I tried this juice at the floating market north of Bangkok, where it was in one of the stalls on the shore. There were several juices sitting there in large glass vats, and when I ordered the galingale juice (by pointing), the lady who owned the stand ladled a watery purple liquid  into a cup full of ice. A Thai friend I was with explained that it's a purple flower called something like chun or chuan, I can't remember exactly.  It's pretty difficult to explain the taste  - it is similar to the roselle juice in that it kinda tastes like you're eating a flower. But other than than it's slightly sweet and refreshing over ice, great to cool off on the side of the river on a hot summer day in Thailand.

After doing some research as I usually do out of curiosity, I think this juice is made (at least partially) with Black Galingale or Galangal, a.k.a. blue ginger, a root in the ginger family that is used often in traditional asian medicines. I am able to recognize the first two characters on the label as Kha, meaning galanggal, but my Thai is not so good to be able to recognize the rest. If you can read Thai, please help me out and leave a full translation in the comments. Also, if you've tried this juice I'd like to know what you think.

This is hemp seed drink made by hung fook tong that I got in Hong Kong. it's got a weird separation of colors at the bottom, like a black & tan. But it says to shake well before drinking. After shaking it turns a uniform dark brown.

It smells like peanuts, and to my surprise is very watery. I thought it was going to be thick, but it's not at all. The taste reminds me of almond butter, and is very similar to the peanut drink. You can feel the little particles of ground-up nuts inside, and there's a slight aftertaste. Not a bad one, but the flavor lingers.

The doorman at the place I'm staying at said it's very good for your gut. He said if you're too hot, you can drink this to cool off. I think he means something to do with yin and yang, and Chinese medicine theory. So that must mean that the hemp seed drink is very "yin."

The health properties of hemp seed are pretty well known, but not very mainstream. I've seen it getting put into more and more food and drink products. Actually, hemp seed is the second ingredient here after water, so it must make up a good percentage of the total drink. There is also some almond added (I'm guessing for flavor).

I guess the only negative thing about this drink is that it separates really quickly, but that's also part of what makes it interesting.

On my trip to Hong Kong, I picked up another weird drink that I had never seen before in a 7-11. Beside the fact that I didn't recognize the name 夏枯草, I could tell it was weird because of the drink's tagline: "Common selfheal fruit-spike drink."  That doesn't give me any clue as to what's in it.

It tastes basically like raisin juice, but really a mild flavor. It's not sour or bitter at all, and not even too sweet. It just has a little raisin-y aftertaste, and is pretty refreshing cold. I think you could also drink it hot, like the jew's ear juice, and it might taste good that way too.

Checking my trusty Chinese translator, nciku.com, it seems I've never heard of this fruit before either. It's xia1 ku1 cao3 in Mandarin, ha6 fu1 chou2 in Cantonese, Prunella vulgaris in Latin, and "Self-heal" in English. Also known as Lance Selfheal in the US, it's a flowery plant that's harvested for it's medicinal properties. It supposedly can help to heal a whole bunch of diseases, and is being researched for cancer, AIDS, and diabetes treatments.

Getting to the label, here are the ingredients: purified water, cane sugar, common selfheal fruit-spike, dates, grosvenor momordica fruit, and liquorice root. If you're wondering what the second-to-last ingredient is, it's luo han guo, which is probably why this tastes a little similar to the luo han guo juice I tried in Thailand.

The xia ku cao juice has no preservatives or artificial colorings, and based on the ingredients it sounds like it's really good for you. It tastes good too.

Imagine my excitement when I saw a juice stand at a market in Thailand. Lo Han Kao juice was one of the options. This is a dark brown juice of some fruit I have never heard of. It tastes like chinese plum or date, and is pretty good.  I wish I got a picture of the juice rather than just the sign (which didn't turn out great anyway), but it looked just like a dark brown iced tea, served with ice. It is sweet and supposedly good for your skin too. It's also sometimes spelled as Luo Han Guo, which I think might be the Mandarin Chinese version of the name.

