What’s strange to you may be common to another. The camel’s milk sold at Whole Foods, for example, may throw you for a loop, but that’s just because you haven’t grown up with such a product. Cow’s milk isn’t exactly a huge leap from camel’s milk, but unfamiliarity always glows brightest on the shelf.
So if you expanded your curiosity to stretch around the entire world, you may discover some drinks that would downright blow your mind. Likewise, there are drinks you yourself enjoy that would shock residents of other countries and cultures. And then of course there are drinks that are bizarre and goofy to shoppers everywhere. So let’s jump into the wild world of drinks you don’t see every day.
Water Salad
Naturally, such a curious product comes from the Japanese arm of Coca-Cola, and it even comes in six different flavors. It honestly seems like a health drink in a dystopian sci-fi flick.
Eel Soda
Eel is the selling point here, not the secret ingredient. Unagi soda reportedly tastes like kabayaki. So if you love grilled eel in soy sauce, and it’s a hot summer’s day, guess what is about to fix everything about your life? This. Drink.
Baby Mice Wine
This absolutely looks like a high school science experiment, one that hasn't obviously gone right or wrong. In its production process, newborn mice (three days or younger) are drowned in rice wine, and after 12 to 14 months, the drink is made available. Batches vary severely, as a bad one will straight up taste like gasoline.
Pizza Beer
Made by Mamma Mia!, the "World's First Culinary Beer" debuted in 2006 and the taste has likely still not left everyone's mouth—not a bad way to live either. It started at the Seefurth Family’s home brewery in Illinois with a surplus of tomatoes and a bag of garlic. But that idea grew and tremendously evolved into a legitimate boozy recipe. A margarita pizza is put into mash and steeped like a tea bag. It's then filtered into a brew pot and boiled, with hops and spices added in a cheesecloth-like bag. In the end, voilà, pizza beer! Honestly, it’s quite the way to cut back on expenses, no longer needing to buy pizza and beer.
Panda Dung Tea
When it comes to green tea, you likely think of a pleasant scene of you relaxing between careful sips—and poop is absolutely nowhere to be found. Well, in a special blend debuted by wildlife expert An Yashi, the two are one in the same. Since pandas have poor digestion, only absorbing roughly 30% of what they consume, their dung is rich in fibers and nutrients. It’s surprisingly high quality actually. As of a few years ago, it was speculated to be going for $35,000 per pound.
Seagull Wine
You're likely unfamiliar with trends and interests within the Arctic Circle, and this one’s a doozy. The recipe is easy, since it's simply keeping a dead seagull in a bottle or jug of water and allowing it to ferment in direct sunlight. Not totally sure what the buzz is like, but it's likely safe to assume it's strong.
Gau Jal
Also referred to as Cow Water, Gau Jal came about in India as a healthier alternative to soda. It's believed that cow urine has the potential to address several diseases and thanks to the Hindu organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, it was made viably marketable.
Peruvian Frog Juice
While it may not be a go-to health drink in the United States, like kombucha or a smoothie, residents of Bolivia and Peru toss a frog in a blender—a skinned Titicaca water frog, to be exact. The frog's not alone in the blender, though, as ingredients such as carrots and honey are included as well.
Bird’s Nest Drink
You may have heard of bird's nest soup, but the key ingredient isn’t just for sit-down meals. The bird nests of Southeast Asia's edible-nest swiftlets are created with solidified saliva that's believed to be very nutritional for humans—high in calcium, iron, magnesium, etc. Given that we’re an increasingly on-the-go species, a bird’s nest drink was inevitable.
Snake Bile Wine
This is an intense drink and it’s not just because of its name, which is wholly accurate and definitely not a gimmick. If it’s made for in-restaurant consumption, rather than bottled for sales, the delicacy beverage is prepared before you at a restaurant when the dedicated employee slices open the gallbladder of a live cobra. The bile is then mixed with rice wine, making for a green-black cocktail that's supposed to offer health benefits, such as enhancing male virility.
Three Penis Liquor
If you're a fan of The League, you’re already familiar with this wild concept—though Taco was pitching wine. However, it’s, in fact, totally real, and that may come as a rather huge surprise. The not-so-secret ingredients of Tezhi Sanbian Jiu are deer penis, dog penis, and seal penis. Given the a long-standing belief that consumption of severed animal penises can mean a more dynamic libido in males, maybe this isn’t so shocking.
Placenta Smoothie
As one of the most empowering drinks around, placenta smoothies have seen an uptick in popularity in recent years. So it’s not exactly a drink you’ve never heard of, but we simply can’t leave it off this list. New moms have reported impressive health benefits accordingly, including more energy, lower blood pressure, and reduced post-natal bleeding. There aren’t really any drinks to compare it to. Seriously, how often do you have the chance to drink your own body part?
Diet Water
The world is so impossibly confusing at times. This doesn’t make any sense. Diet water is like dividing zero! Or I think so anyway. I’m honestly not sure if that simile tracks. I took pre-calculus my junior year of high school, my senior year of high, and my freshman year of college and scored an increasingly worse grade each time. *sigh* This is Diet Water’s fault!
