Drinks With Chunks

DIY Drinks with Chunks

2010-01-03T17:31:00.006Z

It's a familiar scenario; It's Christmas, you have family staying with you, including a hyperactive six year old, you need something to distract him with, cooking is always a good option but cup cakes are considered passé and too girly. What he wants is some good manly drinking. Something you need to chew on. Yes, I'm talking DIY drinks with chunks.

Tapioca Pearl is readily available from the Chinese supermarket and comes in a variety of colours, from starchy beige to unicorn jiz. I opt for the unicorn jiz.

Just boil one cup in 10 cups of water.

It sinks at first but quickly rises.

Then you just need to turn the heat down, whack a lid on, and simmer it for five minutes.

At the straining stage I recommend getting a six your old to blow on it, although this isn't essential. (Other ages may also work well but I haven't tried.)

It can then be decanted into a drink of your choice. Milky tea is suggested although we opt for warm milk for the initial test batch.

You get a lovely looking rainbow-balled juice like the above.

This can then be decanted and drank...

...and found to be too bland so honey can be added.

You can then settle down to savour the rest of the drink whilst wondering what goes into those balls. The warning "Not to be consumed by children under 3" makes sense given the chunks. They were chewy, but shouldn't represent a serious choking hazard to anyone over that age. We are then warned "to be careful when consuming hot or cold drinks!" A nice catch-all this one. Although one does worry some soup drinkers may not take heed. The warning concludes, "The starch used as protection on the surface is natural, please be at ease to enjoy it!" Thanks for that. I feel much better. So now I only need worry about the artificial colors Yellow No6, Red No40, LtYellow No5, Purple (Red No40 and Blue No1), Green (Blue No1 and Yellow No5) and the Dehydroacetic Acid.

"Dehydroacetic acid is a pyrone derivative used as a fungicide and bactericide. It is used to reduce pickle bloating as a preservative for squash and strawberries. The sodium salt, sodium dehydroacetate, is often used in place of dehydroacetic acid because of its greater solubility in water. Industrially, it is also used as a plasticizer in a variety of synthetic resins."

Hmm. I always regret looking up what's in food.

Ah well. Most of it got drunk. We both gave up without finishing the whole lot. In my case because jaw ache was setting in and in the newphew's case probably just boredom. Extracting scores from him was probably the most difficult part of the whole exercise so I can conclude that DIY chunk making is a great way to entertain kids.

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Wax Gourd Juice Drink

2009-12-17T07:41:00.002Z

Disappointingly chunkless.

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Ginseng Birds Nest Drink

2009-07-11T19:06:00.003Z

Your first concern upon encountering a drink made out of birds nest may be the birds nest content. And you'd be right. As a hardened chunk drinker I decided to ignore this factor and press on, only pausing to research birds nests after I'd finished it.

Like other Ginseng based drinks there is a very nice, sweet, refreshing taste that goes down well on a hot summers day. The ginseng root provides most of the chunkiness, although it is difficult to get it all out of the can and this has lead to a knock in the chokeability score.

The birds nest mostly dissolves and lends a cloudiness to the drink along with a few soft strands of, um, nest. At this point we can no longer put off discussing the nest.

Wikipedia tells me, "Bird's nest soup is a delicacy in Chinese cuisine. A few species of swift, the cave swifts, are renowned for building the saliva nests used to produce the unique texture of this soup. The edible bird's nests are among the most expensive animal products consumed by humans."

Among the most expensive animal products consumed by humans, eh? Hold on, did someone mention saliva? That's not how they phrase it in the ingredients.

Reading on. "The nests are composed of interwoven strands of salivary laminae cement. The white nests and the “red blood” nests are supposedly [my emphasis] rich in nutrients which are traditionally believed to provide health benefits, such as aiding digestion, raising libido, improving the voice, alleviating asthma, improving focus, and an overall benefit to the immune system."

I am doubtful of some of these claims. For starters any potential aid to my digestion was mitigated the second I read that I was drinking bird saliva. And to be honest I can't help but wonder about the ecological implications of harvesting the nests. Now I'm not particularly squeamish and I'm certainly no veggie, but I would think twice about what's in this before trying it again. However, I would have to conclude that it hit the spot and went down very well.

Edit: This shows what a nest factory looks like

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Lizard Tequila

2009-01-11T15:09:00.003Z

I'm not sure where this drink came from. It's been sitting in various houses of friends for at least 5 years, not decreasing in volume very fast. I'm not sure anyone has tried it sober, tequila itself is not a drink you usually start a night with.

