Aalto’s is the easiest - his special dish is Misty Tea so I think he’d have a sparkling Misty Tea flavor. A carefully brewed green tea flavored with gentle floral taste of honeysuckle and lemongrass and sweetness of water caltrops.
Brant is a sucker for sweet. Purity Strength has a “refreshing flavor and a pure aftertaste” and his brew is “a bit too sweet”. His hard soda drink is inspired by struffoli, a carnival dish, sugary-sweet with a taste of maraschino cherries and limoncello.
Yesterday in Jinzhou, Jiyan’s dish, is a savory dish. Likewise, his favorite food is Jinzhou stew. This makes him a little harder to think of a soda for, although we definitely want to stay away from bitter tastes since he’s not a fan of bitterberries. Since there’s not much to work on, let’s follow the banner of Qingloong. Which leads us to 龙眼 -Longans, or dragon eye fruit. Jiyan would have a longan soda flavored with pandan leaf.
Qiuyuan likes things spicy, his Chongzhou Spicy Tofu reminds me of Mapo Tofu. And while Japan has made a Drinkable Mapo Tofu, that’s heresy and we shall not speak further of this madness. Instead, let’s think about Qiuyuan as one of the Four Gentlemen. For that he would be a chrysanthemum, symbolizing human virtue and nobility. Let’s also include wolf berries (goji berries) in, mostly for his health since it’s believed to help with vitality (and because it’s tasty). That leaves us with a sparkling chrysanthemum tea with a hint of sweetness from the wolf berries.