Today’s custom mocktail recipe is a bright, joyful, non-alcoholic smoothie inspired by my friend Amren’s character, Joyce Liu-Stone.
Joyce is a bit awkward, but a sweet person and a great friend. Because of her love for mangoes, I wanted to use that as the base flavor. This drink is super-easy to prepare, too, great for a girl on the go to take with her on the way to robotics team practice. 🙂
The boba in my stomach ricochet around like bouncy balls. Yeah, something about me is different since I came back from living with agōng and amà in Taichung last summer. I loved running around the night markets with my cousins, visiting mountains so high I could barely breathe, and buying junk food at midnight from the 7-Elevens. And I also very much enjoyed kissing a few Taiwanese boys who called me wàiguó rén – foreigner – and were more interested in touching my white-girl nose than anything lower.
But I couldn’t help but notice the way the girl at the xiǎo lóng bāo shop glanced at me. Or the way my stomach fluttered when a girl on the subway looked me up and down. Or how I was inexplicably excited to find out that Nyx had broken up with her girlfriend while I was gone.
Excerpt by Amren Ortega

Joyce
- 1 cup frozen mango chunks
- 1.5oz Lime juice
- 1.5oz Agave syrup
- 1.5oz coconut water
- Blend all together in blender.
- Pour into glass.
- Garnish with a lime wheel.
Thank you, Amren!
Find Amren online here:
Twitter: @AmrenOrtega
Blog: amrenortega.blogspot.com