Perhaps they should put lizards in all tequila. This bottle has survived 100s of very messy parties. The sort of parties that a bottle of tequila must view as easy pickings for it's corrupting ways, like a sexy girl preying mantis showing leg to a room full of young, innocent boy preying mantes. Yet there it is, still plenty left.

OK, I have to admit, a large part of this is due to it not being very tasty, a fact quite disappointing to those brave enough to try it. This is probably more to do with it just being rubbish tequila than the bitter taste of the lizard's sacrifice.

As for the chunkometer ratings, I'm quite new to this (long time listener, first time caller), and I'd hate to be controversial on my first attempt. But I believe that corpses and alcohol are both firsts for Drinks With Chunks. Here's my attempt*:

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* Chunkage marked down for inedibility and chewiness has been untested.

How to...

2008-07-27T20:46:00.001Z

Popcorn has found an 'instructable' on How To Make Chinese/Japanese Bubble Tea. I've been meaning to look for something like this for a while now. Expect our own home grown version soon!

Also, thanks to Grom for pointing out the eel drink. I'm on the look out for that.

Hangover Cure Special

2008-07-22T09:47:00.001Z

Occasional chunk contributor Popcorn and I were out on a mutual friend's stag do recently. Come the morning, and looking slightly worse for wear, we thought it would be the ideal opportunity to test drinks with chunks as hangover cures. We survey the selection and take our choices.

I go for Postre Del Sago Del Coco, which is a kind of palm starch with coconut, hoping for something soothing and milky to settle the stomach. Popcorn opts for, um, I've forgotten what it was. It looked like it had whole grapes in it.

It's easily extracted. Although mine proves more problematic.

A chop stick is employed for poking purposes.

And vigorous shaking creates chunk based carnage over my desk.

Chunk comparison.

Cheers!

Right, time to see how this sits on top of last nights excesses. Brace yourself.

Hmm, not an instant hit.

But it does have something...

...but Popcorn isn't quite sure what. My turn.

Down the hatch.

Ahhh. Exactly what I was after. Like a pulpy soya milk.

Breakfast in a can. Lovely. Popcorn decides to try the palm drink but that doesn't go down too well either. I will give him the benefit of the doubt that these responses to the two drinks were down to ill health rather than there being anything wrong with the drinks.

I try the other grape like one and find it too sickly and syrupy for my liking. Popcorn does finish it off and we both decide we made the better choice. Personally, I'd say that the palm starch drink was a suitable hangover cure (Popcorn would beg to differ) but I think we'd both agree that the grape like one wasn't the best option under the circumstances.

Postre Del Sago Del Coco

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Unidentified grape like drink

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Chaokon Brand Young Coconut Juice with Jelly

2008-07-21T20:44:00.001Z

An interesting variation on a classic theme here.

You'll know by now that I'm a sucker for chunky coconut drinks, but this one has a twist. Instead of all of that lovely chewy chunkage it is filled with jelly.

So much jelly in fact that I thought it would make an interesting video watching it settle.

Except that it didn't do anything. It would have been the most boring video ever. The sort of video that was so boring it would prompt you to google for the word 'boring' just to see if there was anything else that could potentially be more boring. But you wouldn't find anything else. The top 10 hits would all be that video.

Seemingly hours later it still looked like this. By seemingly I probably really mean a couple of minutes, but it feels like hours, honestly. I was getting too impatient to try the drink anyway. Which went down a treat on a hot Saturday afternoon in mid-summer. Just what I needed. Apart from the foreign body I had to fish out.

The young coconut has a fruitier, more floral, flavour than it's fully grown counterpart. It's just as soothing, although the texture is quite different. Chewing is optional rather than mandatory, when you do chew you find quite a light rubbery texture to the fruit that squelches around the palette in a pleasing manner, yet the inexperienced chunk drinker could opt out of that entirely and swallow without fear of choking. It's a rare high chew high chunk score without any danger of choking. Ideal for beginners.

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Art with Chunks

2008-07-08T14:28:00.001Z

When I started this blog I never imagined it would be crossing into the world of modern art. And likewise, the staff at the Arnolfini never saw me coming. Today, a clashing of cultures was staged; the Far West Cross-Artform Project meets Drinks with Chunks. What better way to introduce our respective audiences to each other?

My intention with this website is to bring the glories of chunk drinking, an unfairly Eastern dominated nourishment source, to a larger audience in the West. This may be slightly tongue in cheek but it is written as a genuine chunk lover, not in the "hey look, aren't foreigners all weird and whacky and different to us" style of my rivals at Crazy Asian Drinks, for example.

