Blackcurrant Juice + Coconut Meat

Rating: 8/10

My obsession with blackcurrant juice dates back to 2007 when I first came across a bottle of Ribena in London and became instantly hooked. To the extent that the high point of any trip to the UK for me is this delightful beverage. So you can imagine my joy at finding blackcurrant juice in Trader Joe's of all places. Not an exact replica of Ribena but satisfying nonetheless. Naturally, I decided to combine it with my other obsession: young coconut. Slicing chunks of coconut meat into a glass of blackcurrant juice makes for a fun drinking experience. Just imagine if the two were actually one fruit: the mildly sweet and gelatinous texture of the coconut meat plus the fragrantly sweet and sour juice. Trippy.

Nutrition:

• Trader Joe's Black Currant Juice (cup) =  100 Calories, 24g sugar, 110mg Potassium, 70% of daily Vitamin C
• Asia Exotic Corp BL young coconut meat = 140 Calories, 2g fiber, 17% of daily Calcium

Total Calories = 240
Yay for Vitamin C, but not much else of note.

Coconut Water + Basil + Peach

Rating: 7/10

Got this disappointingly bland tasteless Naked brand coconut water and was looking for a way to spice it up a bit. Had a bunch of fresh peaches and some extra basil lying around. Perfect opportunity to experiment with making my own juice drink. So I diced up the peach, chopped some large basil leaves, tossed it all into the coconut water, shook well, and let refrigerate for a day before drinking. Decided to use an empty glass milk jar for this concoction because glass is sturdy and doesn't pollute taste like paper or plastic cartons. The end product: rather refreshing. The peach flavor sort of overpowered everything else, the coconut of course barely registered, and the splash of basil really gave it character.

Nutrition:

• Naked Pure Coconut Water = 60 Calories, 650mg Potassium
• basil (5 leaves) = 0 Calories
• peach = 60 Calories, 285mg Potassium, 2.2g fiber, 16% of daily Vitamin C

Total Calories = 120
This is like the entire pint's worth, which of course I didn't drink all in one sitting. But this was the total of what I made.

Watermelon Juice + Macadamia Nuts

Rating: 9/10

Drinking fresh watermelon juice while eating macadamia nuts. Unexpectedly tasty combo. A bit tropical I guess. The lightly sweet, icy, chunky watermelon juice just does something to the flavor of the smooth, crunchy, salted macadamia that makes it amazing. Maybe it enhances an aspect of the nut otherwise muted or maybe the contrast of the two gives the nut an extra kick. Whatever, it works!

Nutrition:

• cup of watermelon juice = 76 Calories, 267mg Potassium, 1g fiber, 38% of daily Vitamin C
• Savanna Orchards Gourmet Dry Roasted Macadamias (1/4 cup) = 210 Calories, 2g fiber, 115mg Sodium

Total Calories = 286
Decent dose of Vitamin C but otherwise trifles.

Cream Soda + Red Bean Ice Cream

Rating: 6/10

Cream soda float with red bead ice cream. Surprisingly, I'm not the biggest fan of floats. I swear at some point I thought I really liked them, or maybe that was just in theory. You know, the whole ice cream melting into soda imagery. Oh well, still a decent combo these two. I hate Root Beer, but Cream Soda and Dr. Pepper work for me. And red bean is a fun ice cream alternative to vanilla.

Nutrition:

• glass of Dr. Brown's Original Cream Soda = 120 Calories, 30g sugar
• 2 scoops of Maeda-en Red Beans Azuki Flavored Ice Cream = 140 Calories, 14g sugar, 1g fiber

Total Calories = 260

Pu-Er Tea + French Vanilla Creamer

Rating: 10/10

A cup of hot Pu-Er tea with French vanilla coffee creamer. Eh whatever works for coffee works for tea. Basically just tea with milk English style here. But oh so delicious! So! I'm practically addicted. I think it's just that the sweet, vanilla-y creamer blended with the odd oaky, roasted flavor of Pu-Er makes the whole thing taste like chocolate to me. Yet not quite like hot chocolate. It's got such a unique character to it I just can't get enough.

Longan + Goji Berries + Dragon Well Tea

Rating: 8/10

Longan fruit. Dried goji berries. Dragon Well tea leafs. Add hot water. And presto! Delicious, nutritious tea drink. Stole this concoction from my mother actually, she swears by this stuff. Longan has basically the same succulent texture of lychee but with a softer, less obnoxious taste. Goji is sweet and tart with a hint of bitter that fades into tea flavors. And really all teas tastes pretty much the same to me, so Dragon Well basically tastes like any other green tea. These three things combined make for amazing, smooth, richly flavored tea for a non-tea drinker as myself. It doesn't even have that icky bitter I despise in most teas. And I would say the actual tea leaf is what's most interchangeable here. I don't see why any other green tea won't do the trick too. Though Dragon Well does do that cool vertical floating leafs thing in water that's pretty entertaining to watch.

Rainbow Milkshake

Rating: 8/10

Jammin' homemade milkshake. Just toss an Italian rainbow cookie, some gelato, milk, and ice in a blender. Voila! Icy, creamy texture plus the cakey bits of the cookie that adds some colorful specks of pink, green, and yellow amidst the frosty white. Pretty and delicious.