I was in the mood for spiked coffee, so I figured I'd go with something new rather than the usual Irish coffee. I'd never heard of Indian coffee before, and it sounded interesting so I went with it. It was a choice that let me to discovering the weirdest coffee I have ever seen.

The waitress said it's coffee, plus Bacardi white rum and egg. I thought that the egg would be mixed in somehow, but it came and there are some kind of flakes floating around that I guess are the egg whites or some part of them. When I went to stir it, I discovered a whole egg yolk sitting at the bottom. Needless to say, I was a little surprised.

The coffee itself is just a pretty mild coffee with the rum coming through a little bit. It's not too strong in bitterness or alcohol.

I thought that the yolk was hard-boiled, but I bit into it and it popped, spilling yolk all into the coffee! They must have put it in there raw. The whole coffee is now a yellowish light brown or golden color. It actually didn't even change the taste much though, just made it a little more bitter. Toward the bottom of the cup though, it did start to taste distinctly eggy.

Even though I'm not sure that the egg was necessary, after adding some milk and sugar this Indian coffee turned out to be really good and one of the weirdest coffees I've had so far. Toward the end of the glass there was a higher concentration of egg yolk because it had all settled to the bottom. I was a little turned off by the chunks in the bottom, similar to the bottom of the yak milk tea, but in both cases it didn't ruin the rest of the drink.

I haven't been to India yet, but when I do, I will order a coffee there and see if it's the same. Do they actually drink coffee like this in India?

It's taste is sweet, fruity, and fragrant. It reminds me a lot of the flavors of xiakucao, and luohanguo juice. While it's not too sweet, it tastes like it was sweetened with a dark cane sugar.

He Qi Zheng Herbal Tea is very similar to 王老吉 Wang Lao Ji, another Chinese herbal tea brand, but has a little bit of a lighter taste. I also like the fact that it comes in a bottle rather than a can, and there's more than enough of it to quench your thirst.

The ingredients of Heqizheng are water, sugar, 仙草 xiancao (grass jelly), licorice root, 鸡蛋花 jidanhua (Plumeria rubra, a type of flower), 布渣叶 buzha leaf (Microcos paniculata, a type of shrub traditionally used in Chinese herbal teas), chrysanthemum flower, honeysuckle flower, and 夏枯草 xiakucao (selfheal).

It shares a lot of similar ingredients with other herbal tea-style drinks I've tried in China, a lot of which are also used in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). This has caused some controversy, and this company has been sued, though unsuccessfully, by a man claiming that the HeQiZheng commercial said it could cure diseases. The claim arose over the use of jidanhua and xiakucao in the drink, but the court decided that the drink is perfectly safe and that the man who sued them was ill for completely unrelated reasons.

I first tried Yerba Mate (pronounced mah-tay) on a trip to Uruguay, where it is everywhere and is an integral part of local culture. It is very closely tied to national identity, with the bag of yerba mate saying "El mate de mi pais," the mate of my country.  People of all ages carry around gourds and a  bombilla, along with a thermos of hot water. It is the national drink of Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay, but is drunk throughout South America. Due to something in it (not caffeine), it gives you a really good boost of energy.

I was taught by Uruguayan friends the proper way to prepare and drink mate. Mate refers to both the herb, yerba mate, as well as the entire drinking setup including gourd and bombilla. The bombilla is a metal straw with a straining mechanism at the bottom. The gourd is nearly filled with the yerba, which is a generous amount. This way, it can last all day without having to refill. The straw is placed in and hot water is poured in the gourd about halfway. Since the gourd is already filled with yerba, it's a small amount of water that is drunk in one sip through the straw. The gourd is sipped dry and refilled after every sip. This way the water stays hot, they tell  me. The yerba is pushed to the side and top to keep it fresh, but if the drink starts to get weak, new yerba from the top is moved to the bottom where the water is.

If you want to know how to drink yerba mate, just look at the locals

The dry yerba maté herb smells similar to green tea, but a bit more earthy. Using the bombilla, on the first sip I got a lot of leafy bits coming through.  On the second sip there were less, as the mate got more packed down.  The subsequent sips have less and less leaves, I think because I drank all the ones that were small enough to pass through already!

Despite the scalding of the hot water and metal straw if you're not used to it, the drink is actually very refreshing. It tastes like a very strong green tea and leaves a cool sensation in your mouth as an aftertaste. It can range from sweet to bitter, varying slightly with each sip and depending on how recently the gourd has been packed. Not to mention, it does give you a good boost of energy. My Uruguayan friends insisted that it doesn't have caffeine, just something similar. Must be a special yerba mate caffeiene - works for me.

Even though my tongue was painfully burned the first time I tried it, I actually liked it. If you've been drinking it for a long time, I'm told, you can widthstand hotter and hotter water. I had no warning though, and got the hottest variety on first sip. It actually does taste better with hotter water, and you can control the heat by where you pour the water. You can achieve maximum heat by pouring directly on the straw, which will stay hot for quite a while and heat the water while you drink.

How to prepare yerba mate if you don't have a gourd

I liked it, but really didn't think I would drink it enough to justify buying the traditional drinking gourd. I brought home a huge bag (standard size, since people usually drink so much and you fill the gourd completely every time) of Canarias yerba mate, which is a common brand made in Brazil. Having a 1 KG bag, I experimented with other ways of drinking the yerba mate. It's nearly impossible to drink like regular loose-leaf tea unless you filter it somehow because the leaf pieces are so small you will end up drinking them all. I have a tea thermos with built-in filter that I got in China so I decided to give it a try. It strained out the leaves just fine, but I learned quickly that there is a reason for the traditional way of drinking mate: it gets bitter very fast if left to steep for more than a minute.

If you're ever in the southern cone of South America, especially in Uruguay or Argentina, I really recommend trying yerba mate. The locals will share it with friends, drinking out of the same straw, so don't be shy. It's a great part of the culture that you shouldn't miss.

*First and third images under Creative Commons License. All other images property of NewAtlasBev.com

Here is everything you need to get started drinking yerba mate in the traditional way:

Inka Coffee Substitute

Inka is a Polish drink, commonly used as a coffee substitute. It's taste resembles coffee, but it has no caffeine.

The inka drink mix made by Naturalis Inka comes in a round can similar to instant coffee. The brown powder smells woody, but has a very similar aroma to the powdered coffee brands we're all used to. To make the inka beverage, you're supposed to use one heaping teaspoon of the powder, mixed with boiling water or milk. I tried it with water, and the inka coffee that resulted was suprisingly black, with a white and brown foam. It does taste like a very weak coffee, but maybe that's just because of the similarity in making it, and how it's known as a coffee substitute.

Inka Coffee Substitute

The woody smell did carry on into the drink as expected, but it tastes more nutty. It's not bitter at all like I expected, especially for a coffee-type drink. There's no aftertaste, except for a slight fresh feeling, (similar to mint, when you breathe in it cools your mouth). I could imagine it being a great warm drink for winter or night time, especially when you don't want the caffeine. I imagine that it would taste great with milk as well, for a more creamy inka coffee substitute.

Inka is a grain beverage made from extremely simple ingredients: Roasted Barley, Rye, Chicory, and Beet Roots. It's interesting, looking at the nutrition facts, that Naturalis Inka has almost no nutritional value when mixed with water. It has only one gram of carbohydrates. It's also all natural with no preservatives, chemical additives, or caffiene.

Get Inka Naturalis Here

NATURALIS Inka coffee substitute, 8.75 Ounce Cans (Pack of 12)