Taiwan - 98 Reviews

When I saw this can, my immediate thought was "sugar water?" The ingredients confirmed this suspicion: sugar cane juice, water, sugar. Upon opening the can, the smell was really pungent and kind of gross. It smelled like what I imagine rancid sugar to smell like. Luckily, it didn't taste as bad as it smelled.

But at the end of the day, it's just sugar water. It's really hard not to let the gross smell waft into your nose while drinking this. Am I glad I tried this drink? Yes. Will I ever drink this again/finish this can? No way.

Shit Sandwich.

Not what I expected, not what I wanted. Yes, this is a barley drink, but it's not good to me. My dad always taught me that if I was going to be opinionated, I should end all my opinionated statements with "to me" so that I'm not demonstrating close mindedness. My dad is a smart man. Smart enough to not drink this drink. It's barley, through and through but it's a bit...sweet and earthy. I know that might sound good, but it tastes more like you're in a field, hanging out with Huck Finn, chewing on a stalk of barley, wearing no shoes, talking about how you're going to make a sweet raft out of logs and push yourself down the river.

I never read Huck Finn, although I feel like I've seen enough parodies of it to know what happens. Something about faking death in a church, whitewashing fence posts, kids stuff.

When I'm looking for an aloe drink, there is no shortage. I've got so much selection that I can drink a different flavor every day for a week. I'm not saying that I have them on my person at all times and I don't wear cargo pants and carrying a week's worth of drinks in your pocket, unless you are planning on spending a week in the desert, is pretty stupid. I used to wear cargo pants. It was the 90's. What did you do in the 90's that you wouldn't do anymore? I bet you did a lot you regret. It was a rough time for everyone and cargo pants were our salvation. That and carpenter pants. Who carries hammers everywhere? That one I'm surprised made the jump from function to fashion.

Anyhow, this Alo has big ol' chunks. There are bigger ones than Aloevine or even Foco. The flavor is a nice mix of pomegranate and cranberry. Both are a little subdued, but still very good. You can taste the pomegranate and just the flavor, none of the bite, of the cranberry. The chunks are like flavor explosions in your mouth.

I've found this at nature stores. So if you have a Price Rite, that's where I've found it. I'm sure they probably have a "where to buy" section.

Oh, also, drink this cold. It's not too fantastic lukewarm.

There are a couple gems at Asian markets. There are a lot of borderline poisonous drinks there, too. I'm not going to tell you to be careful because it's actually fun to hang out with friends and drink something putrid. That's what being friends is all about.

This DemiSoda was good. It tasted like green apples. Green apples and sugar but still green apple juice. It comes in a responsible sized can and comes in different flavors. I'll get them if you promise to do the same. Deal?

This is just as I suspected. Good. I think the fellas and ladies over at Hey Song knew a good thing when they saw it because this is the same type of thing as the apple I had last week. Jay did the grape flavor and felt the same love that I did. So we, the Thirsty Dudes, are all on the same page.

This is the same jelly/Jell-O texture as before, but this time with a sharp, sweet sparking orange juice. Now that I've mastered destroying the can to enjoy this drink, it's simple to share this drink with others. All you need is a pair of pliers and some elbow grease.

Also, as a bonus, I've filmed the first ever video review over at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_sr_P5hW9M so make sure to check it out. It's our first one so be gentle. I did it at work with no one knowing which is why people walked in on us. As you can see, we made him try it. He liked it. You should, too.

I was going to get to this drink eventually, but Mike wouldn't shut up about the one he drank. It quickly climbed to the top of my to-drink list.
This is more than likely the strangest thing I've ever drunk. It's like someone poured a nice half glass of sparkling white grape juice, then they filled the rest with unflavored jello that wasn't completely solidified yet. So, so weird. I poured it into a glass. I didn't have to rip off the top like Mike, but it did take some effort. It looked like a gel candle. The carbonation bubbles got stuck in the jelly/jello.
It's strange, but once you get used to the jelly/jello it's really good.

Oh my gosh...look I drink stuff every day. Some good. Some bad. Some strange. Some normal. This drink is so awesome and strange and involved I can't wait to tell you about it.

Individual snack packs of Jello (or equivalent) would be the base of this drink. The base, people. Jello. Base. The base is Jello. Take a bottle of sparkling apple juice and marinate the Jello. Take the mixture and put it in a can and you've got this drink.


I didn't know what to expect so I just gave it to my friend Matt because he saw the can and wanted to try it. He opened it up, smelled it, and then took a...slurp. It totally took him by surprise. He said that there were giant chunks in it and I looked inside and he couldn't have been more right. I brought it over to my friend Mike and tried to pour it into a cup for him and couldn't because the chunks were so big. I eventually resorted to taking a pair of pliers to the can and opening it enough to get it out of the can in its entirety. Now I have a cup of just amber colored sludge and I love it.

The taste is a bit like an energy drink, but it is probably just the strong apple taste making it seem like that. It's a good think that these are cheap, like $1, because everyone is getting a can for Christmas. This drink is fun and this is yet another reason why I love doing Thirsty Dudes.

I don't know what was wrong with just calling it "Barley Tea". I don't know why they had to append "Drink" to the end of it. The only ingredients are mineral water, fructose, and sugar. Barley is probably in there somewhere, but there really isn't anything that would turn it into a "Tea Drink" instead of just a "Tea".

ANYHOW...

I bought this in the largest size possible, over 60oz, because I wanted it to taste like the Uni Barley Black Tea but it didn't and now I have to deal with 60+ ounces of regret.

