Tuesday, June 16, 2009

No Coffee Jelly Frappuccino For Me, Thanks

I heard on the radio today that Starbucks Singapore is about to start carrying this concoction. Notice the black blob on the bottom of the cup? It's coffee jelly (yes, I said jelly). Then it's topped with the usual cream, flavoring and whipped cream as if the coffee jelly never happened. It's all the rage in Japan.

Chewy drinks (that's not the official name, but that's what I call them) is not a new notion to Singapore.

Singaporeans often put chewy substances in their beverages. They have a lot of what we would call "Bubble Tea" places here. Bubble tea was all the rage my freshman year at KU. In case you don't know what Bubble Tea is, it's flavored tea that has huge tapioca balls in it. You have to use a monster-sized straw to drink it. So anyways, I went to the one Bubble Tea place in Kansas to try some and was not impressed. It makes me think I'm four-years-old again and drinking floaties that my little brother left in my drink. Not at all refreshing. (Sorry Bubby.)

Back to Singapore--- They put a lot of solid food stuff in their drinks. A big one here is aloe chunks. We put the stuff on our skin to soothe a sun burn. They put it in their drinks to chew between sips. I guess they make it into a hard gel, cut it into square chunks and then plop them in.

They sneak it into a lot of innocent looking drinks too. I made the mistake of buying a can of something called "Mango drink" one morning and found these things floating in it. So I did what any American would do and poured it down the sink in the bathroom. Problem. I guess I misjudged the size of the chunks because the sink clogged. And hot water wouldn't melt them. So what did I do?

I left and pretended I had no idea who did it.

I'm that girl.

5 comments:

Ecrite said...

So I tried this at the tokyo airport..paid about 7USD for a goddamn drink, there were other options but I was enticed by that black blob of coffee-ish mixture, plus the cute barista, oh well.

Verdict? The drink was refreshing as the barista, possibly more. The jelly combined with the frappucinoish concoction snaked its way up the straw, cold and smooth. You ought to try it.

Megan said...

Ok, but just because you told me you tried it and didn't die, I just may try it. I'll recruit my husband to go with me. He usually likes what I don't, minus durian. Thanks for the input :)

Travis said...

I called that Bubble Tea stuff Rabbit Poop drinks.

Cori said...

Blech. Count me out.

And off the topic, I think of Bubby every time I see a floatie left by one of my kids. Sorry Bub.

My Three Sons said...

That is a normal that I'm not sure I would get used to. I guess it could be the same as me eating my ice while drinking???