Far West explores "the new consumer and cultural relationships that are emerging as the economic centre of the world shifts towards the East."

Pretty much the same mission then.

My thanks go to Viv and Rob at the Arnolfini for seeing and understanding this link and allowing me to document bridge building in action. Also, thanks to my able assistant Jules, for ploughing on with fruit construction whilst I filled out the Copyright Agreement Form.

The Far West exhibition (28 June – 31 August) brings with it S.O.I. Project's Fruit. A market stall filled with folded and glued paper fruit, stuck together by the visitors (and the exhibition staff who beaver away so furiously they don't have space to wrap the artworks visitors buy). In return for their effort in assembling these fiddly cardboard artworks the visitor is rewarded with something far greater than the knowledge of having contributed to an artwork. Merely being able to stand back and say "I did that, that is my work," is simply not enough. No, in the mind of the S.O.I. Project that is not reward enough. They have demonstrated how grateful they are for the public's assistance in the most wonderful way imaginable. They allow you to swap your completed fruit for a chunky Magnosteen Juice Drink!

Now if that's not going to get more people out of their houses, away from the next generation of mindless interactive TV talent show or social-network of people they have never really met, and into an art gallery where artists make statements about the increasingly confusing world around us using increasingly abstract forms, then I don't know what is.

The photographs presented here show the fruit construction process, from flat pack to shelf, and the drink for which the finished product was exchanged.

So to the important bit. "..the parallel debates in both art and commerce around participation, individualism, authorship, labour, and productivity. Is this open participation a form of consumer emancipation? Or, is it the next stage in corporate appropriation?"

No, not that important bit, the other one. What was the drink like.

T.A.S. Brand Mangosteen Juice Drink

The Mangosteen Juice Drink couples a flavour not unlike a mellow pear juice with the fibrous texture of pineapple juice. It was disappointingly chunkless but refreshing and tasty. A note to the artist: More chunks please!

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Mong Lee Shang Taro Black Glutinous Rice Coconut Milk Drink

2008-04-26T16:24:00.000Z

They're back and they're on form!

Mong Lee Shang Taro Black Glutinous Rice Coconut Milk Drink fits all of the classic ingredients of a perfect drink with chunks, but doesn't fall into the trap of relying too heavily on the coconut.

Instead, it's chunks it up with glutinous black rice, giving it a colour a texture more reminiscent of red kidney beans but still with that wonderful coconut flavour.

And the chunks are so good they have to give you a spoon with it. Which can stand up in it!

A must try. Even the cat loved it.

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Update

2007-10-28T13:12:00.001Z

It's been a long time since I updated this. You'll be pleased to know I have still been taking pictures of good old chunky drinks. These are collecting in the Flickr pool.

However, there have been another couple of chunkless disappointments that disheartened me. I would warn hardened chunk seekers to stay away from Chrysanthemum Tea.

Chrysanthemum Tea

This will let you down in either its chilled soft drink form or its hot tea form. I was hoping for hunks of petals, maybe even the odd stalk, but only got over sweetened syrup. Still, at least it's good for varicose veins and comes with suitable medical dosage advice.

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Yeo's Sugar Cane Drink

The same goes for this, although it is worth pausing to admire the colour briefly.

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Haitai CocoPalm

Basically the same as all the other coconut drinks reviewed previously. Nothing new to report here.

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Irish Moss Peanut Drink

This was my first failure as a chunk drinker. Again, purchased in the mistaken belief it would contain the much sought after potential choking hazard of good sturdy peanut chunks. Alas, it was ground into a thick paste suitable only for sticking coloured cardboard shapes to the walls of primary school classrooms.

The paste itself was perhaps thick enough to cause choking, it was difficult to swallow, and had a slight nutty flavour.

However, it was sweet to the point of sickness and I abandoned it after only half a glass. It was even too thick to pour down my drain.

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Zero Degrees

It's not all bad news however. There have been some impressive finds too. For starters, this leftfield effort by Zero Degrees bar in Bristol to add some orange wedges to their home brew Belgian style orange beer.

There's nothing special about citrus slices in alcoholic drinks par se, but I like where they are going with this, it has potential. Barley in the brew, wheat in the wheat beer, apple chunks and a bit of straw in the cider, rats tails hanging out of the scrumpy. You see where I'm going. Come one Zero Degrees, are you listening?

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Mongilee Shang Basil Seed Drink

It looks like frog spawn...

