Salty Litchi

Brand: Kirin; Sekai no Kitchen (World Kitchen)

Cost 154 yen

Found At: Family Mart

For too long have I been ruled by fear. I have looked at the salty litchi drink on the shelves of my local convenience store and said: “not for me.” I have let my preconceived notions, made in ignorance, be my guide. But today, I overcame my fear – and discovered something new. Despite all my trepidation, this bizarre drink, advertised as the coming from the “Wisdom of Chengmai” is delicious. It may smell and look like laundry soap, but it actually tastes like litchi. To be fair, I think that litchi tastes and smells of laundry soap anyway, but here that odd nasal flavor is balanced by the sweet bitterness of grapefruit juice and the almost imperceptible sharpness of salt. And since the drink does actually have 10% grapefruit juice, I can pretend that I am getting some nutritional value from it as well. In short, not only did I enjoy this drink, but in drinking it, I grew as a person. I learned that if you challenge yourself, you may be pleasantly surprised.