Date: 15th Nov 2019, Friday, 2:30pm
After returning from Little Kinmen, I came to Shuitou Village (水头聚落) about 1Km from Shuitou Pier. Next to the notable Deyue Gun Tower (得月楼) was the Wind Lion God Museum (风狮爷文物坊) housed in an old mansion. Apart from the well-preserved architecture and carvings, the museum also showcased its collections and information related to the wind lion gods in Kinmen. It had wind lion god souvenirs and other crafts for sales too.
It also served specialty beverages.
The beverages served here were Mao Zedong milk tea (毛泽东奶茶), Chiang Kai-shek special brew (蒋介石特调) and Kaoliang wine coffee (美酒加咖啡). Mao Zedong milk tea was prepared by adding Kaoliang (sorghum) wine to milk tea. Chiang Kai-shek special brew was milk tea added with a kind of herb that grew on sea rocks (海石花) that could be found on Kinmen's coast. And Kaoliang wine coffee — as the name implied — was coffee added with Kaoliang wine.
As I had tried Mao Zedong milk tea before, I decided to pick a beverage from the other two. Between Chiang Kai-shek milk tea and the wine-coffee, I chose the latter (NT$80). While waiting for my special coffee to be made, I saw some moghania root herbal eggs (一条根药膳蛋) being boiled in a pot and bought one for NT$20. Then I went up to the second level, where seats were available, to rest my tired legs and try the two Kinmen specialties.
The wine-coffee was black Americano topped with a measured amount of the locally-produced Kinmen 58° sorghum wine (金门58°高粱酒). It was a difficult concoction as both the alcohol and coffee had strong tastes and neither should overpower the other in the mixture. It was a unique brew and the impact of the strong alcohol could be felt on the first sip. I decided to go slow and rest longer.
The herbal egg had an unfamiliar taste that should be the rare moghania root (一条根), which was known to have herbal benefits and was found in Kinmen only. The egg also had a light scent of sorghum fragrance.
This was not the first time I had a taste of a moghania root — in fact, I had tried both Mao Zedong milk tea and moghania root hotpot at the (already-closed-down) Nian Nian Hong Lou Restaurant (念念红楼国共餐厅) in 2013.
After resting for an hour at the cafe and also for the alcoholic effect to subside, I returned to Jincheng old town for a popular Kinmen oyster puff.
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