Thursday, April 24, 2014

Kirin Salty Lychee Drink (product information)


Kirin is doing some sort of promotion in which they talk about the combination of fruit and salt. I am very aware that salt can do a lot of things for various dishes, including boost the sweetness level of various types of fruit (watermelon in particular) as well as add complexity to chocolate and other types of sweets. However, for me, adding salt to a beverage with a sweet base turns it into something resembling an isotonic drink (like Gatorade). This is not what I sign up for when I buy a (hopefully) refreshing bottle beverage.

The inspiration for this is supposed to come from Thailand where pickled lychee beverages with salt are supposed to be a mother-made tradition. I get that information from Kirin, so I don't know if it is true. At any rate, each bottle apparently has a tiny little mother preparing a drink in a miniature kitchen for you so there must be some truth to it.

Kirin recommends some "recipes" if you buy this elixir. They say you can ice it up and crush a bit of mint into it, make ice cubes out of it and eat them, or mix them with seasonal frozen fruit to make a "punch". To me, no matter how you mix it, this has disaster written all over it, but then I'm not one for salty beverages.

3 comments:

Hirayuki said...

It's not too bad--not even "salty". I'm not sure I'd get it again, but it was refreshing like a salt lassi can be (minus the yogurt-y coating it leaves behind).

Orchid64 said...

Interesting that it is like a salt lassi. I'm not an enormous fan of lassi to begin with, and based on what you've said, I'm not sure I'd enjoy it! Thanks for sharing!

cyril said...

I bought this drink a week ago and it was quite delicious! The lychee flavour was nicely juicy and not too sweet. However I'd wish it were saltier.