When it comes to drinks that you might associate with Japan, there's a couple that come to mind most prominently - green tea, and sake. But there's another drink that is popular here for several reasons - it's called amazake, and here are some quick facts about it!
It's made from fermented rice
You know the popularity of all things fermented these days? From kimchi to kombucha and everything in between, there has been a bit of a fermented food trend in recent years -- since they're said to have so many health benefits. Amazake is no different, with it being touted with assisting in keeping your hair and skin looking radiant, giving you a good night's sleep, being a hangover remedy...it's even said to help with weight loss!
There are both alcoholic and non alcoholic versions of the drink (depending on the recipe!)
It is often even used as a baby food - the non alcoholic version, obviously! The consistency when it's served up as baby food is similar to what you'd find when you feed your little ones rice cereal.
You can find it at many different places, including convenience stores
My local 7-11 has them in cans, warm and ready to drink! And best of all, it's only a little over 100 yen for one of these - bargain!
You can enjoy amazake warm or chilled
As well as the warm version in the picture above, they also had cold amazake - it's a personal preference thing as to which you'd rather. A lot of the time it's consumed cold in the summer, as one of the health benefits it's alleged to have is helping with fatigue and lethargy - but it's great as a winter warmer too!
If you are traveling across Japan and come across amazake, give it a try - you never know, it might give you an amazing night's sleep and the energy needed to keep exploring this amazing country!