Jans Boba Milk Tea Brown Sugar

My boys and I stopped at Shanghai Wholesale on the edge of the Midway / Merriam Park neighborhood of St. Paul today, and I grabbed a bubble tea that I hadn't tried before:

Brand: Jans Boba Milk Tea Brown Sugar.

Origin: Taiwan.

Purchase Place: Shanghai Wholesale Market Place, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar and Brown Sugar.

Review: The "brown sugar milk tea" flavor was quite good! It was milky and sweet with a nice tea flavor. If you handed this to me, you MIGHT be able to fool me that it was brewed locally (and fresh) at a boba tea store. But the "boba pearls" were small and a bit mealy. I've had worse boba in a pre-made can, but I've also had better. Higher rating for the flavor, and lower for the boba, but still overall enjoyable.

Score: 7 out of 10.

Overfilling a Glass of Soda

Costa Rican Coke Zero

Earlier this winter, my family went to Costa Rica for a week. With my first meal at our resort, I had a Coke Zero with zero sugar, or "zero azúcar" as the can says:

My son had an orange Fanta with breakfast one morning (why not?... we were on vacation...) and he noted that it tasted better because of the cane sugar vs the HFCS we have up here in the US:

Checking the ingredients list.

Here's a video from a day we spent in a rain forest and here's LOTS of photos from this trip!

Northern Soda Company Pineapple Cream Soda

I opened this at work earlier today:

 
Brand: Northern Soda Company Pineapple Cream Soda

Origin: Arden Hills, MN.

Purchase Place: "Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop," Spring Lake Park, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar.

Review: Well, the name of this soda is right on: it's truly a "pineapple cream" soda! The first sip of it touching my tongue was very "pineapple-y," and I'm honestly not a HUGE fan of pineapple. This soda didn't bother me though. And then the "creaminess" came as it was a SMOOTH pineapple flavor. It ended with a great smoothness like a nice cream soda. This was surprising to me... this was better than I thought it was going to be! I wish I had this at home as my boys would have loved to have tried a sip of this. I was ready for this to be a 4 or a 5, but in the end, I'll rank it a bit better than average:

Score: 7 out of 10.

Fitz's Root Beer

I opened this during supper the other night:

 

Brand: Fitz's Root Beer.

Origin: St. Louis, MO.

Purchase Place: Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop, Spring Lake Park, MN.

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: This was really, REALLY good. It had a deep flavor, and was smooth and creamy. It didn't have much of a head, but I've had this can for a while, so maybe it lost some carbonation. Either way, it wasn't (much) worse because of it. There was a nice vanilla kick that wasn't overpowering. 

I realized I had this same soda about 12 years ago (from a more traditional glass bottle) and I ranked it a 9. I think after another couple of hundred sodas, I'll rank this a bit higher now... it was GOOD.

Score: 9.5 out of 10.

Rhett and Link's Mountain Dew Taste Test

Rhett and Link tried every Mountain Dew flavor:


Direct link: youtube.com/watch?v=ltgULFQU24Y

Blumer's Root Beer

I opened this with supper last night:

Brand: Blumer's Non-Alcoholic Root Beer.

Origin: Monroe, WI.

Purchase Place: "Minnesota's Largest Candy Store," Jordan, MN.

Sweetener: Sugar.

Review: This was good! It was pretty smooth and creamy. It had a nice hint of wintergreen but withOUT being too much - I like a little wintergreen, but many root beers overdo it. Just a solid root beer.

Score: 8 out of 10.

This Isn't Porn

Big Ben's Lemon Bubbles!

I opened this while doing a lot of cooking last night:

 
Brand: Big Ben's Lemon Bubbles!

Origin: Catawissa, PA.

Purchase Place: Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop, Spring Lake Park, MN.

Sweetener: Pure Cane Sugar.

Review: This was really sweet. It was a tasty lemon soda - at first sip, I thought "this is like a Sprite or 7Up," but then I realized I wasn't tasting the LIME of those sodas. It was just lemon, but it was overly sweetened to make up for it. Very tasty. Went down easy.

Score: 8.5 out of 10.

Coca Cola Zero Sugar Holiday Creamy Vanilla

I grabbed this while walking through Kowalski's the other day:

 
Brand: Coca Cola Zero Sugar Holiday Creamy Vanilla.

Origin: Atlanta, GA.

Purchase Place: Kowalski's Market, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Aspartame and Sucralose.

Review: I was a little excited for this. I had heard that it was tasty. BUT... it was just too much for me. It was VERY strong on the vanilla. It was almost like it was overly creamy and overly vanilla-y. I suppose that's what it is: a "creamy vanilla" like it says in its name. But it was just too much. Try it if you want something strong on the creamy vanilla, but otherwise stay away.

Score: 4 out of 10.

Health-Ade SunSip Cream Soda

We were at Whole Foods this weekend, and I spotted a line of soda that had some sun sounding flavors. I grabbed this Cream Soda to drink in my office:

 

Brand: SunSip Cream Soda.

Origin: Terrance, CA.

Purchase Place: Whole Foods, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Agave Inulin, Monk Fruit Juice Extract, and Cane Sugar.

Review: So this is a "prebiotics" soda. I knew that going in. I tend to shy away from these as I don't like the "bite" of kombucha, and many lean in that direction. But we saw so many flavors of this brand that LOOKED good when we were at Whole Foods, so I wanted to give it a try. It only has 4 grams of sugar and 30 calories, as it has 2 other sweeteners before sugar. Would it be drinkable?...

