Invo Coconut Water: Coconut water is like the avocado toast of the beverage world, though admittedly it takes more effort to cut open a fresh coconut than it is to slice an avocado. Should anyone be charging $5 for a 16oz bottle of coconut water? Invo thinks that it can, but I disagree. I purchased this bottle as an alternative to a can of diet soda from my office's Byte vending machine. The drink has a clean coconut water flavor that is not so different than any other coconut water, at the end of the day. 2.5/5.0
drinks coconutwater invo coconut water 2.5 organic
A&W 10 Root Beer: I can't pinpoint exactly when it started, but sometime in undergrad (when I was severely overworked as most MIT undergrads are), I chose diet soda as my caffeinated-beverage-of-choice. I wasn't reliant on it the same way my classmates depended on coffee, but I knew it was an effective way to keep myself alert, and I was scared of the unnecessarily high sugar content of non-diet soda. It took me a while to acclimate to the off-taste of aspartame, but once I did, I started to try different die... (read more) 2.5/5.0
drinks soda rootbeer aw 10 root beer 2.5
Coca Cola Coke Zero Sugar: I'm in the Coke Zero camp (I.e., I prefer it to Diet Coke for its better depth of flavor and less metallic taste). Though, to be honest, they both pale in comparison to the more fully body Coca-Cola, which unfortunately has too much sugar. Apparently, Coke improved the flavor of Coke Zero while also emphasizing that it's a zero-calorie beverage through rebranding, for those who were unaware. I didn't taste much difference from the original Coke Zero which is neither good nor bad. So if you w... (read more) 2.5/5.0
drinks soda cocacola coke zero sugar 2.5
Kimura Fukumaneki Soda: After having previously reviewed yuzu soda from Kimino (a 5.0!), I looked up other distributors of the fantastic beverage and came across Umami Mart in Oakland. I decided to pay it a visit to see what other tasty snacks it might sell. Umami Mart is a largely sake-focused store that sells a variety of barware and ceramics. In the back of the store is where the snacks are, with products like Japan’s famed KitKat flavors and bags of Umaibo. It’s basically a limited selection of what you can get... (read more) 2.5/5.0
drinks soda japanese ramune kimura fukumaneki 2.5
Happy Lemon Lemon pineapple slush : I almost always get ~25% sugar when it’s an option. But I somehow forgot this time, and the pineapple slush was too sweet. Besides that, though, the pineapple had a lackluster canned concentrate taste. There are much better options at this normally reliable juice shop. 2.5/5.0
drinks slush nyc happylemon lemon pineapple 2.5
Gatorade Strawberry Lemonade Sports Drink: Tastes like a liquified version of watermelon Jolly Ranchers. Very little strawberry flavor, but the taste of artificial watermelon is strong. Contains no fruit juice but has both natural and artificial flavors. Curious what the natural flavors are. Purchased for electrolytes. 2.5/5.0
drinks gatorade strawberry lemonade sports drink 2.5