✴ NO DELI ✴ » citrus

Ülker Çamlıca vs. Tamek Vişne Nektarı

*No/Deli* — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:07:57 +0000

If you can, imagine 7up as it was in the pre-HFCS era. That’s Çamlıca: Turkish 7up. But, for me, citrus flavoring and pine tree/snowflake imagery sorta contrast.

Tamek brand Sour Cherry Nectar is only 35% juice, but even hypersweet cherry juice is delicious, and Tamek cuts the recipe with lemon to compensate. Sadly lacking in carbonation, though.

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Interestingly, the can of Çamlıca provides bilingual information… in Turkish and Greek. I’m at a loss over this. Who’s the intended audience? Certainly not the few hundred Greek-speakers in Northern Cyprus, nor the couple thousand in Turkey proper. The Northern Aegean black market? I HAVE NO IDEA. It’s weird.

Meanwhile, Tamek pursues the standard Turk food-labeling language conventions, but diplomatically adds Arabic to the usual list.

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And then – the inevitable:

^^^ Mix ‘em up to create a slightly undercarbonated cherry-lemon hyperglycemic surprise.

Stoney Ginger Beer – “Soft Drink” PLUS & misc. etc.

*No/Deli* — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 20:02:00 +0000

I went on a little trip to The Republic of Indian Stream and I brought back such an obviously too-heavy bag full of soda/liquor bottles, that nice people kept offering to carry it for me. One guy finally insisted, so I let him carry it. Almost pulled his arm off. He said he used to sell powertools for a living, and that my suitcase was heavier than his merchandise samples ever were. :-D

I didn’t import everything that I saw. Only the good ones. Here’s some of more boring/bad drinks I tried:

Stoney Ginger Beer. Made by Coca~Cola South Africa, it’s surprising to find that this stuff is actually HOT. Certainly one of the ugliest cans around, though:

Full Throttle Energy Drink. Another Coke product. 473ml/141mg caffeine. Worth it?

7up PLUS Mixed Berry. Frankendrink with added juice (5%) added calcium (10% RDA) and added vitamin C (10% RDA). Also added Splenda® and added Sunett® (who the fuck ever heard of Sunett®?!?) sweeteners. Do they care if no one drinks this? Certainly this is the worst soda spin-off idea yet. Really terrible.

Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper W T F? Why?

Limca. Mysterious Limca. Ginger? Citrus? Nutmeg? Who knows?! Indians & Pakistanis think twice before repatriating when they learn that Limca is hard to get in the New World.

Dasani (water) With Lemon. Very rarely do I stumble upon something so completely undrinkable. Possibly one of the worst bottled beverages ever produced. Did they not test this stuff on real people at all? Sucralose nightmare! Sweetened water plus citric acid! Ack.

IRN-BRU – “Not A Source Of Iron. Scottish Soft Drink.”

*No/Deli* — Sat, 22 May 2004 19:54:00 +0000

The entire wikipedia write-up on IRN-BRU is fascinating, but here is the most vital statistic:

“Coca-Cola is the market leader for soft drinks in all countries of the world, except Scotland, where the locally produced Irn Bru is more popular, and Quebec, Canada, where Pepsi is the market leader.“

Allow me to leave the usual Quebec/Pepsi jokes aside for a moment, and address IRN-BRU, the “Scottish Soft Drink”. It is amazing to me that a “country” which doesn’t even have the benefits of, oh, self-determination can still muster up the nerve to declare an official “national” soft drink. Nevertheless, I appreciate the sense of oppositional brand loyalty that makes IRN-BRU so successful in Scotland. However, I find the stuff more or less unpalatable unless augmented by some quality gin. 50/50%.

Kickapoo Joy Juice – “The Original Dogpatch Recipe”

*No/Deli* — Sun, 07 Mar 2004 21:27:00 +0000

The name of this soda is, apparently,
a reference to the old comic, Lil’ Abner.

I don’t know anything about that.

It’s a ‘citrus soda’ – flavored with grapefruit,
maybe ginger(?) and it’s highly caffeinated.
It also has a distinct aluminum taste to it.
A venerable Americana-style drink
that’s been reinvented and distributed
by Real Soda. I can not imagine how this
has been marketed in Asia – but sure enough!

I thought the Lil’ Abner reference
was lost on me! How does this go
over in Malaysia or Singapore?

Limca – “a product of The Coca-Cola Company”

*No/Deli* — Sat, 31 Jan 2004 16:06:00 +0000

See Thums Up entry below.
Limca is in exactly the same olde stylee 300ml. bottle,
and is made by the same, multi-national manufacturer (ahem).
I am not certain that Limca ever had the same cachet
in India that Thums Up had though.

Nevertheless, Limca is a reasonably good,
somewhat dry “citrus” soda.
Plus, a really stylish logo: