"COVID-19 Special Drink" Goes Viral! Can Orange, Lemon, and Snow Pear Relieve Sore Throat and Hoarseness?

The Rise of "COVID Special Drinks" Among Young Consumers

First it was the online campaign to get canned yellow peaches covered by medical insurance; then the rush that emptied shelves of electrolyte water. Now young people have turned their attention to the "COVID special drinks" rolling out across milk tea brands! The logic is simple: when you can't get medicine anywhere and your throat feels like you're swallowing knives, when you hesitate to pay good money for a drink built on just one or two lemons — milk tea steps in.

Since pandemic restrictions were lifted, "COVID special drinks" have climbed the social media charts nonstop. Plenty of netizens report walking into a HeyTea or Nayuki store only to find the special drinks already sold out — that's how hot they are.

To be clear, none of these drinks are medicine. The "COVID special drinks" are mostly tea beverages built on vitamin C-rich fruits — pears, oranges, lemons. They supplement vitamin C, taste far better than plain stewed pear or orange water, and require zero effort on your part. That combination earned them the "COVID special drink" crown among young consumers.

Social media roundups credit HeyTea's "Big Orange Paints Pear," Nayuki's "Dominant Snow Pear Soup," Hushang Ayi's "Fresh Whole Pear Stew," and MIXUE's "Fresh Orange Beating" and "Pear Snow Fungus" as the flagship offerings, all marketed around being "moisturizing and nourishing."

Worth noting: most of these drinks existed long before the trend. They're not new products — several have been basic menu items for years.

Marketing Wins Nobody Planned

HeyTea's "Big Orange Paints Pear," for instance, launched on October 21st as a collaboration with "The Legend of Zhen Huan." Now, in a winter full of Bao Juan references, Jian Qiu memes, and Big Fat Orange jokes, HeyTea has emerged as the biggest winner. At launch it was promoted with slogans like "Refreshing CP" and "Full of Hot Vitamin C." Being recast as a COVID remedy is a marketing outcome HeyTea surely never imagined.

Other brands scrambled to catch the wave with emergency launches. Lemon tea brand LINLEE released a "Vitamin C Explosion Set" on December 19th — reportedly including Orange Dopamine Iced Lemon Tea, Kiwi Iced Lemon Tea, and other vitamin C-heavy drinks — and even reminded followers on its Little Red Book page to "share urgently."

The Psychological Value of a Comfort Drink

You have to hand it to the internet: this was a massive win for tea brands, whose most basic menu items suddenly rode the "COVID special drink" wave back into the spotlight. But is the hype — the labels, the gimmicks — really pointless?

Not quite. In the depths of this cold winter, when a high fever or a violent cough makes even pouring a glass of hot water feel like a mountain, when your whole body aches and swallowing is agony, ordering a full cup of vitamins with a few taps of a finger delivers real emotional value and genuine psychological comfort.

Of course, everyone understands what actually works is symptomatic medication. No matter how magical a "COVID special drink" claims to be, it is not medicine. If symptoms get serious, see a doctor — promptly!!

FrontStreet Coffee Recommendation

If the fruit-and-floral side of these drinks is what you enjoy, you'll find the same pleasure in well-chosen pour-over beans. FrontStreet Coffee's entry-level specialty lineup starts with Ethiopia: the Natural Huakui leads with strawberry, passion fruit, jackfruit, melon, honey, and florals from traditional natural processing in Sidama, while the Washed Guodingding Cooperative lot from Yirgacheffe delivers jasmine fragrance, lemony brightness, and berry tones — the classic gateway to specialty coffee. Brazil follows with the Cerrado Red Bourbon (cream, peanut, cocoa; easy-drinking and affordable) and the Queen Estate Yellow Bourbon, grown at higher altitude and layered with butter, melon seeds, macadamia, almond, and sugarcane sweetness that stays smooth black or with milk.

Indonesia offers the wet-hulled Linong Mandheling — richer and smoother than Blue Mountain, with herbal and spice notes for those who avoid acidity — and the PWN Golden Mandheling, triple hand-sorted for a cleaner, silkier cup with clear woody and caramel tones. Colombia brings the Huila daily bean from plantations above 1500m plus the Sidra and Big Navel lots; Costa Rica the honey-processed Blackberry and raisin-honey Mozart with raisin, blueberry, osmanthus, and rose notes; Yunnan the Small Bean and the 2013 Typica grown at 1300m (hazelnut, dried apricot, black tea, caramel, ripe plum); and Panama the washed Boquete Geisha — genuine Geisha character with orange-blossom honey sweetness at a beginner-friendly price.