It crunches like raspberry pips...

And it tastes like, um, the pastel pink love juice of a My Little Pony (I'm guessing).

It even leaves grit in the bottom of the glass. Perfect.

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Korean Ginseng-D

2007-05-20T07:20:00.000Z

Right, it's time to stop fannying about with drinks that are barely lumpy. This one is serious.

In fact, I think there might be something alive in there.

Korean Ginseng-D presents a whole intact ginseng root floating in an amber liquid in a beautifully sculpted heavy glass bottle. (Incidentally, I found out accidentally that the bottle is study enough to bounce on a laminate floor without ill effect when dropped from counter height.) This lends it the appearance of a pickled medical sample. How could you not want to drink that?

If you can make out the ingredients at all you'll see that the hunk of ginseng in the first item on the list. You know you’re getting good chunkage when there is more of it than anything else in the drink.

There is also a quaint verse of Engrish on the label, where it reads, "Korean Ginseng drink is a natural soft drink containing with one Ginseng root." Bless. It continues, "For nutrition information write: WANG GLOBALNET" It's unclear whether one should simply write WANG GLOBALNET on a piece of paper and the information will magically appear. I would suspect that it really needs to be done at midnight, on a full moon, in front of a mirror etc, and some sinister Korean demon will appear over your shoulder and whisper it to you. I can confirm that typing the phrase into Word has no effect. Alternatively, maybe if you write it on a piece of paper that will then have the same nutritional value? Or maybe you're supposed to write to the address given underneath? I prefer the witchcraft theory though. I like my pickled biological sample drinks to have a sinister satanic air about them.

On with the consumption. There is a slight froth formed when shaking that disperses quickly. There is a very mild horseradish like smell when opened. Time for the pour:

The bear sticks its head out of the cave.

Squeeze!

The money shot.

Isn't that beautiful? The chunk is too large to even fit in the liquid. Now that is serious chunkage.

Down the hatch. The drink is light with a slightly syrupy flavour. We then get to the chunk.

Guess I just have to eat it.

You’d tell me if I had something in my teeth, wouldn’t you?

Cross section.

The root is very soft, not chewy at all, and can be eaten without problem. It has a very mild almost spicy like taste, nowhere near as strong as ginger or horseradish or lotus root. It leaves a slight after taste and is refreshingly washed down with the remaining drink.

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Nostalgia Drink, Shikhye

2007-04-30T11:16:00.000Z

I previously wrote off the Nostalgia Drink – Soojeonggwa for its failure to deliver on its bogus chunky promise. I shall have to learn to identify the phrase "serving suggestion" in several Asian languages, or at least identify what it is they are suggesting I serve it with.

I'm glad to report that Nostalgia has redeemed itself here with the Shikhye. Shikhye is a Korean sweet rice nectar, usually served with pine kernels or dried dates floating in it and ideally suited to follow greasy or meat based meals. I’ve even found recipes (albeit confusing ones) so a home made version may be on the cards at some point in the future. The same drink is also reviewed here.

Here are the photos:

The Can:

The Pour:

Can Contents

The Settle:

Unlike Guinness it is best not to allow too long for the drink to settle before consumption.

Drink Up:

Chewing:

Remains:

Spoon required at this point.

The drink and the chewy rice are tasty, with a slight twang of the ginger content, and it has a more pleasing texture than the soggy cardboard like Rambutan Juice. Would have been better if it did have some pine kernels in it too, but a good alrounder.

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A Layman’s Guide to Chunk Drinking

2007-04-12T19:52:00.000Z

Part of the joy of drinking drinks with chunks is that you're never quite sure what you are going to get. The majority of them are of Asian origin and as my language stills don’t stretch outside of Europe it means I can base my purchase decisions only on odd bits of English that may accidentally make their way onto the packaging or visual clues in the graphic design. ("Is that a serving suggestion or is that stuff really in it?")

This danger factor is part of the attraction, and we at Drinks with Chunks are not the first thirst quenching adrenalin junkies to be drawn by it. The flashy looking but rarely updated Crazy Asian Drinks has been documenting the same car crash love of these unusual foreign refreshments since 2000, and together we hope to keep your rubber necking love of extreme soft drinks at bay.

If, however, you are thinking of stepping over into the dangerous and exciting world of chunky drink drinking, then let me offer this handy guide.

Step One: Identify a possible chunk retailer. Your best bet is a Chinese supermarket but any Far-Eastern food wholesaler is good, and Indian and Caribbean shops are also worth a try. Go in and head straight for the fridge. This was found in a Chinese supermarket in Spain. Drinks with Chunks are no respecters of geographical or language barriers.

