Pepsi Baobab - A Very African Soda!

If you read this blog or watch my food / drink review videos on the Crazy from Kong youtube channel then you will already be well aware that a lot of famous Western brands produce a lot of really wacky products for the Asian market and Pepsico is no exception! 

With a wide range of crazy limited edition products that includes Pepsi Ice Cucumber, Pepsi Blue Hawaii, Pepsi Caribbean Gold and Pepsi Salty Watermelon among many others, it's pretty clear that they are willing to push the boundaries of what are considered traditional soft drink ingredients. However, I have to admit that this one even surprised me somewhat in it's weird and wonderful wackiness! 

So essentially Baobab is a stunted looking African tree with an incredibly bloated looking trunk as it can store up to 100,000 litres of water to get it through the drought season. Usually the only reason why someone outside of Africa would have heard of them is because you learn about them in geography for exactly this reason. You can see a couple of examples of Baobab trees here: 

Quite a random thing to flavour a commercial soft drink with, no? Apparently not! According to wikipedia people in Zimbabwe  use the crushed crumbly pulp "to stir into porridge and drinks" whilst inventorspot.com states that the ground powder of the fruit is commonly mixed with water in Africa to produce a drink that tastes "somewhat like wine gums"! In addition the fruit has purportedly more vitamin C than oranges and more calcium than cow's milk. Lots of reasons to make a weird gimmicky soft drink out of it!
But in fact the real reason why Pepsi suddenly decided to release this unexpected drink flavoured with one of the most recognisable plants that is native to Africa is because the world cup was being held there on that year and in fact that the soda was released just 17 days before the world cup started on March 25th 2010. For further proof here's the evidence right here:

Now all this pointless information about why Pepsi does or doesn't release drinks that at first glance look like some marketers mad fantasy aside, perhaps we should pay some attention to the product itself.
So what did it taste like? Well to be honest, kind of boring... My buddy described it as "a mixture of flat coke and flat sprite" and that pretty much sums it up. The most disappointing thing for me is that I thought it would have some kind of extreme, exciting or at least strikingly unusual flavour that would immediately communicate the wild flavours of the African savannah to tamed and commercialised city-folk like me. Unfortunately almost the opposite was true. Apart from a slight herbal flavour it basically communicated a flat, mildly flavoured beverage which was clearly intended mainly as a marketing tool. Certainly nothing on the fearless flavour pioneers at Kit Kat Japan and not even up to the level of other limited edition Pepsico products like 7-up Clear Dry or Mountain Dew Grape.
To see our full thoughts on the product and reactions to our first taste, check out our review below:

Here are a few of the other crazy flavours that have been released by Pepsi in the last few years:

Check out all our reviews of bizarre Asian snacks, foods and drinks here: Crazy from Kong!
And you can check out my blog here: Spencer Douglass Blog

Brain Juice - Drink This and Get Really Smart!!!

Lots of people dream of being just a little bit smarter, or having a better memory, or being able to ace their tests without studying and finally there dreams can come true! Just by purchasing an inexpensive drink they can become really smart!

Kirin Brain Juice is filled with DHA (the primary structural component of the brain) and lots of other exciting herbs with unpronounceable names that are guaranteed to make you at least an Einstein level genius after a few cans.

The attractively designed metal bottle shows a professor with a lightbulb for a brain, presumably indicating that he's just had a Eureka moment leading to the creation of this wonderful potion:

The rest of the bottle is covered in complicated mathematical equations, equipment from a chemistry lab (including a conical flask) and other difficult and complicated things that most sensible people know nothing about. 

So how was the experience? Well the drink itself was quite delicious and satisfying, with a sort of light root beer flavour, complimented by the herbally taste of the various intelligence creating essences that have been added. 

Did it work? Of course! I've been a genius ever since I drunk it! 

Don't believe me? Send me a difficult question and I'll answer it. 

To watch me getting instantly smarter as I drink it check out the video review below: 

Check out all our reviews of bizarre Asian snacks, foods and drinks here: Crazy from Kong! 
And you can check out my blog here: Spencer Douglass Blog

Chocolate Sparkling - The Greatest Drink Ever!!!