That's a bit strong. It's not bad, it's just not what I wanted it to be. I wanted that smooth taste that I got with the other one. It heavily barley flavored and not so "chocolaty" like I described the Uni drink.

If you like the taste of barley, get a giant bottle. It's a very good, true flavor. I just wanted something different. I wonder if Uni makes a 60+oz bottle. I deserve it. I'm wonderful.

You've spent your entire life running around. Doing errands for yourself and doing errands for other people. Getting placed on time. Anticipating getting places late and speeding to get there on time. Climbing mountains. Running marathons. Having kids. Doing eating challenges. Skiing. Taking out the garbage. Riding a bike long distances. Washing windows. Shoveling. Weeding. Filing your taxes. Housekeeping. Discussing the plot to a M. Night Shamalan movie. Attending Church. Telling your significant other that their pants don't make their butt look big. Visiting your in-laws. Discussing politics. Jumping rope. Researching a solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Walking uphill both ways in the snow. Preparing for the 2012 Apocalypse. Finding a parking spot. Waiting on hold.

CALM DOWN!! Honey = soothing. Lemon = soothing(?). Chamomile = calming. This is good, too. All flavors are represented and for a little over one dollar, I am down with this. If they sold this (they may) in one of those really large containers, like 60 ounces, I wouldn't hesitate to get it. I am actually impressed at how adequately they captured all the flavor friends in this drink. Surprise yourself. Find this drink (I got mine at a local Marshall's) and take your time drinking it.

Samurai Defender. Is there a greater name for a antioxidant type tea? It's perfect fit, and it certainly got me interested in the tea.
It's a real nice oolong tea with a touch of mandarin oranges and a ginger aftertaste. There's no burn at all with the ginger, just a small dose of the flavor to remind you it's performing its "herbal defense."

Last night I went and saw Let Me In. It's the American version of Let The Right One In. If I never had seen the original I would have thought it was an absolutely incredible movie, but seeing as the Swedish one is possibly the best vampire movie I've ever seen, the remake just seemed okay.
The point of that is that I drank this tea while I was watching the movie. Did you need to know that? No, but I felt like since I was reviewing two peach drinks in a row I should let it be known that there was a time lapse in between them.
I've had quite a few peach oolong teas in my day. I don't know who decided to put those two flavors together, but I understand why the couple is now in an open relationship. This is by far the best one that I've had. It's not peach flavoring, but actual peach juice in it, and the flavor is strong. The peach tastes like it was just about to be fully ripe when they juiced it. A slight bitterness of the oolong still sneaks by though. I also like it when the sweetener in teas is in the bottom half of the ingredients list. It's nice to actually be able to taste the real flavor, and not just sweetness.

This is really weird. It's kind of like a normal sarsaparilla, but not quite. When it first hits your taste buds, it tastes like a budget root beer. Then a complete different flavor hits you. It has a "woodsy" flavor to it. It's kinda tastes like the root beer Mike and I made a few months ago, well before we carbonated it and it tasted like complete butt. I'm not a fan of the first flavor, but the second wave is pretty darn good.

I came in to work today and the lovely and talented Kristin Merz stopped at her local Asian market and picked me up this Mango juice drink. Yes, there is nata de coco in it, but there isn't a lot. It's not like a lot of the other ones I've had where there is an abundance of little squared, gummy goodness. This drink had but a few little dudes but the mango juice was actually really good. There is actually a small bit of mango chunk in there, too, but nothing to really write home about. It's not a puree or a smoothie, just a juice, but a good juice. Personally, I think it's an all or nothing gig with nata de coco. Either put a lot in or don't put any in.

This is a excellent juice and I urge anyone who is 10% adventurous to go down to their local Asian market and get a can.

I was scared. I didn't want to drink this. With a title like "grass jelly drink" what was I supposed to think? I knew it was going to have chunks in it so I poured it into a glass. It's chunky, very chunky. Like if you bought an aloe drink and doubled the amount of aloe. Here's the deal though. It was awesome. My one friend said that it tasted like sweet tea and that it got better with every sip. I thought that it had a winter taste, like there were some unlisted spices.

I mean it. Try it. I'm sorry if you don't like it, but I think that with an open mind, this could be a diamond in the rough.

I was a little frightened to try this beverage. After a week of binging on drinks bought at an Asian market, I was really expecting for there to be some wacky addition to the guava juice. Luckily I was wrong and it's just plain juice. I'm used to drinking guava nectar, so this is a change since it's not super thick. It's good though. It would make a nice breakfast juice. How did orange juice corner that market anyways? I mean it's good, but something like this would be way more refreshing.

A letter from the desk of Mike Literman,

Dear Uni,
Are you sorcerers? What type of wizardry do you have in stock that you can do what you did? I was a bit standoffish when I read barley. I don't drink anything with barley in it so I don't know what it's used for other than beer. Whatever you did was a work of art. Now you're artists, you've been promoted/demoted from wizard. This barley black tea tastes like chocolate milk, and good chocolate milk. There is a little black tea, like it's a half and half with chocolate milk and black tea. It's very good. It's very, very good. I love you. It turns out barley isn't such a jerk after all.

Love,
Mike Literman

As to be expected, this is pretty much sweetened soymilk. The flavor is nothing fancy. I was bummed because I didn't get any tapioca balls for the first half of the can. I was afraid it had disintegrated or just weren't added to this can. Then I got a sip that was pretty much all tapioca. So if you ever get one of these remember to shake it. For anyone who's ever had bubble tea, it's the same idea. If you're not familiar they are pretty much flavorless little gelatinous balls that add a fun little texture.