Shipt:

I wanted to conduct an experiment and I needed a bag of musk sticks. I stood in the aisle at supermarket scanning the candy rack after doing an awkward dance around a lady pushing her cart along the shelves.

There are few beverage companies I can legitimately admire, and even fewer with a flavor as bold as Inca Kola. I’ve had champagne colas before, but I had no idea about the rich history of Inca Kola, and how the company went head to head with Coca Cola in an ongoing rivalry that lasted for decades. The drink originated in Peru, and started off as a small family-made beverage. Soon, it grew due to popular demand from its taste and its insanely unique look. In the 80s and 90s, restaurant chains in Peru were swapping out Coke products in favor of Inca Kola. Coca Cola couldn’t compete with sales of the beverage, and repeatedly sought to buy out the company. Inca Kola wouldn’t budge. Instead, Inca Kola held its ground, forcing Coca Cola to partner with them instead of buying them out. While Inca Kola was never the only Peruvian soda brand, they did become the most popular, and it’s still the #1 selling soft drink in Peru.

Is Durian as bad as people say it is? Let me put it like this; if there is a Hell, Satan and his demon horde are shoving pallets of warm Durian down the throats of the damned as we speak.

Every beverage claims to be different. There’s some kind of hook or allure to it, and while I understand that from a marketing perspective, sometimes companies’ claims are a little too bold. Moonshot asserts themselves as an energy drink with a “different kind of buzz”. We’ll see about that.

I've been noticing for a while now that there is quite often one or two things missing when I order Uber Delivery. Every time I blamed the restaurant... I mean, not in person... but in my head. It took me way to long to realize that it is quite possibly the Uber Driver themselves that are taking their dinner from the delivery. Which I find conflicting, is this actually their dinner or do they simply feel ripped off from making so little?

There are some cultural moments that none of us understand. CBD has made the rounds in nearly every industry, from skincare to pet snacks. In some cases, the motives are entirely unclear. A few CBD-infused beverages have cropped up on the market over the last few years, and Recess joining the ranks with a perfectly instagrammable can and simple tagline: “calm, cool, collected”. The line currently includes three flavors: peach ginger, pomegranate hibiscus, and blackberry chai. Their website claims that they have “canned a feeling”, with dreamy cloud imagery and relatable millennial adages about how they “have too many browser tabs open”. They’ve managed to target their audience, but my main question is this: does it work?

This is one of the most chaotic things I’ve done in my life. Not just as far as beverages go, but in general. I’m willing to try pretty much any food once, and that extends to beverages as well. There’s no way I can justify what I’m about to do.I’ve been curious about these drinks for years. I’ve seen them on Amazon, but would always talk myself out of trying them, for completely obvious reasons. I have some predictions about which will be the most repulsive. Ranch is topping the list. There’s literally no way it can be good. I’m not really into Ranch dressing. I prefer Caesar. That being said, I wouldn’t want to try a Caesar dressing soda either. I can’t decide if these drinks would be better or worse without carbonation. It doesn’t matter, because they ARE carbonated and I WILL try them all. The minutiae of it all is pretty irrelevant at this point. What I WILL say, before even trying them, is that I appreciate that they’re all made with cane sugar. I appreciate a nice cane sugar soda. I know people will judge me for trying these. I understand that I will be persecuted and my beliefs will be brought into question. I’m not doing this for ME, I’m doing this for YOU and I’m doing this for US. I hope you all appreciate this sacrifice I’m making, even if you yell at me for it. OK, now let’s get into tasting and reviews.

After trying the SAP! drinks, I vowed to try more beverages that have a cause or positive message attached to it. I’m looking into more brands that do this (and I’m taking suggestions if you have any). Companies aren’t usually transparent about where their money goes or where the ingredients are sourced, and a lot of us don’t really question it. Why would we? We were raised in a climate where corporate brands have been vying for our attention, and it’s easy to miss smaller companies that are trying to do better. It’s tough deciding what brands or companies to spend your money with, when it really comes down to it. I don’t know that there’s necessarily a right choice in some instances. There’s constant stress and grappling with spending the money you earn, and how to spend it (unless you’re rich, but I don’t believe rich people have any reason to read or relate to anything I write). I even have some skepticism when I do find a brand that seems to hit the right marks with me. What are they hiding? What are their values? Sometimes the lines are too blurry to make a distinction between pandering and genuine mission statements. Do you ever feel that way? It seems like inclusivity and awareness are just brand benchmarkers now. But again, the lines are pretty blurry. It’s rare that I find a brand whose owner has transparency about their motives, so it led me to seek out something and report back.

I remember having one of these Zipfizz tubes being passed to me by a family member. I was complaining about being tired and not getting enough sleep. We had to attend to a serious matter. I went to a corner store gas station, but they didn't have my usual choice of energy drink there. My cousin tells me, "Oh! why didn't you say anything? I have one of these with me. It's cool, take one. Just mix it with water."

What do you know about sap? Before trying these drinks, I knew little to nothing about it. In my head, I always confused it with maple syrup. I’m aware that these two things are in fact, different, but I never had a reason to seek out any answers. I guess it was just one of those things I was comfortable in my confusion of. I knew it was sticky and came from trees. That’s as far as my knowledge went. So when I saw the Sap! variety pack of maple seltzer, maple soda and sparkling birch, I thought I could use this as a learning experience.

Recently, I was thinking about alcohol. I don’t drink, and the main purpose of my beverage blog is to introduce products and recipes that are not alcohol-focused. I don’t enjoy drinking, because I don’t like the feeling of being hungover, and I don’t enjoy the post-drinking haze that sets into my brain. I feel foggy, uncoordinated and like every motion I make through the day is going to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Alcohol effects different people in different ways, but I actively choose not to have it as part of my life. What other people do is none of my business, and I have no opinion on what other people choose to do with their bodies. That being said, I’ve noticed an influx of drinks lately that tout having relaxing effects. I’ve tried a couple of them (reviews to come later), and my overall experience with them is that they simply make me sleepy. Tired and relaxed are different feelings for me, and I like to keep them separate. I’d yet to discover a drink that made me feel effectively calm without loopy side effects where I felt too tired to even walk across the room in a straight line. I think those beverages have a time and place, but that feeling isn’t “relaxation” for me. If I wanted to feel like that, I could just take two melatonin and watch cartoons until I rolled over and passed out face-down in bed. I wanted to explore something different.