Top 10 Malaysian Craft Beers & Local Drinks in 2026

Malaysia's unofficial national drink — strong black tea blended with condensed milk and aerated by pulling between two cups in long, frothy arcs until it reaches the ideal temperature and consistency — is consumed at every mamak stall, kopitiam, and office canteen in the country, at all hours. The technique requires years of practice to master and the best examples, served by mamak masters who have pulled teh tarik for three decades, are objects of genuine skill.

Beyond its dessert form, cendol is also consumed as a cold drink — the pandan rice flour noodles suspended in sweetened coconut milk and palm sugar syrup served over crushed ice in a tall glass — a beverage of extraordinary refreshing power on a 35-degree Malaysian afternoon and one of the most distinctively Malaysian culinary experiences reducible to a single cup.

Tapai — fermented glutinous rice wine produced by Kadazan-Dusun communities in Sabah — is Malaysia's most distinctive indigenous alcoholic drink, ranging in strength from mildly effervescent to genuinely potent depending on fermentation duration. At Sabah cultural festivals and longhouse visits, refusing tapai offered by a host is considered impolite, and accepting it creates a social bond of considerable warmth.

The Iban version of fermented rice wine, tuak, is central to social life in Sarawak's longhouse communities — produced by individual families using secret recipes that may involve different fermentation times, yeasts, and rice varieties, creating products that range from sweet and low-alcohol to complex and warming. Visitors to Iban longhouses who decline tuak miss one of Sarawak's most genuine cultural experiences.

A fluorescent pink drink of rose cordial mixed with condensed milk served over ice, bandung is a uniquely Malaysian beverage of Indian-Muslim mamak stall origin that has become so ubiquitous at Malay celebrations, food courts, and pasar malam stalls that it now qualifies as a national drink regardless of its contested origin. Its sweetness is extreme and its colour alarming, which is precisely why Malaysians drink it with such unironic enthusiasm.

Sweet barley water — barley grains simmered with pandan, rock sugar, and sometimes chrysanthemum flowers until the broth turns golden and aromatic — is one of Malaysia's most beloved everyday drinks, sold in glass bottles at Chinese medicine shops, hawker centres, and modern beverage chains. It is consumed for its perceived cooling properties in Chinese traditional medicine and its genuinely refreshing light sweetness.

Malaysians have elevated Nestlé's Milo chocolate malt drink into a cultural institution — the Milo Dinosaur (a cup of iced Milo with an additional spoonful of undissolved Milo powder on top for texture and intensity) is served at every mamak stall and represents the kind of participatory food creativity that makes Malaysian food culture so distinctive. Malaysia is consistently among Milo's highest per capita consumption markets globally.

Malaysian hawker centres produce extraordinary house-made syrups — chrysanthemum, longan, grass jelly, winter melon, and sour plum — that are combined with ice and soda water or plain water to create a category of non-alcoholic beverages of genuine sophistication. The best examples are found at traditional Chinese herbal drink stalls where the syrups are made fresh daily from dried botanical ingredients.

BOH Plantations is the largest tea producer in Southeast Asia, with estates covering 1,200 hectares of the Cameron Highlands that produce over 4 million kilograms of tea annually. Boh Tea's estate cafe, suspended on stilts above the Sungai Palas plantation, serves its premium single-estate teas in an environment where the raw ingredient grows to every horizon — the most complete from-leaf-to-cup tea experience available in Malaysia.

Malaysia's unofficial national drink — strong black tea blended with condensed milk and aerated by pulling between two cups in long, frothy arcs until it reaches the ideal temperature and consistency — is consumed at every mamak stall, kopitiam, and office canteen in the country, at all hours. The technique requires years of practice to master and the best examples, served by mamak masters who have pulled teh tarik for three decades, are objects of genuine skill.

Beyond its dessert form, cendol is also consumed as a cold drink — the pandan rice flour noodles suspended in sweetened coconut milk and palm sugar syrup served over crushed ice in a tall glass — a beverage of extraordinary refreshing power on a 35-degree Malaysian afternoon and one of the most distinctively Malaysian culinary experiences reducible to a single cup.

Tapai — fermented glutinous rice wine produced by Kadazan-Dusun communities in Sabah — is Malaysia's most distinctive indigenous alcoholic drink, ranging in strength from mildly effervescent to genuinely potent depending on fermentation duration. At Sabah cultural festivals and longhouse visits, refusing tapai offered by a host is considered impolite, and accepting it creates a social bond of considerable warmth.

The Iban version of fermented rice wine, tuak, is central to social life in Sarawak's longhouse communities — produced by individual families using secret recipes that may involve different fermentation times, yeasts, and rice varieties, creating products that range from sweet and low-alcohol to complex and warming. Visitors to Iban longhouses who decline tuak miss one of Sarawak's most genuine cultural experiences.

A fluorescent pink drink of rose cordial mixed with condensed milk served over ice, bandung is a uniquely Malaysian beverage of Indian-Muslim mamak stall origin that has become so ubiquitous at Malay celebrations, food courts, and pasar malam stalls that it now qualifies as a national drink regardless of its contested origin. Its sweetness is extreme and its colour alarming, which is precisely why Malaysians drink it with such unironic enthusiasm.

Sweet barley water — barley grains simmered with pandan, rock sugar, and sometimes chrysanthemum flowers until the broth turns golden and aromatic — is one of Malaysia's most beloved everyday drinks, sold in glass bottles at Chinese medicine shops, hawker centres, and modern beverage chains. It is consumed for its perceived cooling properties in Chinese traditional medicine and its genuinely refreshing light sweetness.

Malaysians have elevated Nestlé's Milo chocolate malt drink into a cultural institution — the Milo Dinosaur (a cup of iced Milo with an additional spoonful of undissolved Milo powder on top for texture and intensity) is served at every mamak stall and represents the kind of participatory food creativity that makes Malaysian food culture so distinctive. Malaysia is consistently among Milo's highest per capita consumption markets globally.

Malaysian hawker centres produce extraordinary house-made syrups — chrysanthemum, longan, grass jelly, winter melon, and sour plum — that are combined with ice and soda water or plain water to create a category of non-alcoholic beverages of genuine sophistication. The best examples are found at traditional Chinese herbal drink stalls where the syrups are made fresh daily from dried botanical ingredients.

BOH Plantations is the largest tea producer in Southeast Asia, with estates covering 1,200 hectares of the Cameron Highlands that produce over 4 million kilograms of tea annually. Boh Tea's estate cafe, suspended on stilts above the Sungai Palas plantation, serves its premium single-estate teas in an environment where the raw ingredient grows to every horizon — the most complete from-leaf-to-cup tea experience available in Malaysia.