Best eats of 2024: Best non-alcoholic drink – coriander lemon refresher from Yelemon

Where: 01-12 The Arcade, 11 Collyer Quay
Open: 10.30am to 7pm (Mondays to Fridays), 10.30am to 3pm (Saturdays), closed on Sundays and public holidays
Info:

instagram.com/yelemonsg

It is the food and beverage world’s best April Fool’s joke turned top seller. 

Home-grown drink kiosk Yelemon’s coriander lemon refresher ($4.90) may have started out as an idea in jest, but it is now the most palatable way to consume the polarising coriander herb – whether you are a fan or not.

Chopped-up coriander, pounded by hand 10 to 15 times with green, perfumed lemons from China’s Guangdong province, then vigorously shaken with fragrant green tea, is not a drink you would expect to become an instant hit.

Yet it did. Most plump for the 25 to 50 per cent sugar option, a “safe” balance of tea to lemon juice and crunchy coriander bits. But green juice fans gun for the zero-sugar option, which still carries the distinct aroma of tea and lemon juice. 

Many drink kiosks have entered and left the scene in 2024, but Yelemon’s bold move to offer a less-conventional vegetable-fruit drink selection – deemed a healthier alternative to bubble tea – is to be applauded. The kiosk opened in January and is looking to expand in 2025. 

It has more “regular” fruit offerings, such as mango grapefruit sago ($6.50) and pineapple lemon refresher ($5.50), as well as a classic dancong oolong milk tea ($3.90).  There are also vegetal options including bittergourd (labelled as balsam pear in-store), celery, cucumber and kale. 

All are remarkably delicious and easy to drink – the one kiosk that can get me, and its growing throng of fans, to happily enjoy quaffing vegetables.