This mystery manzana drink smells a little bit like non-sour “green apple flavor.” It’s not at all like real apple though, and barely at all even like that fake apple flavor. It’s got even a slight tinge of orange flavor, but it really just tastes like pure chemical artificial flavoring similar to a slush puppie or sno-cone.

Ecuadorian Manzana reminds me of apple jacks, which are also orange and taste nothing like apple. Hey, I guess you can ignore the label and drink what you like, but I’ll probably be drinking something else.

It’s a malt beverage like kvass, so it tastes similar but a bit better and is also slightly carbonated. The flavor also reminds me of tamarind. For a more familiar flavor, it also tastes a bit like prune juice. It’s dark and not very fruity though.

Overall as an energy drink I wouldn’t rate it very high. I’m not sure about the caffeine content of Pony Malta, but if you’re just looking for something to wake you up I would say go with coffee. This particular brand of Malta comes from Colombia.

I picked up a few bottles of G.T.’s Kombucha Synergy, which means that it’s a blend of 95% raw Kombucha and 5% fruit Juice to review. This version just tastes a bit better than GT’s 100% Kombucha. I’ll be reviewing the Trilogy flavor, which is raspberry, lemon, and ginger.

When you  get the bottle, it usually has the colony growing at the bottom, so you have to shake it up to get it mixed throughout. Depending on how ‘young’ the Kombucha is, there will be more or less of these culture strands, since they grow over time. If it’s your first time trying Kombucha, I recommend getting one with not much of the culture. Since it is carbonated, don’t shake it too hard because it will explode when opening it. This has happened to me.

The smell is very acidic, a lot like vinegar. It’s actually almost overwhelmingly acidic, and that cancels out any other smells of the fruit juice. My first impression is that it tastes just like it smells, but also that it is extremely carbonated and sour. It creates a tingling sensation on my tongue that lasts about 5-10 seconds, and leaves an aftertaste like I just ate a slice of lemon. The raspberrry and lemon are evident in this Trilogy, and I’m guessing the ginger just gives it that extra kick of tanginess.

Some funky stuff floating around on the bottom

After about four or five sips, I’m really feeling the carbonation in my stomach and it’s making me burp. The strange part is that it’s oddly refreshing and I keep going back for more sips. I got lucky with this bottle because there are barely any noticeable strings of the bacteria colony, even though it looked like there was quite a bit on the bottom before I shook it. I’ve had other bottles with long strings throughout the bottle that are slimy and it makes the drink a little chunky, which is not something I look for in my beverages generally.

For the sake of science, I drank this whole bottle. The company actually recommends drinking only half at a time.  It was hard to get down so much of it, but I actually almost got used to the sour vinegary flavor by the end. Other than the burps and aftertaste, it left me feeling really energetic and refreshed.  It’s hard to say whether it was the drink, or the idea of the drink that made me feel that way though.

The label claims that drinking Kombucha supports digestion, metabolism, immune system, anti-aging, and more. It’s probiotic and, like Russian kvas, the alcohol from the fermenting process is so small at 0.5%, it’s safe for everyone to drink.

The one thing I can say Kombucha would be good for is to detox once in a while. Maybe if you can find a flavor you like, since there is a large variety, you would like to drink it more often. It’s worth it for the health benefits and refreshing feeling.

Bonus Kombucha video: Tina Fey does a great job of explaining it:

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.

It only has 3 ingredients: water, black currant juice (from concentrate), and fructose. But it’s only 22% juice. How can that be? I’m not sure, maybe that means it’s only 22% concentrate, with the water as the majority of the other 78%. If you know how they calculate the percentage of juice, please leave a comment. Regardless, this leads me to imagine that straight-up black currant juice is probably either bitter or sour – which is why cranberry juice is usually sold as a juice blend. The water and sugar really easily cut that though if it’s the case, because it’s actually very good.

Black currant is a small black fruit very high in antioxidants and vitamins, including Vitamin C. It has four times the Vitamin C of oranges, and twice as many antioxidants as blueberries. I think that qualifies it as a superfruit. It comes from Europe, and is working on making a comeback in the United States where it was banned in the past because of a threat to the logging industry. It is still banned in some states.

The black currant juice I tried was made by Currant Affair. You can visit their website at www.ConnecticutCurrant.com

Overall, a very good and refreshing acai juice blend. One of the best I’ve tasted.

It may just be my bias knowing it comes from India, but the spices and flavors in it do seem to match the profile of Indian food. According to Wikipedia, it has a taste “reminiscent of betel nut.” I don’t know what betel nut tastes like but for anyone who does, maybe it gives you a better idea of what I’m talking about. That being said, it is still a cola, and may just be an interesting drink as an alternative to Coke. Its interesting flavors would also make a good mix with rum for a rum and thums up.

Thums Up still comes in a glass bottle with an actual, real bottle cap that you have to use a bottle opener for. What it might lack in convenience, it makes up for in authenticity. Despite the fact that it’s made by Coca-Cola, I still give this drink a thumbs up.

This corn juice was being sold in 500g bottles as well as 2-liter bottles, and it looked like there was only one flavor option: corn.  The foil cap on the small bottle I bought was extremely hard to open. I tried peeling at first, but it seems like it was made for  a straw. With no straw in sight, I had to stab it with a pen a couple times to get it to open up.

So, the long and short of it is: this tastes like cold creamed corn soup, without the chunks. It’s very thick for a drink, and pretty sweet. If you like corn, you would probably like it. It really does taste like corn, with not much else added. There’s no aftertaste, and even though it’s not really refreshing or especially tasty in my opinion, it’s not unpleasant in any way.

The label says it’s organic, and the ingredients are pretty simple: water, “fresh glutinous sweet corn juice,” and 木糖 (mù táng). The last ingredient directly translates as wood sugar, but I’m not sure exactly what it is; the scientific name is xylose.

I’m not sure exactly what vitamins this brand has, but another brand of corn juice says that it has vitamin A, vitamin C, folic acid, magnesium, iron, fiber, and protein. The other brand, which is being positioned as a “fashion” or “beauty” drink, is only 25% sweet corn juice.

It says on the bottle that this blood orange juice is made from blood oranges from Mt. Etna Volcano in Sicily, Italy. It’s imported into the US and registered USDA 100% Organic. It’s not from concentrate and it’s high in Vitamin C and antioxidants as most citrus fruits are. The best part about this brand is that it’s 100% organic blood orange juice, so you know it’s fresh and healthy.

Get blood orange juice here:

Volcano, Juice Blood Orange, 25.3-Fluid Ounce (6 Pack)