Step Two: You need to identify possible chunk containing drinks. Some, in glass bottles, are easy to spot, and following that those that show very obvious chunks on the packaging. Also, the occasional English words that creep onto the packaging can give clues. Look out in particular for ‘jelly,’ ‘pearl barley,’ or ‘kernels.’ The can above was picked from a selection that included some coconut based drinks much like those reviewed previously. I hoped that the large round green thing pictured may contain chunkage but couldn’t be sure.

Step Three: If in doubt, shake it. In this case it didn't help but it can make you look funky in the shop.

Step Four: Buy the drinks (I like to buy in bulk so I've always got a selection in the fridge for chunk craving emergencies) and take them to a safe place.

Step Five: To fully appreciate the glutinous drinking pleasure of a good chunky drink you will need a clear work surface, a glass, and occasionally small hand tools for chunk extraction. As far as possible remove any extraneous distractions. You will also need a camera to properly document the experience.

Step Six: Shake, open, and pour. It's worth perfecting a technique of doing this with one hand whilst holding the camera in the other, just in case of a sudden slopping sludge moment, that makes a great capture. Good chunk p()rn also shows the remaining slops you couldn't quite squeeze out of the container, bukkaka settling action in the glass, and the string of pearls around the rim.

As you can see, the example can has turned out to be another sticky watery disappointment and at this point it is customary to weep.

Step Seven: Drink up. Enjoy the chunks. Roll it around your mouth. Get a feel for it. Taste it on different parts of your palette. Is it like anything else? How does it smell? What does the texture remind you of? Is it a true "meal in a glass?"

This was fairly sweet and sticky but lacked any distinct fruit flavour. Maybe just very slightly peachy. Nothing interesting to report in any other respect.

Step Eight: Scoring. Simple marks out of ten in five categories, see below. The only thing left then is to get the photos in the flickr group and write up the blog post. Easy as that.

If you think you'd like to get your lips around some chunky goodness and you're enough of an exhibitionist to want to share that with the world please get in touch as more contributors are always welcome. [gussetatgmaildotcom]

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Nostalgia Drink, Soojeonggwa

2007-02-25T21:56:00.000Z

If you'd asked me before I drank this what nostalgia tasted like I wouldn't have had a clue. If you asked me again afterwards I wouldn't have been any the wiser, except to say that Koreans think it tastes like syrupy cinnamon.

Like many other drinks tested here, this is a cool tasting tea like drink with a little too much sugar. The flavours are enhanced in this instance with cinnamon, ginger and persimmon, which is all very nice. But once again misleading packaging has let it down. To my eyes the can clearly shows two different types of chunkage; one large fleshy ruby sinker and three nutty floaters. However, nothing of the sort was to be found. Despite vigorous shaking there was no ruby red head to poke it's way out or little white tear drops to drain from it.

They say revenge is a dish best served cold. I say nostalgia is a drink best served lumpy.

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Apricot Kernel Milky

2007-01-08T22:08:00.000Z

I'll admit to not being to hopeful on the chunkyness of this can, even whilst stood in the shop, but I did think that the design was slightly less off-putting than previous drinks. But I didn't want to start too strongly only to flag a couple of cans into my alloted amount, so Apricot Kernel Milky it was.

Purdy ain't it?

Opening it I could see the lack of chunks, it poured smoothly rather than plopped, there was no need to shake, hit, then attack the can with sharp utensils spraying lumps of jelly up the walls.

Just liquid, unless the jelly crud was of very low viscosity.

On tasting the chunkless liquid my first impression was that someone was desperate for a white russian, but lacking vodka had used Morissons own brand ameretto (probably named amorrisetto buy their highly imaginative marketing department). My next thought was that cyanide probably tastes like this.

I couldn't stop myself from sipping this, although a large portion of my brain told me too, it was car crash drinking at it's finest. If there was cyanide in it at least the milk would mean my bones would be that little bit stronger for the twenty seconds or so I had left.

wrong:
1. No cyanide
2. No Milk

I can't begin to tell you how much I thought this was mostly milk, it tastes more like milk than UHT milk tastes of milk. That "y" is not some clever branding to make this more appealing to kids, it's there to stop them getting their arses sued.

Lacking chunks but could be good for supplying cyanide to the unsuspecting.

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Ilhwa Korean Red Ginseng & Daechu Juice

2006-12-28T16:37:00.000Z

Or 'Hongsam Daechu Red Ginseng and Jujube drink' as the translation sticker on the back proclaims.

