or saké, also referred to as Japanese rice wine, is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name Japanese rice wine, sake, and indeed any East Asian rice wine, is produced by a brewing process more akin to that of beer, where starch is converted into sugars that ferment into alcohol, whereas in wine, alcohol is produced by fermenting sugar that is naturally present in fruit, typically grapes.
Kumis is a fermented dairy product traditionally made from mare milk or donkey milk. The drink remains important to the peoples of the Central Asian steppes, of Turkic and Mongol origin: Kazakhs, Bashkirs, Kalmyks, Kyrgyz, Mongols, and Yakuts. Kumis was historically consumed by the Khitans, Jurchens, Hungarians, and Han Chinese of North China as well.
Cauim is a traditional alcoholic beverage or beer of the indigenous peoples in Brazil since pre-Columbian times. It is still made today in remote areas throughout Panama and South America. Cauim is made by fermenting manioc, or maize, sometimes flavored with fruit juices. The Kuna Indians of Panama use plantains.
Ethanol fermentation, also called alcoholic fermentation, is a biological process which converts sugars such as glucose, fructose, and sucrose into cellular energy, producing ethanol and carbon dioxide as by-products. Because yeasts perform this conversion in the absence of oxygen, alcoholic fermentation is considered an anaerobic process. It also takes place in some species of fish where it provides energy when oxygen is scarce.
Makgeolli, sometimes anglicized to makkoli, is a Korean alcoholic drink. It is a milky, off-white, and lightly sparkling rice wine that has a slight viscosity, and tastes slightly sweet, tangy, bitter, and astringent. Chalky sediment gives it a cloudy appearance. As a low proof drink of six to nine percent alcohol by volume, it is often considered a "communal beverage" rather than hard liquor.
Beer is one of the oldest human-produced drinks. The first chemically confirmed barley-beer – from the area of Mesopotamia, part of modern-day Iraq – dates back to the 5th millennium BCE. The written history of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia records the use of beer, and the drink has spread throughout the world; a 3,900-year-old Sumerian poem honouring Ninkasi, the patron goddess of brewing, contains the oldest surviving beer-recipe, describing the production of beer from barley bread, and in China, residue on pottery dating from around 5,000 years ago shows that beer was brewed using barley and other grains.
Cheongju, sometimes romanized as Chungju, is a clear, refined rice wine of Korean origin.
In food processing, fermentation is the conversion of carbohydrates to alcohol or organic acids using microorganisms—yeasts or bacteria—under anaerobic (oxygen-free) conditions. Fermentation usually implies that the action of microorganisms is desired. The science of fermentation is known as zymology or zymurgy.
Tapai is a traditional fermented preparation of rice or other starchy foods, and is found throughout much of Southeast Asia, especially in Austronesian cultures, and parts of East Asia. It refers to both the alcoholic paste and the alcoholic beverage derived from it. It has a sweet or sour taste and can be eaten as is, as ingredients for traditional recipes, or fermented further to make rice wine. Tapai is traditionally made with white rice or glutinous rice, but can also be made from a variety of carbohydrate sources, including cassava and potatoes. Fermentation is performed by a variety of moulds including Aspergillus oryzae, Rhizopus oryzae, Amylomyces rouxii or Mucor species, and yeasts including Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and Saccharomycopsis fibuliger, Endomycopsis burtonii and others, along with bacteria.
Choujiu is a type of Chinese fermented alcoholic beverage brewed from glutinous rice. It is very thick and has a milky white color, which is sometimes compared to jade.photo Fermentation is carried out by a combination of the fungus Aspergillus oryzae, which converts the rice starches into fermentable sugars, and yeast, which converts the sugars into alcohol. Varieties of lactic acid bacteria are also commonly present in the fermentation starter. The traditional Chinese name of the fermentation starter is qū.
Mijiu is a Chinese rice wine made from glutinous rice. It is generally clear in appearance with balanced sweetness and acidity, similar to its Japanese counterpart sake and Korean counterpart cheongju. The alcohol content ranges between 15% and 20%. Rice wine was made around or before 1000 BC in ancient China, and then the practice spread to Japan and other East Asian countries. Since then, it has played an important role in Chinese life. In most Chinese supermarkets there are various kinds of rice wines. It is a traditional beverage to the Chinese and some of the families still follow the custom of making rice wine by themselves. The rice wine is made using glutinous rice, Chinese yeast and water. It is also served as an aperitif and is believed to be beneficial in improving metabolism and skin.
Brem is traditional fermented food or fermented beverage from Indonesia. There are two types of brem, brem cake (solid) that is usually eaten as snack from Madiun and Wonogiri, and brem beverage (liquid) made of rice wine from Bali and Nusa Tenggara, but mostly known from Bali. Brem first appeared in Java around the year 1000, based on investigations regarding old Javanese inscriptions and literature.
Jiuniang is a sweet, soup- or pudding-like dish in Chinese cuisine. It is also known as sweet wine or sweet rice wine. It consists of a mixture of partially digested rice grains floating in a sweet saccharified liquid, with small amounts of alcohol (1.5–2%) and lactic acid (0.5%). It is made by fermenting glutinous rice with a starter called jiuqu containing Rhizopus oryzae or Aspergillus oryzae and often yeast and bacteria.
Jiuqu, also simply known as qu is a type of dried fermentation starter used in the production of traditional Chinese alcoholic beverages. The word jiuqu specifically refers to a type of yeast used to make alcohol such as huangjiu, baijiu and jiuniang.
Huangjiu is a type of Chinese alcoholic beverage most popular in the Jiangnan area. Huangjiu is brewed by mixing boiled grains including rice, glutinous rice or millet with qū as starter culture, followed by saccharification and fermentation at around 13–18 °C (55–64 °F) for fortnights. Its alcohol content is typically 8% to 20%.
Nuruk (Korean: 누룩) is a traditional Korean fermentation starter. It is used to make various types of Korean alcoholic beverages including takju, cheongju, and soju. It is an essential ingredient in Shindari and is mixed with rice. Historically, it was used in a variety of provinces of Korea, including Jeju Island.
This glossary of sake terms lists some of terms and definitions involved in making sake, and some terms which also apply to other beverages such as beer. Sake, also referred to as a Japanese rice wine, is an alcoholic beverage made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Unlike wine, in which alcohol is produced by fermenting sugar that is naturally present in fruit, sake is produced by a brewing process more akin to that of beer, where starch is converted into sugars which ferment into alcohol.
