We had just arrived in Jaisalmer not more than 20 minutes before noticing the “Gov’t Authorised Bhang Shop” sign in a tiny, tin-walled shack leaning up against the base of the old castle walls. The street smelled heavily of urine, as do many Indian streets, and hustlers abound, offering us leather goods and bracelets. A man wearing sunglasses coolly stirred a pot of green butter, or more likely “Ghee”, a clarified butter more commonly found in Indian foods. It was green from the cannabis he had been cooking into it.

Bhang is a preparation from the leaves and flowers (buds) of cannabis, traditionally harvested and prepared in Lassi form or smoked during the celebration of Holi and Vaisakhi.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, we agreed. Let’s at least get a hotel room before imbibing something which may do nothing or do everything to our minds. So we did, in an old palace room in a crumbling building within the yellow walls of the so-called “golden city” of the Rajasthan region of Western India.

Stumbling down the narrow city streets, winding down to the base, avoiding cow feces and loud scooters and small motorcycles, we arrived once again at the “Gov’t Authorised Bhang Shop”. This time, our friend was sitting inside, looking out, smiling coolly and calmly at people passing by outside.

“I’ve been running this shop for 20 years”, he said, “Anthony Bourdain came here. Look, we have a DVD. Look at the photo of me and Anthony Bourdain”. He showed us a yellowed photograph and beat up DVD case, while the Anthony Bourdain Bhang Lassi special played on loop on the small TV inside his shack.

He had menus sitting around the cushions and plastic chairs inside his shack. There was a hookah in the middle, as well as a variety of bongs, pipes, and other smoking paraphernalia for sale inside his shop. The menu had a listing of Lassi drinks, an Indian yogurt drink sometimes sweetened and sometimes salted, and occasionally fruit flavored. These were all also mixed with his liquid Bhang concoction.

A few old men wandered up to his shop, handed him a few bills of Indian Rupees, and walked away with small bags of cannabis. He also offered cookies and baked goods, and there was a strong likelihood he had been snacking on these throughout the day.

We ordered two Banana Lassis, and ordered them strong. He asked us if we had experience with things like this and we confidently lied in the affirmative.

The Bhang Lassi tasted like a banana milkshake. It was greenish, had a slight cannabis-like odor to it, and a slight cannabis-like taste to it. It was quite refreshing, cold, and served in small metal cups. It was only a few ounces, probably 6 ounces or so, and we sipped on them for the next few minutes quietly, chatting occasionally about the shop, his baked offerings, and India.

It only took about twenty minutes, walking back up the windy streets to the hotel, for the drinks to begin to settle in. We passed by a merchant we had met before, and chatted with him for a few minutes which seemed like hours. He nodded, didn’t say a whole lot, and laughed and patted us on the backs.  We seemed to keep repeating ourselves, and the effects of the Bhang was definitely setting in slowly. After wandering in a blissful spaciousness along the warm windy streets, we made it back up to the crumbling yet vastly spacious room with bars and no glass for windows and a cool breeze flowing over the warm stone wall outside. The only thing I could think of at that point was to grab my iPod and headphones.

My friend realized he had forgotten his headphones in his car back down at the base of the castle, which was of course in our minds entirely unacceptable, and after moaning a bit, grabbed his keys and walked down to his car.

After that my memory was somewhat jeopardized. I have a vague memory of staring outside the windows, watching the sun go down slowly and relaxing to chillout music, like Thievery Corporation and Zero 7. This went on for a while, my thoughts carried myself back home, back to my relationships, my friends, my family, and things which had been on and off my mind while traveling around India.

At this point, the drink began to hit full force, about one hour in.

My friend came bursting back in the room, laughing hysterically, and I couldn’t resist and had to laugh too. We laughed, until we couldn’t breathe anymore, slamming our faces into the pillows, falling off our beds, blissfully freaking out in a soaring existence with our headphones on and music bringing a smooth yet grooving tempo to our lives.

We lay in our beds, staring at the Rajasthani artwork with elephants, kings, and camels painted on the walls of our ancient room. The sun setting outside cast a warm golden glow into the room, with a light breeze coming in through the barred glassless windows. Occasionally we would move, lift our arms, walk our legs up above our heads, stretch and shiver as the Bhang brought a heavy tingling sensation throughout our limbs and a light lofty relaxation to our cerebral selves.

