Beverage makers are offering unique and wacky summer drinks to lure thirsty customers, such as: Sparkling Iced Tea, made by Tea Zen; Shak King by Seoul Milk; V2O by Jachin Corp.; and Starbucks’ Mango Fruit Pudding Blended Juice. Provided by each company

With June off to a hotter-than-usual start, the country’s food and beverage market is desperately seeking the next big thing to intrigue sweaty consumers.

Recent sales figures released by the nation’s convenience store chains show why food and beverage manufacturers will go to any lengths to come up with creative or wacky drinks each year.

CU, the nation’s largest convenience store chain, saw a 33 percent sales increase in soft drinks from June 5 to 9 from a year ago, while 7-Eleven saw its soft drink sales rise 39 percent during the same period.

“Sales of soft drinks and other beverages are vulnerable to the weather,” said Kang Hyun-jung, an official at Lotte Chilsung Beverage. “And summer is, of course, the most important season for us as more people stay outside and need something that can quench their thirst.”

Of many newly-released products this summer, V2O is the most eye-catching. In order to gain ground in the nation’s already saturated lineup of vitamin water products, V2O, made by Jachin Corp., took a different approach. Unlike other vitamin drinks, which come in dark brown or opaque bottles in order to prevent vitamins from being damaged, V2O uses technology called a smart cap.

A bottle of V2O seems ordinary, but when the bottle cap is twisted, liquid vitamin C that is stored inside the smart cap comes out and the water turns purple, red, orange or yellow, with each color having a different flavor. One bottle of the drink contains 350 milligrams of vitamin C - far higher than the recommended daily dose of 55 milligrams for an adult. The sugar-free drink contains merely 16 kilocalories and costs 2,400 won ($2.30).

Sparkling Iced Tea, manufactured by Tea Zen, a local tea producer, is unique in that it looks like an ordinary iced tea powder stick, but when it’s poured into a cup of water, it forms sparkles.

The lemon and yuzu flavor contains the recommended daily dose of vitamin C. A pack which contains 10 sticks costs 3,700 won.

Seoul Milk, the nation’s largest dairy company, also launched a new drink called Shak King, but it is pronounced “shaking.”

The dairy company hopes its product will become an alternative for health-conscious people who are searching for something other than caffeine or sports drinks. The drink contains higher amounts of milk protein concentrates, in fact twice as high as ordinary dairy products.

Consumers must shake bottles or cartons of Shak King before they are opened, which creates a creamy froth. Bottles come in two flavors - cacao and sweet potato - while cartons are available in cafe-au-lait or a combination of banana and strawberry flavors. Cartons cost 1,300 won, and the bottles are about 1,800 won.

Meanwhile, coffee shop chains have jumped on the bandwagon by launching all kinds of beverages. Starbucks Korea launched a line of summer drinks, one of which is Mango Fruit Pudding Blended Juice, which is 5,900 won for a tall size.

“This drink is not available anywhere in the world except in Korea,” said Cecilia Song, a manager on the public affairs team of Starbucks Korea. “It is a localized product targeting only Korean customers.”

Based on the company’s self-developed mango pudding, the product is a combination of mango pudding and mango juice.

Mango Six, a local coffee shop franchise, created a do-it-yourself drink called Gorilla’s Vanilla Shake. The first topping is free with each shake, but each additional topping costs 500 won. Twenty-seven toppings are available, from espresso shot to peanut butter to gummy bears.

Another coffee shop chain, Pascucci, launched new lines of granita, a semi-frozen Italian dessert. Eleven types of granita are available, from black sesame to red bean, which is similar to patbingsu, a Korean summer treat of shaved ice flakes.

“Granita and patbingsu may look similar but there is a difference,” said Lee Eun-jin, an official at Pascucci. “You have to eat patbingsu with a spoon but granita is more like a drink, although it is topped with gelato.”

The latest granita addition is watermelon. A large cup costs 6,500 won.

By SUNG SO-YOUNG [so@joongang.co.kr]