... Barely.

The second ingredient is "apple juice," and that's NOT a flavor that you commonly expect to go with the smoothness of a cream soda. And guess what? It doesn't really work. It had a pungent KICK when I took my first sip. I got a little better as kept drinking, but it was still very SHARP for a cream soda (which is something I expect to be SMOOTH). The cream soda flavor was decent, but it was just really odd paired with the apple juice.

Bottom line: I didn't care for it. If you like cream soda AND kombucha, you could like this! It's not nearly as sharp as a normal kombucha, but it LEANS that way. Just not for me - too odd of a flavor combo. Apple juice and cream soda are not flavors that ever needed to be mixed. I need to stay away from these kinds of "sodas."

Score: 2.5 out of 10.

I Saw This... Now You Have To As Well...

Direct link: youtube.com/shorts/B2EhoUEf0RU

And also this:


Direct link: youtube.com/shorts/QdnGQDqU2LE

I think the first one is worse, but it's also gross that I'm thinking about which one is "better..."

Old Keg Root Beer

It's been awhile (about SIX WEEKS) since my last review! I need to start hitting the soda a bit harder... so I started with this before class yesterday:

 
Brand: Old Keg Root Beer

Origin: Mukilteo, WA.

Purchase Place: Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop, Spring Lake Park, MN.

Sweetener: Cane Sugar and Honey.

Review: This was SUPER creamy from the first sip. It was an INCREDIBLY smooth root beer with a fair amount of vanilla flavor with just a nice little hint of anise. 

After I had enjoyed it quite a while, I took a closer look at the ingredients list (because this was turning into a top-10 root beer for me and I wanted to see why!), and I found "honey" on the list as well. Honey can make or break a soda (I love honey by itself), and I tend to find it's flavor not that complimentary to a root beer. But this was so nicely subtle that it worked really well with the smoothness and creaminess of this root beer. This was REALLY GOOD! And it's not just because I haven't had a root beer in a while! A very quality soda! It's my first soda rated a "10" in the last 10 years!

Score: 10 out of 10.

Coca Cola Sweatshirt

My niece had this sweet sweatshirt, and I was jealous...

Sakura Cherry Blossom Cola

I grabbed this while out my with boys recently:

I used my phone to translate the Japanese on the side of the bottle.

Brand: Sakura Cherry Blossom Cola.

Origin: Japan.

Purchase Place: Shanghai Wholesale Market, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: High Fructose Corn Syrup.

Review: This was sweet and tasty, but it wasn't "cherry blossom" at all. It had a slight citrus sweetness to it that reminded be a bit of Fresca. It was good, but very sweet - this 8 oz bottle had 110 calories (8 oz of Coke would be around 93 calories, and 8 oz of Pepsi would be 100 calories). Sweet, citrusy, and just a BIT floral. It was good, but SWEET!

Score: 6 out of 10.

Lakefront Brewery Golden Maple Root Beer

I opened this while cooking last night:

 

Brand: Lakefront Brewery Golden Maple Root Beer

Origin: Milwaukee, WI.

Purchase Place: Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop, Spring Lake Park, MN.

Sweetener: Pure cane sugar and pure Wisconsin maple syrup.

Review: I didn't get a TON of maple flavor from this. I'd could say I'm disappointed a little, but the flavor wasn't bad, so I'm not too upset. It's less "maple" and more like "if a root beer and a cream soda had a baby" which is NOT a bad thing. It was a bit like a creamy root beer. The flavor wasn't amazing, but it was good for what it was. I'll rank this just a bit above average.

Score: 6 out of 10.

Jones Soda Special Release Zero Cola

I grabbed this from Hy-Vee last week with my son:

 

Brand: Jones Soda Special Release Zero Cola.

Origin: Seattle, WA. 

Purchase Place: Hy-Vee, Eagan, MN.

Sweetener: Sucralose.

Review: This had a lot of flavor for a 0 calorie soda! The cola flavor was quite unique, and it had a hint of that "Dr. Pepper bite" to it. It was good! Both of my boys enjoyed it as well. We were happy with this one!

Score: 8.5 out of 10.

The Two Kinds of Dr. Pepper Bottles

How did I not know this??...

Mug Zero Sugar Root Beer

I stopped at our local "corner store" and grabbed a Zero Sugar Mug:

 
Brand: Zero Sugar Mug Root Beer.

Origin: Purchase, NY.

Purchase Place: Marshall Stop, St. Paul, MN.

Sweetener: Sucralose.

Review: This really did NOT taste "diet" or "low calorie." It still had that pretty standard DEEP Mug Root Beer flavor. I was pleasantly surprised! I expected it to be a solid soda, but didn't expect it to taste THAT "normal." If you like Mug and want a diet option, then you need to try this. 

Score: 8 out of 10.

Quick Stop at an "Up North" Candy Store

When my boys and niece and nephew and I took at 4 day trip up to Grand Marais, MN, we swung by a candy store on the way home.  It was the Sweetly Kismet Candy Store just south of Duluth near Jay Cooke State Park. It's a new "suburban barn" looking candy shop just off the freeway at the Carlton exit.

Some cold sodas...

... and a lot on the shelf!

The bathroom is fun too.

I'm a sucker for traditional "Cow Tales," but I haven't seen all these flavors!

I grabbed a few sodas that I'll have to try shortly. Here are more photos from the Grand Marais trip with the 4 kids!