Now THIS is a drink!!! Forget Coca-Cola, forget Cream Soda even A&W's Root Beer doesn't come close to this. And what is it exactly? A very limited edition high quality Chocolate Soda released by Suntory, the same company that produces some of the top quality whiskies in Japan and that Bill Murray works for in the awesome film "Lost in Translation". Well it seems like Suntory are not only skilled at producing fantastic whiskey, but are also able to apply their considerable skill to soft drinks too!

As you can see from the images above and below the packaging for the drink is also extremely premium, giving a sort of "Royal" feeling with it's crest of arms above the drink name and with the gold labeling. The drink has been released from time to time, sometimes with variations on the packaging, though I believe the last bottling was at least one and a half years ago.

So what is it that makes this drink so special? Well first of all it is delicious with an incredibly accurate rich smooth chocolate flavour that is not too sweet, but is still very concentrated. Secondly it is remarkable, as it totally clear more or less resembling sparkling water, how you get such an accurate and strong chocolate taste without even a hint of brown colour is totally lost on me. Finally, perhaps the most remarkable thing is the texture - it is incredibly velvety and full bodied! Keep in mind this is a drink that has the colour and apparent consistency of sparkling water, yet when you put it in your mouth you realise that this is a creamy, smooth and full bodied drink. It coats your entire mouth and as crazy as it might sound seems much closer to a being a high quality chocolate milk than a traditional soda (although it is lightly sparkling). I'm sure guys think I've lost the plot, but that's the truth.

To see exactly what we thought of it and see our reactions to our first taste of the wonderful creation called Chocolate Sparkling check out our video review below:  

Check out all our reviews of bizarre Asian snacks, foods and drinks here: Crazy from Kong! 
And you can check out my blog here: Spencer Douglass Blog

Asahi Mitsuya Cider - One of Japan's Oldest Soft Drinks!

Mitsuya Cider created in 1884 is one of Japan's oldest sodas, preceded by a few years by the famous Ramune Marble Soda which was created in 1876. The name "cider" is quite misleading, as the Japanese use of the word cider is something very different from it's traditional origins of alcoholic beverage made from apples. Instead cider in Japan refers to a non-alcoholic fizzy drink which tastes something like a cross between Sprite and Ginger Ale.

The brand Mitsuya Cider is currently owned and produced by Asahi and comes in a selection of flavours including grape, white peach, tangerine and lemon. "White Cider" is also released from time to time with it's own flavour variations including melon.

Something very interesting is that there is also a Mitsuya Cider candy which is carbonated! This is achieved by combining the melted candy mix with pressurised carbon dioxide (under around 600 pounds of pressure per square inch) which causes tiny pressure bubbles to be trapped inside the candy. We haven't tried this product yet, but I'm dying to review it!

I have to say that at the time when Arne and myself reviewed this drink we did not know anything about the history of Mitsuya Cider and rather unusually for myself, did not research it either, so we just evaluated it as an unknown drink and probably unfairly categorised it as a Ramune copycat drink in terms of flavour. In any case, have a look at the review and see for yourself:


Check out all our reviews of bizarre Asian snacks, foods and drinks here: Crazy from Kong! 
And you can check out my blog here: Spencer Douglass Blog

Fanta Shake Shake - This Remarkable Drink Combines Fanta With Liquid Jelly and Comes in Grape & Orange Flavours!!!

Now this has to be one of the most awesome products ever and is definitely one of my all time favourite drink products that we have reviewed! Essentially a cross between a regular Fanta soda and a Fanta flavoured jelly, this is one of those bizarre marriages that shocks you by what a great success it is. Coming in two delicious flavours: the traditional Fanta Orange (below) and my personal favourite Fanta Grape (above), the idea is to take the can which is filled with a soda and jelly combination and shake it up aggressively till both ingredients are perfectly mixed. Then gulp down the soft, fizzy, squishy and sweet result in a moment of pure self-indulgent pleasure! 

Now don't get me wrong, I'm sure these tiny little cans are bursting over with teeth rotting sugars and probably filled with more colouring agents and funny chemicals than science laboratory, but heck you're not buying the product for it's health value, you're buying it coz it's ridiculously delicious and a childhood-like guilty pleasure! 

Check out our review of this wonderful product below: 

Check out all our reviews of bizarre Asian snacks, foods and drinks here: Crazy from Kong!

And you can check out my blog here: Spencer Douglass Blog