Soft Drinks From Around The World
 

http://www.mtviggy.com/wp-content/up.../pid_29347.jpg
These are some really strange flavors of Pepsi — including ice cucumber and white yogurt.

What soft drinks have you encountered in your travels around the world? Please list the strangest, most delicious, most vile or whatever other category on which you would like to report, along with a description.

Thank you in advance.

Wow, where are these from? I guess you could have the yogurt one for breakfast.

There used to be (may still be) a orange soft drink I encountered in Germany called Cilly Minora...very tasty.

Pepsi cucumber, pepsi blue hawaiian & pepsi white are mentioned here
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/japan...ft-drinks.html

pepsi shiso here
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/japan...l#post11959583

No idea about the boabab flavour but within http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/japan...l#post16804611 an intrepid FTer bravely tried the caribbean gold flavour

I've only had the pepsi white. tab mixed with calpis is a good description. I like calpis, but the tab flavour ruined it. :td:

I asked my parents to buy me Antesite whilst they drove through France, but not the version with aniseed. I got an email today saying they found some. One of the bottles is apple and cinnamon flavour, that should be interesting (Antesite is one of the strangest soft drinks I've ever tried. It's made with liquorice extract and this is naturally sweeter than any sugar, so you get these intense flavoured sugar free concentrates and you add a few drops to a glass of water. I guess it's an acquired taste and is horribly difficult to get hold of, especially if you're a fellow aniseed hater)

EDIT: I just realised that when Pepsi Azuki was mentioned it wasn't a joke. :( Urgh!
http://f00.inventorspot.com/images/a...ist_custom.jpg
This ranks high on my vile list - perhaps even more (but not much more) than Dr Pepper

Moxie! It tastes like Jägermeister and as far as I can tell is only available in certain counties in Maine.

It's "good for what ails you" or something like that...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moxie

When in Atlanta hit up the Coke museum.

You can try as they say on their web site

Take your taste buds on a trip around the world. Sample over 60 different products through five tasting stations arranged geographically, and a sixth station dedicated solely to Coca-Cola® brands. Sip, mix, and savor to your heart's delight!

The bitter stuff from Italy is always the weirdest.

Wow. Of all the soft drinks in the world, you picked the one that leapt to my mind. Although it's an acquired taste, my entire family has acquired it. That's bad news for me -- I brought a 12-pack home from PWM last week, and it was gone before I got home again from my next trip.

http://www.mainethingstodo.com/mttd/...5-drink-moxie/

Moxie is actually more widely available than you might think. I was surprised to find it in the cooler in my local (Memphis area) Fresh Market.

If you're looking for a food pairing for Moxie: Think whoopie pies.

http://whatscookingamerica.net/Histo...PieHistory.htm

There is everyone's favorite, Inca Kola, from Peru. Looks like pee, tastes like bubble gum!

Really? We have it in Spain too (Bitter Kas), in the UK there's Angostura Bitters which is really refreshing when you add a few drops to a glass of lemonade.
There's such a history of bitter drinks
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitters
And it's so widespread across the world - especially in HOT countries and regions - it's hard to think of them as weird. They are so good at stimulating flagging appetites.

If you end up craving a bitter taste on a particularly hot day there was a Japanese recipe I came across some time ago that I really enjoy. The gist of it was that you take a bitter melon - goya in Japanese
http://image.rakuten.co.jp/oki-nanay...o-ya-1kg-h.jpg
finely grate some and just add it to the soda of your choice.
You can add it to club soda but I like it mixed in with a sweeter carbonated drink.
Here's a ready made version from Japan
http://www5a.biglobe.ne.jp/~tacchini/img/goya-man1.JPG
I'll take bittermelon soda over melon soda any day

+1

Moxie is the first thing I thought of also. Only soft drink I crave. Every time I visit my place in NH I pick up some to take back. Last time I took a 12 pack it tasted like crap, though. My first thought was they changed the recipe or it was from a different bottler. Finally I noticed on the bottom of a can that it was over a year out of date!

As my husband says, "Moxie is a warrior's drink" (channeling Worf from Star Trek). To me it's Dr. Pepper on steroids.

I like Ting, but for the prices charged around here, I'll save my money and drink it in the Caribbean.

The Coke tasting room was the first thing I thought of when I saw this thread title. I remember tasting a Lychee drink that was kind of weird.



My best remembered favorite was a dry lemon carbonated soda in England, but I can't recall the brand.

Guarana- Not really that exotic but a pretty tasty citrus soda

One few people have probably heard of which is one of my favorites.....Pop-Cola from the Philippines. It is a cola taste, but not really like any I have had in the states.

I've always been struck by the feeling that the closer one gets to the Equator, the sweeter grow many of the popular soft drinks. Maybe the prevaling local temperature makes them taste that way.

To be avoided, especially by oenophiles, the Mexican "Jarritos" brand "sangria-flavored" (NA). "Gag a Maggot" is the description my eldest daughter used to describe it.

Oh, I thought the lychee drink was the best!

SWEAT:

http://www.google.com/search?q=pocar...iw=819&bih=477

Schwepps bitter lemon?

Dandelion and Burdock has to be a pretty weird one, although I think of it as normal (don't like it mind you!)