After about three or four hours, I cannot remember if we fell asleep or not, but reality started to set back in. It was dark now, we were starving, yet still covered in a dense psychological haze. We agreed we should stand up, as shaky as our rubber limbs were and as unstable as our balance was, to find food while we still could.

After that, a glorious and lavish Indian feast followed atop the roof of one of the castle pillars, as well as a few Kingfisher beers, and the quiet desert in the distance like a dark ocean we were still floating gently in.

This is a guest post by Matt Boynton: This is a guest post by Matt Boynton: Matt is a world traveler and vagabonder financing his operations remotely through writing. He is in constant pursuit of new business ideas and beverages.

Photos © Matt Boynton: Don't Be Trashy, Recycle Bhang Shop

Kava kava is traditionally drank out of half of a coconut shell in Fiji and is also consumed in other Pacific nations. It's known for it's relaxing effects.

The first time I heard about kava, it was from one of my friends who bought some in powdered form online. He said it was supposed to have a relaxing effect. Long story short, he and my other friend decided to mix it into a protein shake and chug it.  I'm not sure what the reasoning was for this method, but I was a bit reluctant to try kava after they both got sick from it.

I wanted to wait to visit Vanuatu  and drink it in the traditional way, but I'll leave that for another post. Curiosity has gotten the best of me and I decided to order some kava online instead.

By the advice of my aforementioned friend, I didn't buy the same kava he did - I tried one that seemed a bit easier to prepare, called Kava Kwik from http://www.realkava.com/instant-kava.html . It turns out that this was a great move.

A week or so later, the Kava Kwik arrived in the mail. It comes in a powder in a small pouch which contains about 20 servings. The instructions say to use one teaspoon with two cups of water. I just estimated, adding a semi-heaping teaspoon. In retrospect, I may have added too much because it didn't dissolve completely the first time.

It's sortof a putrid green color, and smells really earthy, kind of like a bale of hay. Weird reference, but that's the closest thing I can think of.  When mixed with water, the taste is actually very mild. It tastes like grass, nothing really special or offensive about the taste, but not delicious either. It's a little bit tanniny and dry.

I could drink it straight, but I've heard that it's much more enjoyable with a fruit juice added in. Lemonade seemed like a good mix, so I added that in after a few tasting sips. At this point, it's a pint glass with about half water, half lemonade, and a teaspoon of instant Kava Kwik. The lemonade doesn't totally mask the grassy taste since it's diluted, but it does make it much more enjoyable.

After a few sips, the tip of my tongue and roof of my mouth in the front have a slight numbing sensation. After a few more sips and about 10 minutes, I feel the same sensation in the back of my throat. It's strange but not too unpleasant. From reading about it, I found that this is normal and to be expected when drinking kava.

Even though the instant Kava dissolves quickly, it also settles quickly, so you have to keep stirring it every few minutes.  I think this is just related to the fact that I put too much of the powder in.

8:52 - I've drank about 1/5th of the glass so far. It's making my tongue a little numb, but that's about it. It says that it could take 20 minutes to take effect, so I'm drinking it slowly.

9:10 - By now I've drank half of it and am feeling a bit more of a tired feeling in my face. The taste isn't bad, but I'm going to fill it up again with lemonade to dull the grassiness some more and give it some more flavor. mmm thats better

9:30 - about a third down after filling it back up with lemonade. I am feeling relaxed, legs feeling a bit tingly, and having a little difficulty focusing because I'm zoning out a little bit.

10:30 - I've been drinking it leisurely and feel a little bit relaxed, a little tingly in my legs from time to time. It's noticeable but subtle. As I finish the glass, I have to stir it more and more because the powder settles quickly. Since I drank one glass over 2 hours, I presume the effects are less than if I drank it all at once.

From my experience, the affects are just mild relaxation and perhaps some tiredness. It's probably best if you drink kava with friends as you're winding down for the night, not before you go out or need to do anything. While you do remain clearheaded, I find that I had a hard time focusing on tasks for an extended amount of time. Mostly because I just wanted to hang out and talk.

