5. Nuoc suong sam

Beverage: Nuoc Suong Sam/Green Grass Jelly Drink

Ingredients: Water, grass jelly extract, carrageenan, sugar

Appearance: The name gives the game away. It's subdued neon green. Like something you'd see flashing on and off in Shibuya. Like the previous chesnut and salangine's nest drinks this has that ghoulish frogspawn suspended thing going on. It doesn't look like something you should be drinking or standing in close proximity to without donning a chemical warfare suit. Brings back memories of school Biology lessons, learning how to grow yeast type cultures from nail scrapings.

Aroma: The same as the previous earthy Chesnut drink. If I blind sniffed them I doubt I could separate these two.

Taste: Holy crap... those frogspawn blobs are a bit big aren't they? They look almost transparent sitting there floating in the green gloop. They taste of nothing. I'm not getting grass. No... No grass at all. Try again... nah, no way, not a blade of grass went into this can. It's another sweet drink, not overly so, but still sacharine, industrial and fake tasting. Interestingly, the label on the can tells me that this drink contains 33Kcal of Energy, but 0g of Protein. So, the makers would have trouble marketing it towards the health-conscious, root 'n' berry munching market where it might otherwise have found a receptive audience.

If this drink were a kid you remember from school... it would be the unpopular kid with trousers too short, a perpetual streaming nose, who insisted on swimming like The Man from Atlantis and could complete a Rubik's Cube in under one minute.

Our survey said... Not a lot. 2 out of 10 points. Just for having the balls to create something this rank.

Cost: 4,400VD. Cheap in anyone's money.

Sidenote: Googling "Rubik's cube" tells me the 25th World Chamionships will be held later this year. Well, I never... Here's the main stage line up:

Subject to timing / number of competitors, the events on the main stage may be altered.

• 3x3, 4x4 and 5x5 Speed Solving
• 3x3 one handed
• 3x3 with feet
• 3x3 blindfolded FINAL

NOTE: A separate room will be supplied for 3x3 blindfolded heats and for 4x4 and 5x5 blindfolded competitors.

   Intriguing.

Comments

[Mr. NoStarWhere]

I warned you at the beginning of this canned drink adventure. Stay away from the green grass jelly! :)

[Reid]

Hi Noodle pie,

Is this like the regular grass jelly drink that has the black cubes of jelly in it?

[Trang]

Don't be put off by the manufactured/canned drink. As a Vietnamese-American, I would hesitant to drink it from the can for the process might be too obscuredly unhygenic.

This drink is fantabulous for summer days when the heat reach the level of explosively deadly. I remember back in the old days in Vietnam, my grandmother used to gather the leaves (actually they aren't "grass" as it is named) and made the jelly fresh from the green ingredients. The taste might be off at first, sort of slimey and bland, but with sugar cane juice added into it, and thus making it refreshing.

I heard that the green jelly (if made from the actual leaves) would add some healthy conscious taste into your system. It's one of those Chinese herbal favorites.

[Michele]

Hilarious post! And I think I actually remember that kid from school. Reason enough not to try the drink. Looking forward to your next discovery..

[pieman]

No black cubes Reid. Trang, youor grandmother's way of doing it sounds great to me. If I can score that I'll definitely give it a go.

[Fraser]

I just had some of this, googled it, and ended up here.

I reckon it tastes of digestive biscuits.