According to Wikipedia, other names for this weird fruit are arhat fruit, monk's fruit, la han qua, and even a longevity fruit. It's used in Chinese medicine, mainly as a sweetener and is even used to create a sugar substitute because it is so sweet. But is also said to help with some illnesses such as heat stroke, larynx infection, cough, and diabetes. I can't vouch for any of these "cures," all I can say is that the juice does taste pretty good.

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is all the craze in the health food markets recently. It's a South American grain that was called the "Mother Grain" by ancient Incas, and used to be more valuable than gold. These days it's still expensive, but usually cooked similar to rice, or made into a pasta. It's incredibly healthy for you, and tastes pretty good too. That is, until somebody decided to make a drink out of it.

In the store there were two flavor options, both made by Quinoa Gold: Pina Colada, and Dark Berry. Now, I'm not sure what a "dark berry" is, or if that's even a real fruit, but it looked slightly more appetizing than the pale yellow pina colada. I would have much rather tried a "plain" or "original flavor." Already, I'm nervous to open it, because I can see little grain pieces suspended in what looks like a goo.

The smell is pretty bad, but not much different than I expected since I've eaten quinoa before. Imagine a blend of cooked wheat and rice, blended together in water. Now add to that a sickening chemically-soapy berry fruit punch flavor. Almost like a nice bottle of liquid detergent.

Getting past the smell, the first step feels like I'm drinking the blob. The good part is that it tastes better than it smells, but that doesn't say much. It's a slimy concoction, like a mix of soupy jell-o and mucous with small peices of quinoa. I really can't think of anything with that texture. The closest thing I can think of is rice porridge, but Quinoa Gold is more liquidy and it's cold. I'm not sure that the "dark berry" flavor is helping. Which, by the way, is only listed in the ingredients as "natural flavors."

The bottle claims that it is "caffeine-free energy," but I don't buy it. I don't know how someone can down a gloppy bottle of this stuff before going out and feel pumped. I think they mean to say that quinoa is a good carbohydrate. It has a low glycemic index, and any athlete will tell you that you need to eat carbohydrates for sustained energy over long periods. That doesn't give anyone the right to make a drink out of carbs and call it an energy drink.

Quinoa as a "supergrain" is fantastic and healthy when eaten alone or made into pasta, but the Quinoa drink just isn't working.

Kombucha definitely fits the bill of a strange beverage. Pronounced kom-BOO-cha, it is a sweetened tea that is fermented using a symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast. The fermenting process carbonates it and gives it a trace amount of alcohol. By the way, this colony of 2 billion organisms is alive and growing inside the drink! A handmade tea from China, this tea is renowned for it's health properties to "restore balance and vitality" to your body.

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:

This Black Currant Juice drink comes from Connecticut, where I picked it up in a local grocery store. It's a dark juice, and very strong smell, a lot like concord grape, and similar almost to wine. The taste is very much like a dark purple grape juice. There are slight tannins, but overall it's a very smooth drink.

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

A blood orange is a fruit from Italy, which is a variety of orange that has red juice the color of blood. The juice is a dark orange color, but not quite red. It tastes a little bit more bitter and sour than regular orange juice, almost like a mix between orange and grapefruit. It has a nice tart flavor that would go really well in a cocktail. I think mixing blood orange juice with vodka would be a great variation on a screwdriver. I haven't thought of a clever name for it yet though, leave your ideas in the comments.

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)

Bottle of Mona-Vie

I first came across Mona-Vie when looking for a healthy acai drink. It calls itself "the premier acai blend," with 19 different beneficial fruits. However, it's very expensive just for one bottle, rivaling a decent priced liquor. A 750 ml bottle of the monavie active blend can go for $45 in the US.