Less of a drink with chunks and more of a drink with hanging murk this one. See the sequential photos of the slow moving sediment. I would have shot some video but my arm was getting tired, it was that slow.

Given the amount of sediment you would be forgiven for thinking the drink needed shaking, but it transpired that it reacted quite violently to this.

After waiting for the froth to die down a little it could be safely opened and dispensed without causing any further problems. It's quite innocent looking by this point.

Taste wise it's strangely like cola, only less shit. It's incredibly sweet and fairly moreish. The honey that crops up last on the ingredient list is still clearly identifiable. I can report that I was not consciously aware any of ginsengs reputed benefits nor did I suffer any of the alleged possible side effects.

It was just a nice tasting drink. It would have been better if it had some chunks though.

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Pearl Soybean Drink with Tapicca Ball

2006-12-16T16:04:00.000Z

Now that's more like it! Great chunkage here.

Slight issue extracting from can, ending in one chunk landing on the carpet, but well worth the effort.

Everything you want in a chunky drink. Good chewy content, nice soya milk flavour, perhaps just a little too powdery when you get to the bottom. Highly recommended.

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Maesil Juice

2006-12-05T14:30:00.000Z

Despite all the careful shaking and listening in the shop Maesil (Japanese Apricot) Juice turns out to be another chunkless disappointment.

The apricot like flavour is also almost completely drowned by the apple extract, making the whole thing into a kind of prepubescent (flat) cider. Oh well, plenty more to try...

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Rambutan Juice

2006-11-25T12:19:00.000Z

This Rambutan Juice was far too sweet for my liking. It was low on fruit flavour (like a heavily watered down grapefruit juice) and high in both sugar and artificial sweetener. Perhaps a little too murky to be able to appreciate the chunkage properly.

The chunks themselves were also poor, with taste and texture both like soggy cardboard. There was only just enough fibrous material to warrant a need to floss afterwards.

Its saving grace is the beautifully retro ring pull. A full health and safety audit may be required if you wish to try this yourself. Leave it to the professionals.

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Teaser

2006-11-15T12:34:00.000Z

We've been shopping. More reviews on the way.

Marks and Spencers - Orange and Mango Smoothie

2006-10-28T16:06:00.000Z

Ok, so it's a smoothie. It was never going to be good. There was a bit of fibre content to give it a little chewiness but why do they have to smooth it at all? Can't they see that in these days of super sized foods, like the Kit-Kat Chunky et al, there is massive demand for chunky drinks? M&S, get your self together and start selling the Orange and Mango Chunky we all so desperately crave.

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Grass Jelly Drink and Pearl Milk Tea

2006-10-28T16:02:00.000Z

Now we're talking. Famous House Grass Jelly Drink and Chin Chin Pearl Milk Tea, from an Oriental supermarket in Leeds. Thanks to Popcorn for the help with this one.

Now we're talking. Famous House Grass Jelly Drink and Chin Chin Pearl Milk Tea, from an Oriental supermarket in Leeds. Thanks to Popcorn for the help with this one.

The Grass Jelly was my choice, how could I resist something that may have grass in it? As it turned out it was quite cola like in flavour and the jelly like chunks tended to stick inside the can, so drastic chunk removal measures were called for.

Popcorn went for the Pearl Milk Tea, with its chewy pearl barley chunks.

Both were good but a little too sweet and became sickening after a while. They also didn't mix well.

Grass Jelly Drink

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Pearl Milk Tea

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Vita Coco - Coconut Water with Passion Fruit

2006-10-28T15:36:00.000Z

No chunks at all! What are they playing at? A severe disappointment. If you're after chunks, don't buy this.

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Roasted Coconut Juice

2006-10-28T15:29:00.000Z

I love this stuff. It's my soft drink of choice, a true meal in a glass, the drink you can chew. The remains shown in the glass behind are just what I managed to swill out of the can after I'd drunk it, so I could then eat it with a spoon. I drank the can whilst driving, which is admittedly a little dicey when you get a chunk of coconut in the back of your throat.

I first discovered this refreshing chilled delicacy in Mr Jerks in Soho, but they didn't have any on subsequent visits. I'm now pleased to report that the Chinese supermarket on St Thomas Street in Bristol has it in. Lovely.

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Drinks With Chunks

2006-10-28T14:36:00.000Z

Welcome to Drinks With Chunks. This is a blog about drinks with chunks in them. And that's all.