6. Nuoc re tranh mia lau

Beverage: Nuoc re tranh mia lau/Sugarcane drink

Ingredients: Sugarcane water, sugar

Appearance: Intriguing. Much like a darker mia da. However hidden away inside this can is a horticulturalist's wet dream. There are four young sugarcane stalks each about 5cm in length. Definitely wasn't expecting bush or tree debris inside this can, so that's one extra exotic point right from the off. I've never seen young sugarcane before. It's like something out Gulliver's Travels or LegoLand. They're miniscule. UPDATE: here's what they look like.

Aroma: Another fake sugary sacharine smell. Maybe just smells faintly fake like the others I've sampled. I'm used to drinking tipples like this freshly squeezed from the cane. This stuff is processed. So plastic aromas are unavoidable I guess.

Taste: It's errr.... sweet. It is sugarcane after all. Not unpleasant sweet though. However, this doesn't have the freshly squeezed bolt of a mia da. This tastes very much like the mia lau I have had at the banh khot restaurant. Not sure if that version comes from a can or not. Of the recent sweet batch this is one of the better softdrinks I've sampled.

If this drink were a dental procedure it would be... overdue root canal work and a hospital stay of at least three days.

Our survey said... 5.87 out of 10. What the hell I'll give it an extra-extra 0.87 points for the fab, but odd (as in good-odd), find of four sugarcane sticks inside this can.

Cost: 3,800VD

Comments

[sickduck]

«Re Tranh» are the roots of a type of bamboo (your «tree debris», I guess), so your drink is a mixture of bamboo roots and sugarcane juice.

[pieman]

Intriguing. Thanks. How come there's no mention of the bamboo on the label? I didn't know the word for bamboo, hence my assumption after cross checking with the label. I have since bought another can and will inspect further. And upload a snap of what's inside.

[Van]

re = root
tranh = a type of tall grass (co tranh, see this link http://ecocrop.fao.org/GPPIS.exe$ShowHost?Host=1252)
Re tranh is a type of root which is supposedly good for you healthwise. My mother used to slow-brew batches of the stuff in water. Then, we had to drink it, with very little sugar! Well, too much of sugar would negate its "cooling" effect.