RSS FeedHaving tried a Burn energy shot yesterday, which tasted a bit like coughing syrup; I got curious about what other energy shots would taste like. I went out and bought an energy shot from a company called “Go Fast!”
Where the Burn energy shot tasted like coughing syrup; I would say that the Go Fast! energy shot also tastes like coughing syrup, but then the stuff one would use for kids. It’s not as harsh as the Burn energy shot, but it has a bit of an orange-like taste to it. To keep it short and simple… it smells and tastes a bit like a “normal” energy drink, but less sweetened and more concentrated (stronger taste).
Another note-worthy thing to mention is that the Go Fast! energy shot had a warning label which basically said ”Do not take more than 1 of these per day”. The Burn energy shot had a label that warned not to take more than 2 per day. So either this stuff is stronger, or is the manufacturer afraid that someone will take too many of the energy shots and completely freak out? 
“burn; new intense energy drink. Control your energy.”, said the advertisement, and being a big fan of energy drinks, of course I had to try it. Initially I regretted the decision, but now that the “rush” is gone, I feel that I can make a proper judgment.
I’m talking about Burn, an energy shot-drink produced by the Coca-cola company. It comes in a small plastic bottle (c.a. 50ml), which clearly states that an adult person shouldn’t take more than 2 of these drinks per day. I wonder how they measured that; since humans can vary anywhere between 1.5m and 2.5m (roughly). Logically you would assume that the larger person would be able to handle more drugs in his/her system.
Upon opening the bottle, I noted that it smells a bit like strawberries. The taste, however, was far from similar to strawberries. The first thing that sprung to my mind, when trying to find something to compare the flavor with was coughing syrup. Yes, I kid you not; this stuff tastes like coughing syrup. Not what you’d expect from an energy drink. As expected from a shot-drink, it’s a one-chug deal.
I can understand why they called it “Burn”, and why they placed the 2-serving warning on the bottle, because the effect was noticeable quite fast. Normally it takes a while for the taurine and caffeine to kick in, but with this drink it was pretty much instant boost. All in all, it wasn’t that bad; but it’s not even remotely close to the superior flavor of the green Monster energy drink. But I must admit that it's near to impossible to defeat the green Monster.
Imo it’s not worth getting for the taste; there’s much better ones out there. Since it’s a one-chug deal, it’s not really a good thirst quencher either. I probably would try it again sometime, but only if I need an immediate boost.
No words, just yummie food and a superb atmosphere with co-workers 
A dual review this week! The weather was hot, so I was a bit thirstier than normal. This week I will be discussing “Mizo – Guava Juice” and “Mizo – Ace”, produced by the Arrow Juice Factory which is based in Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Both are shipped in a large-capped 1.5 liter bottles and set me back € 1,99 a piece at the Anadolu supermarket in s’Hertogenbosch.
Guava juice.
Starting off with the Guava Juice, who’s main ingredient is, as you may have guessed, Guava (whoa, what a surprise!) The Guava is a fruit with a rather high Pectin level, which means that Guava juice is usually a bit on the creamy side. Normally I’m not a big fan of creamy fruit juices, but in this case it’s actually rather nice. The juice is sweet and well filtered, which is also a big plus for me. Due to the Guava’s fruit flesh texture, there are usually small harder bits in Guava juices, but in this case there were hardly any. I’d recommend this juice to any fruit-juice lover, and reward it with a 4 out of 5 rating.
Ace juice.
Ace juice is a combination of oranges, carrot and sometimes lemons, and is a popular drink to use with fresh sandwiches on a pick nick. The Arrow Juice Factory decided to leave the lemons out which, in my opinion, was a very smart move. Sometimes Ace juice is a bit on the sour side, which gives me stomach ache after a while. This juice, however, was not sour at all! You can really taste the oranges and carrots, but neither of them is dominant. In other words, a very good mix. The juice is sweet, but not too sweet, and fluid but not watery. I’m really starting to like these “Mizo” juices a lot, due to their good quality. Their Ace juice deserves a firm 5 out of 5 rating in my opinion, and I will definitely recommend it to anyone.
No, you’re wrong! It’s not a typo on my behalf. The bottle actually says “cocktial”. Anyway... this week I’ll be discussing Faragello - Natural Cocktail Nectar, a drink that is produced by The Egyptian Company for Food Development in Alexandria, Egypt; and comes in small glass bottles of 250 milliliter.
This drink is pricy! Holy shit! It set me back a whopping € 1,25 at the Anadolu supermarket in s’Hertogenbosch. Considering most drinks are about € 1,75 for 1.5 liters, and this one is € 1,25 for 0.25 liters; it is reasonably safe to say that this drink is heavily overpriced. This is most likely due to import costs.
The drink is a mixture of guava, apricot and peach; though, as with most of these drinks, the guava is predominant. The drink is extremely mellow and smooth, and leaning towards the creamy side. Remarkably enough, though, the drink is not heavy. It’s very easy to drink, almost frictionless. This is both its best feature, but also its biggest disadvantage.
Because the drink is so pricy, and easy to swallow; it will burn through your wallet in no time. In this case I will split my final verdict into two categories: the drink itself is a good 4 out of 5, but the price is a meager 1 out of 5. I would definitely recommend the drink if it was cheaper.
