Shaved ice is one of the joys of summer in Taiwan. As we get through the height of summer, ice shops battle it out to offer the freshest flavors. Some stick with the classics, like Taiwanese fruit. But some create ice versions of foreign desserts like tiramisu. And some tackle stranger, less straightforward recipes… We visited a few purveyors of ice to survey the options.

A block of watermelon ice goes in the ice shaver. It comes out like lashings of pink snow. Then the ice is decorated with balls of real watermelon, sweet vanilla ice cream and condensed milk. An irresistible desert is served.

Member of public
It has all these scoops of watermelon. It’s so refreshing! And with the condensed milk, it makes it so tasty.

And fruit is not the only choice. Sweet-toothed customers can also try this…

The base is a mountain of coffee shaved ice. On top, generous sprinkles of cocoa, a slice of chocolate cake, finished with lashings of tiramisu-flavored cream. Oh, and don’t forget some more cocoa. Voila, the tiramisu ice.

Ice shop owner
So long as it’s not raining, business is pretty good. Everyone comes in for watermelon, and mango, they’re all doing pretty well.

Meanwhile, at a competing ice shop, a hot chocolate cake is just emerging from the oven. The slices are stuck on cocktail sticks. Suddenly, they’re camouflaged as pig’s blood cakes. They’re covered in sesame seeds and sesame ice and garnished with a little coriander, naturally – just like pig’s blood cake should be.

Member of public
I think it’s quite novel. There’s almost nobody doing this kind of special shaved ice in Taiwan. It’s quite creative and it looks nice. It makes pretty photos for social media.

Ice shop owner
I wanted to add some new, creative ice products. I wanted to make a link to traditional Taiwanese snacks, so we launched the pig’s blood cake shaved ice to see how it went. And as it turns out, it’s very popular.

As summer heatwaves roll through, everyone needs to cool off. A good ice is always in demand. The only question is, which flavor is the one for you?