Super Happy Asian Drink Hour - Pocari Sweat!

*Wise Guise and I assembled a panel of friends, all possessing varied amounts of experience with foreign drinks, and had them try seven wacky/tasty/exotic drinks from Japan! We cleansed our palates with Japanese salty snacks in-between drinks.*

Joe (limited experience): "A non-carbonated Squirt, plus something...is there ginseng in that? I like this. This is good."

Wise_Guise (moderate experience): "Now this stuff you can pound. It's very refreshing."

Danithius (advanced experience): "A very light grapefruit flavor. And the greatest name ever for a sports drink."

Adam (moderate experience): "It has a more bland...or like, light flavor."

Crystal (limited experience): "I don't think I like this one very much."

Consensus: Light, slightly citrus-y, great as a sports-chugger.

Function: Youth Trip

Youth Trip Vista, cir. Oct 2008

Wow, now that's an interesting flavor. It's like a grape shock-tart without the sour...with a buckwheat aftertaste. Yeah. There's buckwheat in this. I'll give that notion a few moments to congeal in your mind.

Did you black out for a second there? I know I did. Just brush yourself off and check for any major lacerations. If none, proceed with the review.

This is a crazy strange combo of ingredients, and yet it works somehow. Basically, this drink claims that it can be used in place of sunscreen. It'll give you healthy skin and cure wrinkles, too. Wow.

I'm split on the ingredients in here... the drink has a ton of ingredients I can't pronounce, but then on the other hand, it's made by doctors...hmmm. Sugar levels are just fine: only 26 g for 16 oz. It tastes sweet enough, and the flavor has enough depth and character to keep you interested till the end.

Rating: 4 out of 5 - I'm not sure if it will take the place of your SPF 30, but it has a unique taste and a lot of vitamins, so it's not a bad choice for midday quenching.

Fuze Refresh: Strawberry Banana

Note: I am aware that Fuze used crystalline fructose in many of their drinks, but it appears they may have redesigned their flavors like some other companies, so I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, if you'll excuse the cliche.

This odd fortified drink is in the line of 'Refresh' drinks that Fuze produces, and although I ordinarily avoid anything with banana in it, I decided to give this a try. It cost me about $1.29 at the grocery store (kind of a current price trend in the 'healthy drink' arena, eh?) and I took it home.

I was curious about the shrink-wrapped bottle that basically hid the contents from the casual shopper, and if you look in the bottle, it's obvious why. This stuff looks weird, like someone blended up a ripe banana with milk and water, kind of a brownish yellow. I can live with it though. It has a nice thick consistency, almost like a smoothie, but very blended. It tastes good, but in an odd way. Like a watered down smoothie. The fruit and milk mix well, effervescent of banana and a hint of strawberry. Very sweet, too.

Their site has some GD annoying background jungle sounds that you can't turn off, so their losing a half star right there. Their info on their own drinks is limited, many other sites have much more detailed reviews, including ingredients. 200 calories a bottle. Yikes. Don't drink too many of these, you could get fat, but you'd be totally refreshed. Upgrade your site, you guys, and turn the damn sounds off, or at least let me do it.

Score: 4 out of 5.

-- WiseGuise