This week I will be discussing a drink I’ve been enjoying for a few months now: Star – Mixed fruits by International Beverage & Filling Industries which is based in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. The drink comes in a small capped “PET” bottle of 1.5 liters, which costs €1,85 at the Marmaris supermarket in ‘s-Hertogenbosch; so its average priced.
The label mentions that the drink consists of 9 different fruits: apple, orange, pineapple, passion fruit, apricot, guava, banana, mango and lemon. The banana, mango and orange are the dominant three though, which gives the drink a very nice sweet and mellow flavor. Combined with the soft feeling of the drink, this makes for a killer combination. The drink is soft and smooth, comparable to sports drinks like Gatorade, AA-drink and Extran; which means it’s really easy to chug down.
The ease of drinking it, combined with a very distinct taste makes this drink my favorite so far. The only downside is that the stuff is maybe too easy to drink. Without doubt a big fat 5 out of 5 rating!
On a side-note... the drink is even better if you combine it with these Turkish chocolate, cream filled cookies which are similar to Oreo’s, but are a lot cheaper and tastier. The cookies are € 2,25 for 10 packs of 12 cookies each. So that’s € 2,25 for 120 cookies!
Another week went by, time for another review!This week I will be discussing “Mizo - Mixed Fruits”, produced by the Arrow Juice Factory which is based in Jeddah in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Shipped in a large-capped 1.5 liter bottle with a large label, this bright red drink quickly catches the eye on a store shelf. The bottle set me back € 1,85 at the Marmaris supermarket in ’s-Hertogenbosch, which is about average for an exotic fruits drink.
Per 100 ml we’re looking at approximately 59.2 kilo calories and 14 grams of sugar, which is about average as well. So all in all, it’s an average drink? Wrong! This stuff is delicious. Even though the bottle says that it also contains lime, banana, guava, apple, orange, pineapple and apricot; the drink has a rather dominant mixture of passion fruit, mango and banana to it. The other fruits are noticeable, but this trio definitely has the upper hand on things.
In contrast to last week’s drink, which was kind of creamy, the Mizo mixed fruit drink is more fluid and soft. This is both a big plus, but also one of the two main disadvantages of this stuff. Because it’s so fluid and soft, you drink it much faster than you would do with more creamy drinks; and this stuff is kind of addictive.
My final verdict? A solid 4 out of 5. *slurp*
This is the first episode of a whole new series called “What are you drinking ?!?!” The Netherlands has a lot of immigrants, most of which come from Africa or the Middle East. To serve these people, a lot of small supermarkets exist in The Netherlands that, in Dutch street language, are often called a “Turkenwinkeltje”. I like these stores for 3 major reasons: First of all, I like Middle Eastern and African food. It suits my taste. Secondly, these shops usually have good products at very fair price (especially the fruits and vegetables). And thirdly, they are a great source for getting fruit juice.
In this first episode I will be discussing “Original” Mixed Fruit Natural, which is produced by a company called Gulf Union Foods in Riyadh in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The orange-red drink comes in large-capped bottles of 1.5 liters, and it cost me € 1,75 at a small Asian supermarket in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. It tastes pretty decent and modest. With some drinks you can taste the added sugars really well, but that’s not the case with this drink. It’s not a watery drink, but it has a bit of a creamy feeling to it. This, without doubt, comes from the very clear presence of Guava. I can also taste some mango, pine apple and maybe even a tiny hint of peach.
I like the modesty of the flavor, but the creamy feeling makes the drink a bit on the heavy side. Though overall it’s still a very decent drink that deserves a 3.5/5 rating from my side.
Right now I’m enjoying my meal at a restaurant called “De Beren” in Tilburg, The Netherlands. My dish of choice was the “Mixed Grill”, which consists of a tenderloin, a chicken filet, an entrecote, a sausage and half a comb of spare ribs served with some fries, salad and vegetables. All this goodness for the reasonable price of € 19,90; it just seems too good to be true.
After dinner, we’re going to watch the new star trek movie, I’ve heard good things about it, and so I can’t wait to see what it’s all about.
As Domino’s Pizza puts it: “Man hungry? Ding dong, Pizza !” As I was pondering on what to have for dinner, my coworker Oscar suggested Pizza. Hmmm… pizza… I love pizza! The only problem is that the Pizza parlor where I usually order my stuff is getting a bit sloppy, and the prices seem to go up on a daily basis; time to try something else!
I came across a site that provides the possibility to search for restaurants in your area that do deliveries. You can order the food on the site, and the site e-mails your order to the restaurant. This is a nice solution for restaurants that don’t have a website of their own. I browsed the site a bit and came across a place called Eetcafé Rafael.
The site said “Monday, pizza day! All medium pizza’s for € 6,-”. I had no idea how large a medium pizza would be, so I took a calzone pizza instead. My eye fell to the “Calzone Supreme”, which is a calzone pizza with shawarma meat as stuffing, which set me back € 11,50. About 30 seconds later I received an E-mail from the website, telling my that my order was placed.
Without doubt, I can say that this was the best pizza I ever had. I will definitely order at the restaurant again, and will recommend them to anyone. Eetcafé Rafael, you guys rock!