I finally got my hands on this expensive blend of fruit juices from someone I know who ordered it, since I don't believe it's sold in stores.My first impression looking at the bottle is that there's a significant layer of foam on the top which, if you swirl the bottle around, leaves a film on the side of the glass. The good news is that this foam is full of seeds and reminds me of what would form on top of a home-made fruit juice. Anyone who has used a fruit juicer to make fresh juice will know what I mean.

As soon as I open the bottle there's a very strong acai smell, though you can tell there are other fruits mixed in. It smells very sweet, like strawberry jam with some blueberry. Based on the advice of someone who has tried it before, I'm only going to pour a little bit in my glass. The juice is dark purple.

On first sip I get a weird barrage of flavors. It's sweet, sour, and bitter all at the same time. I can taste some tannins, which leave the mouth feeling dry after each sip, probably from fruit skins or seeds, which are part of the mona vie active ingredients. And the seeds are definitely there, not overwhelming, but noticeable. I guess it is exactly what you should expect if you threw a bunch of fruits into the blender and put it through a light strain to remove the pulp. The acai flavor is prominent, but diluted. I love acai juice, and I feel like the other fruits, none of which I could guess by the taste of the mona-vie, really detract from the flavor rather than add. In a taste contest, mona vie vs. acai, regular acai juice would win hands-down every time.

Close-up of Mona Vie with oil and seeds

An interesting thing I'm noticing as I drink, is that there is some separation of oils at the bottom of the glass, circled in white in the picture. That is probably the reason they tell you to shake well before drinking. I'm not sure which ingredient is causing them, but I assume it's from the esterified fatty acids which are a form of the beneficial Omega-3 fatty acids that are easy for us to absorb.

The good thing about this drink is how unrefined it is, and the blend of fruits that give a whole spectrum of different nutrients. It's 100% juice, with no added colors, flavors, or sugar. This fact is also what makes it lacking in the taste department.  It's meant to be taken as a health supplement, rather than a drink for taste. I'm not sure what makes this mona vie active juice compared to the regular monvie drink.

A small amount doesn't taste bad, but I wouldn't grab a bottle of mona-vie when I'm thirsty.

Monavie-Active Health Juice, 4 Bottles - $89.99
Monavie-Active Health Juice, 1 Bottle - $31.00

I saw this Apple Vinegar Drink in a supermarket in Beijing. There were a couple other varieties, so I chose the nicest looking bottle. Right off the bat, I knew this was some sort of health trend. Regardless of the fact that I thought it would taste like straight-up vinegar, I gave it a try.

The smell is pretty unremarkable, like unsweet old apple cider. Actually, that's exactly what it tastes like. It's a little sweet, but there's a strong sour and bitter aftertaste. It tastes like if you took a couple bites out of an apple, set it on the counter for a couple days, then came back and took a bite of that brown part. I haven't actually done that, I'm just guessing. The other thing about this apple vinegar drink is that it's got a little bit of a slimy texture.

Anyone who's had apple cider sit around in the fridge a little too long will know what this tastes like. It's not too bad, but it definitely doesn't taste like when you first bought it. A few sips were enough for me, I didn't get around to finishing the bottle. It doesn't help me any that it came in a combo pack with another (less attractive) bottle. My guess is they need a promotion like this to get rid of the ugly bottles, because it's hard enough getting people to drink it when the bottle looks nice.

While I wouldn't want to drink apple cider vinegar everyday, after doing some research it seems like it has a lot of legitimate health benefits. It may help with diabetes, losing weight, and pH balancing (I don't know what that means). Since the 1950's it's been revered as a cure-all for just about everything: allergies, sinus infections, flu, cholesterol, sore throat, acid reflux, acne, gout, and even head lice! I'm not so sure scientific research has been done to back up any of these claims. Anyway, dinking apple cider vinegar straight is so harsh it could cause throat problems, so if you're going to drink it anyway, maybe getting a pre-mixed drink like this one is better than mixing up a recipe yourself.