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.

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.

This Thai drink is sweet like a plum or a date, and reminds me of the flavor of sno-cones when I was a kid. It's an artificial flavor, so of course it's not dead on to what the fruit tastes like, but I can see how you could imagine that it tastes like longan.

While I'm a little disappointed at the flavor, it's not bad for artificial fruit juice.

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.

This drink is actually more blueberries than blueberry juice. It's deep purple, and has a ton of little blueberries floating in it. These Chinese blueberries aren't exactly the same as the standard North American variety, they're a little bit bigger and look almost like small grapes.

It smells kinda like blueberry jam or blueberry syrup, but the juice is not thick or syrupy like I thought it would be. It seemed like it would be a jar of preserved blueberries, but it really is drinkable. The berries are small and not at all firm. They're so soft and break really easily when I bite on them.

Drinking it, you get about 6 per sip, and while the juice is sweet, the berries break with a hint of sourness. It's not like there are a bunch of berries at the top either; they're all the way through. They definitely didn't skimp on the blueberries. Juice here even seems like almost an afterthought.

This is almost more like a berry snack than a blueberrie drink, but the berries are so soft, you don't have to chew. You can literally drink them down if you want to. I'd imagine you'd be pretty full after drinking the whole thing. It is tasty though.

Quila Lime smells like a margarita mix, just like the name suggests. Based on the original flavor's bright red appearance, I expected the lime spike to be bright radioactive green. It's actually a more mellow light green-yellow, similar to Rose's lime juice. The carbonation is at a good level, and it's as sweet as the old spike. I actually prefer this new flavor over the fruit punch.

It tastes just like regular lime soda. I don't mean lemon-lime like sprite, I mean like Jarritos Limon flavor. Once again there's no bad aftertaste characteristic of most energy drinks. Even though it's called 'Quila Lime, I don't recommend mixing it with Tequila. While it might taste good (okay, I admit, it does), it's a recipe for disaster if you drink a lot because of the opposing effects of both drinks. You think vodka and redbull is bad for you? Think about how spike shooter is at least 4 times stronger than red bull.

Overall, 'Quila Lime is a good addition to Spike Shooter's product line. It tastes as good, if not better than the original fruit punch and still has the same hardcore energy kick.

You can get it here:

Spike Shooter 'Quila Lime 24-Pack, $40.72
Spike Shooter 'Quila Lime, 4-Pack - $8.99

Someone is also selling Quila Lime in rediculously large quantities, so if you want nearly 20 gallons of it, check it out here:Spike Shooter 'Quila Lime - 12 24-Packs, $555.07. Supposedly buying more than 6 cases saves you a boatload on shipping.

On a trip to Georgia my first taste of sweet tea vodka was Jeremiah Weed. I had only recently tried sweet tea for the first time, and I was eager to see what sweet tea vodka was all about. It's incredibly sweet as you would expect, which cuts most of the kick that vodka usually had. Based on a friend's suggestion I tried sweet tea vodka and lemonade, for an alcoholic version of an Arnold Palmer, sometimes called a John Daly. Throw in some ice, and it's an excellent and simple cocktail.

When I was at the liquor store next time I saw Firefly for sale and decided to try a new flavor. I chose to buy the peach, and it was a good choice. It smells just like the best peach iced tea. Its sweet but it's still vodka, at 35% alcohol. It''s a little thick to drink by itself, but over ice or mixed with some lemonade it would be great. It's also delicious mixed with orange juice for a new twist on a fuzzy navel.

The Spike Shooter original flavor is bright red and lightly carbonated. It smells like a melted cherry popsicle. The taste is like a very sweet cherry flavored soda, and is very drinkable. It doesn't have any of the nasty flavors that many other energy drinks have.

The real thing that makes spike energy drink unusual is it's potency. It has 25,000% of the recommended daily value of vitamin B-12, and that's not a typo. Spike Shooter ingredients contain an absorbable form of B-12 called methylcobalamin, which is said to reduce stress, increase healthy cell growth, but most importantly boost your energy. Caffeine is the third ingredient in the drink after water and citric acid. The 250mL can is said to have the same amount of caffeine as the largest starbucks coffee. In addition to both of these, the Spike Shooter formula has it's own secret recipe of mystery energy boosters.

You definitely will feel the energy too. On the first sip I can feel it in my jaw as the chemicals get absorbed. By the third sip it's already pumping energy throughout my body.  I've got some intense focus as I'm writing this, as is to be expected with energy drinks, but I didn't expect it to happen this fast. Continuing to drink the can, the effects continue, but remain relatively constant.

You get almost as much benefit from having a few sips as you do from drinking the whole can. If you drink it fast enough you will probably feel your heart start to beat faster, and may feel a little jittery. There's a reason they say not to ever exceed one can daily. I'm a pretty tall guy, but if you're a smaller person or under 18 I definitely don't recommend drinking a whole can. It will seriously affect you, and will probably not be a good experience.

It's best to drink Spike a few sips at a time. For general energy, keep an open can in the fridge and one or two sips in the morning will take the place of coffee. It sure beats a grande latte, and has no calories, carbs, or sugar. If you're trying to stay awake, drink the can slowly over a few hours and you will have no problem staying up for a long time. Drinking it all at once will not have as good of effects.

Spike Shooter is definitely the most extreme energy drink I have ever tried, and I'm surprised to say it actually tastes good. Drink with caution though.

You can order spike shooter original flavor here:

Spike Shooter Original, 8.4oz 24 Pack - $59.76

Spike Shooter Original Flavor, 4 cans - $8.99