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.

Really, what sounds more appetizing than juice from a Jew's ear, especially "Quality Jew's ear selected from Changbai Mountain?"

I'm actually pretty nervous to try it. From the Chinese name,  黑木耳露 （Hei1 Mu4 Er3 Lu4）, I know that it's wood ear juice. Wood ear (evidently a.k.a. Jew's ear) is a fungus that's pretty common in Chinese dishes, but I would never think about drinking it.

It's a nasty-looking thick semi-transparent cloudy brown liquid. It's smell is weird, like a mix between the apple vinegar drink and turkey gravy. It's a little thick and slimy, but the flavor is actually mild. The flavor isn't anything at all like the cooked wood ear that I'm used to eating.

It's so strange that it tastes like bland, bad, old apple cider, that I decided to check the ingredients. The Jew's Ear Juice is made of: pure water, black wood ear (Jew's ear), haw (Chinese hawthorn), big Chinese date, sugar, honey, sodium of citric acid, and stabilizer.

It all makes sense now, the strange appley flavor is coming from the haw. It does taste similar to hawthorne juice now that I think of it.

Well, the can says that if you drink the Jew's ear juice cold, it's clear and refreshing, but you can heat it up to make it more "densely" fragrant. I gotta try it.

Wow this stuff heats up fast. Granted, I only heated a little bit, but I think due to the thickness or sugar or something, it started boiling after about 20 seconds in the microwave.

They were right about the smell, it is definitely denser. The strange thing is that it now smells more like food, almost like spaghetti-o's. Believe it or not, Jew's ear juice actually tastes better hot. Maybe it's the thickness, but I think it's just that wood ear is usually served cold, and when the juice is hot it reminds me less that I'm drinking fungus juice.

As a special bonus it came with a Jew's Ear Juice Bottle Opener! What a great souvenir. I will be the hit of all the parties from now on.

*Update: Since I've gotten a lot of questions from readers as to what Jew's ear actually is, I found this beautiful picture of one by Jenny Downing. You can definitely see where this fungus gets the name "wood ear. "

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)