Canned non alcoholic shandy is also pretty uniquely disgusting.

In terms of bitters, I love things like Campari, and Angostura, but can happily leave Brio - it just tastes slightly 'off' to me.

Orangina and the San Pelligrino orange counterpart are yummy holiday in a glass drinks!

The one I miss most is Elderflower cordial - you can get the sparkling versions in stores here, but not the mix with water ones - I found them at a trade fair once, but not since. Love that stuff http://www.bottlegreendrinks.com/pro...reen-cordials/ I really want to try the strawberry and elderflower, and the apple and plum ones too!

Generally try to keep to water and the odd Gaterade/Powerade when travelling. However, I got addicted to a bunch of different drinks in Japan.
Pocari Sweat (as mentioned above), CC Lemon (which I can source in Vancouver at a few places btw but costs an arm and a leg), and this green melon soda at MOS Burger.

Living in North Carolina how can I not mention Cheerwine on this thread? My sister is actually friends with the Granddaughter of the inventor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheerwine

I assume the bitter stuff from Italy is Chinotto (of which Pepsi do a particularly dry version)? The San Pellegrino version is lovely - and as I live in a part of the country with an established Italian population, readily available here! A slightly sweeter equivalent is Malta's Kinnie - I say "slightly", but it has terrifying sugar content.

Which leads me on to my country's "other national drink" - Irn Bru. There's nothing quite like it (unless you go to Peru and drink Inca Cola, which is actually quite similar, but much less orange). In its "native" state, it's banned in the US. However, it's incredibly Scottish, and often claimed to outsell all other soft drinks.

Other favourites from around the world - Austria's Almdudler is always a pleasure (a herbal, gingery flavour), as are the various German Apfelschoerle. Japan scores well, not just for randomness, but for some drinks I still crave - not just the various cold teas, but things like aloe juice and Calpis. L&P will always bring back memories of New Zealand, as will Bundaberg Ginger Beer of Australia. Childhood visits to France always included the then novel Orangina, but also the gently amusing Pschitt and Sic. There's also Ricqles, but I try to forget that memory.

And then there's Indian Thums [sic] Up sarsaparilla. I want my thunder!

On the other end of the scale at the Coke Museum, try the Beverly Drink in the European section of the tasting room. :eek:

Neither my friends nor I could figure out what Beverly is made from.

When in Los Angeles, a visit to this place is a good idea. If you can't visit, they will ship it to you, but as all items are glass bottles, the cost of freight adds a good amount of $ to the final price tag. I'm fortunate to live nearby.

You will find many small companies represented, often featuring products that are made with cane sugar.

Galco's Los Angeles/Highland Park, CA

Made in Scotland from girders!

I love Irn Bru but its too sweet for me nowadays!

one to try in Malta is Kinnie, only buy one bottle though! its a very bitter orange drink, smells quite appetizing in the glass......until you taste it

I'm always up for any of the Mexican Jarritos sodas. And if in China, I'm a big fan of Wong Lo Kat, which though not exactly a soft drink, seems to be consumed as though it were one and its bright red cans are just about everywhere: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wong_Lo_Kat
http://www.bjreview.com.cn/business/...ent_299229.htm

Two Japanese soft drinks that I found in vending machines only once each were

1. Plum wine soda
2. Cardamom soda

Perhaps they were ill-fated marketing ventures, but the plum wine soda wasn't bad.

Schwepps Bitter Lemon is one of my favs to drink when I'm in the UK or Africa... another favorite is Appletiser.

I think I'd like to try a Pepsi Cucumber. :)

Ale-8-One is a ginger ale -ish drink from my neck of the woods, but I've never tasted it.

Schweppes Agrum' ("Citrus") is a nice, fairly dry fruit drink I'd like to see migrate over from France. Just like Gini did for a while (albeit a far too sweetened version).

Red Kola is another Scottish one that's rarely seen elsewhere - imagine black cola with even more sugar.

Sparkling ice tea (usually a fairly unsweetened Lipton) is very popular in the Netherlands and some other continental European countries, and I'd love to see that closer to home too!

I used to love drinking Krest when I was in Botswana. It wasn't quite Sprite, it wasn't quite Ginger Ale in taste but it was really good.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krest

My sister enjoyed Ting in Antigua -- said it was very refreshing. I couldn't partake as the citrus they use is grapefruit and would interact badly with my medications.....

Tried Fentimans in Prague .. Very tasty ginger beer (soda).

www.fentimans.cz

I'm a big fan of a cold bottle of Jamaican ginger beer.

http://www.latinmerchant.com/images/...BNC%20(19).jpg

Oh I lvoe appletiser! And peartiser!

Horchata (cinnamon rice milk)
 

Many Mexican restaurant carry the made in Mexico stuff some make their own. I'm a sucker for cinnamon perhaps thats why I like it and it goes well with hot food

I'm addicted to Bitter Lemon, and you can occasionally find it in liquor stores among the mixers. Never see it in regular grocery stores here in the states.

I like it as an alternative to the Tonic in a G&T.

I'm also quite fond of Izzy.

I've always called it an evil blend of Mountain Dew and Bubble Gum. Wow is it vile.

That stuff - in small quantities - is divine. However the sugar content....

Great mixer too.