One thing is for sure though: if you want to feel the real effects of kava kava, definitely go with a real kava drink rather than something which claims to contain "kava extract" such as Mary Jane's soda. Kava Kwik has a much more significant effect than most of those "relaxing drinks." If you're drinking it for the taste though, kava powder might not be your thing and you should try something more commercial.

This is another find from the Vegetarian Festival in Boston. My friends dragged me over to the booth where they were handing out samples, "It's sooo good. You have to try this one." The rest of the drinks from this company, Ajmera Innovations, were good but not really that interesting. The saffron pistachio flavor really stood out as a unique flavor combination, especially for a drink.

The milkshake drink comes in powder form, and says to add milk, but I think they added soymilk to keep it vegan. It's got the texture of a liquidy smoothie, but with small chunks of nuts in it. It has a unique spicy flavor that comes out slowly on the back of your tongue. It starts off as a mild warming sensation, but then makes itself known after a few sips.

If you want an interesting flavored drink, I would definitely try this saffron pistachio milkshake mix. Their website says it's based on an Indian drink called Thandai, and that it can also be used to make ice cream. If you're an ice cream wizard, you should buy this just to make ice cream with it, then send me some. I'm sure it would be delicious.

This weird drink from Korea tastes like apple pie in a can. A spoonful of cinnamon in every sip. This flavor is really awesome at first, but gets a little overwhelming after a while. It has the after taste of cinnamon, tannin-y. It's smooth and slightly syrupy, and not carbonated.

If you get a chance, definitely try this drink. It's delicious, but one can will be enough. If you're thirsty for other Nostalgia drinks, also check out Shikhye.

Judging by the name it sounds kinda weird, but it's actually really refreshing. It tastes like a really smooth banana smoothie. I really recommend it if you're ever in Korea

Nostalgia Drink review after the jump...
This is one of two "Nostalgia Drinks" that I tried while in Korea. I would guess by the name that it's something you always had growing up, and drinking it gives you fond memories of the past. But is there really that much to be nostalgic about in 1993?

Shikhye is sweet and fragrant, almost nutty, similar to the almond nectar drink from China. Otherwise, it's a little syrupy like the other cinnamon flavored nostalgia drink. The flavor is really hard to place, but almost like an almond cookie. Overall pretty good, and I can see why it could cause nostalgia even though I didn't drink this growing up. It's a comfort drink.

This was a strange drink, and looking from the juice box that it came in, it was very hard to tell what it is. The first sip was a very confusing mix of sour, sweet, and milky flavors. It's very thick like a thick cream. It has a slightly orange flavor, which comes from the naranjilla, a fruit with green juice and a slight orange-citrusy flavor. It also tastes a bit like candy, but papery like those "dots" or "buttons" that come on a sheet of paper.

Avena Casera is not entirely smooth though, there is a little pulp. I'm not sure if the pulpiness comes from the naranjilla or the avena, which is the other main part of this drink. Upon further inspection, the box reads " oatmeal drink, naranjilla flavored." I didn't expect for a second that this drink was made of oatmeal. It turns out that Avena is a type of oatmeal drink, not just a brand name as I originally assumed.

Avena Casera is 100% natural and the ingredients include passion fruit, oatmeal, naranjilla fruit flavor and cinnamon extract.

Hey, I like peanuts and I like peanut butter. I've never heard of peanut juice, but it can't be that bad right? It's probably good even!

This is what was going through my head when I picked up this peanut drink. Plus, it's in a juice box. What could be better?

So I have the image of slurping up a liquidy peanut butter variant, but it's not like that at all actually. It's really smooth, and almost refreshing. Actually, the thing that is most noticeable is the smell as you drink it. The juice itself might not taste exactly like peanuts, but it sure does smell like peanuts.

The aftertaste lingers quite a while, and I'm sure my breath will be smelling like peanuts for a while. The only negative thing is that it leaves a slight dryness on my tongue like that inner skin of roasted peanuts, the part directly around the nut.

On the juice box it says "Our slow-roast recipe may take some time. But after tasting it you'll know it is  worth the wait." I've gotta say I agree. It's not a thirst-quencher, but I could pack one of these peanut drinks for a picnic lunch once in a while. It's like eating roasted peanuts, but without the mess of shells.