11. Winter melon tea

Beverage: Tra bi dao/Winter melon tea

Ingredients: Water, winter melon, sugar

Appearance: The darkest of the tea trilogy of drinks I have sampled in this session, namely herbal tea and ginseng. Woody dark brown, almost cherry. Not sure though, I am colour blind.

Aroma: Oooh, nice... Ummm?? What's this I'm getting? A slice of morning toast, not fresh, a bit cold and a bit stale. The last one in the rack. It's the scent of a lonely slice of toast. The slice that goes uneaten at a breakfast table where two friends are eating. To be precise it's the smell of that same sad slice, left alone, uneaten in the presence of two friends who know each other pretty well, but have never had breakfast together before. They don't yet feel secure enough in each other's company to pick their noses, discuss masturbation or fart in an amusingly loud manner. Both are too polite to hog the last slice, although one of them would dearly love to.

Taste: That's rather refreshing. It's tea-esque with a fruity, sugary backing band. I'm getting overtones of things woody, burnt and smoky. A bonfire. Yes, that's it. A halloween bonfire, circa 1986, in the garden of a long forgotten friend's house in Dunchurch, a small village just outside Rugby. Guy Fawkes hatched his plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament in Dunchurch which gives this drink a rebellious/loser edge. Guy Fawkes was unsuccessful after all. It's rather pleasant. I might buy this one again. I can see it working with a dose of alcohol and heated slightly. Mulled winter melon tea. Hmm?? I hear an advertising campaign coming on - "Winter melon tea - The discerning drink for Halloween that won't scare you shitless."

If this drink were a hairstyle it would be... an afro. Sometimes hip. Always cool.

Our survey said... 8.3 points out of a possible 10. A bonus 0.2 points for the almost phallic, if you're an imaginative type and/or sexually frustrated, picture of a winter melon on the can.

Cost: 3,600VD

Comments

[ilovevietnam]

this format is MUCH better than what you had yesterday!

[pieman]

Thanks :)Still tweeking, but I'll get there soon enough ;)

[Robyn]

Yes, I like this format too -- shows off the photo nicely. But -- in't it afro, with one F?

[pieman]

I think it is...

[anthony]

Damn the Ishihara test to hell. I hate the ones where you can see numbers but then they tell you they're the wrong ones.

[pieman]

Know what you mean, but we must have different types of colourblindness. I could see a few numbers on half and then couldn't see a thing on the other half. And I tried, I really tried.

[Calum]

Sounds quite appealing actually, where on earth did you get it?

I'm new to this blog as well, but keep it up, like what i see so far

- Calum -

[pieman]

Thx Calum. You can buy this drink easily in Vietnam; supermarkets, streetstalls. It's very common.

[hpt]

what, i'm vietnamese but i've never seen this drink before

[Neil]

I had a can of this last week...i got it at our local Vietnamese grocery shop here in Fredericton NB canada.....it tasted quite nice....