Chili-Infused ‘Hot Ice Latte’ Proves Big Hit in China

A coffee shop in Ganzhou, China’s Jianxi Province, has found success with a bizarre but innovative drink that combines the traditional ice latte with dried chilies and chili powder.

Jingshi Coffee launched its now-famous ‘hot ice latte’ back in December, as a tribute to Jianxi Province’s famously fiery cuisine, but the drink proved a big hit and the café is now selling it at a rate of 300 cups per day. Viral videos doing the rounds on Douyin (China’s version of TikTok), show café pouring the lattes in plastic cups before infusing them with dried chili and topping off the drink with chili powder. Those brave enough to have tried it claim that the drink is a bit more spicy than regular lattes, but definitely not unpleasant.

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At 928mg Caffeine Per Serving, the World’s Strongest Coffee Is Not for the Faint of Heart

Biohazard Coffee is recognized as the strongest coffee in the world. It has a caffeine content of 928mg per 12-ounce cup, which is more than double the daily recommended dose of caffeine and a lot more than most energy drinks.

The title of ‘world’s strongest coffee’ has been attributed to various brands over the last decade. In 2013, we wrote about Death Wish, a blend that promised 200% the caffeine content of the average dark roast, and then there was Black Insomnia Coffee, a brand that boasted a caffeine content of 702 mg per 12-ounce cup. But now we have another title holder, and this one is going to be tough to beat. Launched in 2016, Biohazard Coffee has established itself as the strongest coffee money can buy, with a caffeine content that makes it barely safe to consume.

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Miracle Drink Promises to Cut Blood Alcohol Level in Half in Just 30 Minutes

Safety Shot, a new blood alcohol detox drink set to launch later this year, promises to reduce blood alcohol content in less than an hour after consumption and make hangovers a thing of the past.

The global market for hangover cures is growing faster than ever, with experts predicting that it will exceed $6 billion by 2030. A fast-growing market usually means cutthroat competition, and that is certainly the case here, with hundreds of startups fighting to establish themselves as major players. One of the most promising companies in the field is Safety Shot (formerly Jupiter Wellness), whose upcoming product, set to launch in Q4 of 2023, has been described as “the biggest disruption in the drink market” to date and “the epitome of beverage innovation”. Its patented formula is said to be able to slash a person’s blood alcohol content in half in just 30 minutes, giving them a general feeling of well-being and reducing the risk of alcohol poisoning and even hangovers.

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Australian Gin Is Infused with Green Ants for a Citrusy Flavor Boost

Green Ant Gin is a unique gin made by an Adelaide distillery that is infused with green ants for an extra bit of citrus flavor and a hint of coriander.

Green ants have been a source of protein for Australia’s aborigines for thousands of years, and even though bugs are yet to catch on as food in the modern world, these little critters’s neon abdomens can still be used as a flavorful ingredient. Adelaide-based food company Something Wild came up with the idea of using the ants for their natural citrus flavor in a spirit that has won multiple awards since its launch in 2017. Created in collaboration with the Adelaide Hills Distillery, Green Ant Gin is made with Boobiala (a native species of juniper) as well as other botanicals like finger lime, strawberry gum, lemon myrtle, and pepper berry, but its secret ingredient is green ants, as evidenced by the handful of ants floating in every bottle.

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Company Is Working on ‘Synthetic Alcohol’ That Has None of the Negative Side-Effects of the Real Thing

London-based GABA Labs is working on a type of synthetic alcohol called ‘Alcarelle’ which reportedly provides the relaxing effects of alcohol without hangovers, balance deficiencies or any of its other negative side effects.

Gamma-aminobutyric acid, aka GABA, is a neurotransmitter that blocks certain signals in the brain, thus producing a calming effect. When alcohol reaches the brain, it binds to GABA receptors and produces the same effects, relaxing and calming people down. The problem with alcohol is that it also has other negative side effects, like hangover, movement difficulties, speaking and thinking problems, etc.  GABA Labs is currently working on a type of synthetic alcohol called Alcarelle that is supposed to provide all the positive effects of alcohol consumption, but none of the bad ones.

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Man Claims to Have Survived on Soda Alone for the Last 17 Years

An Iranian man claims he stopped consuming food one day in 2006 and has relied solely on sweetened fizzy drinks for energy ever since.

58-year-old Gholamreza Ardeshiri claims that the mere sight of food makes him nauseous and that he has been surviving on water and fizzy drinks like Pepsi and Coca-Cola for the last 17 years. It all started one night in 2006, when he woke up with a strange feeling in his mouth, one that he just couldn’t get rid of, no matter how many doctors he visited. In the end, he decided to shun food permanently and has been living a perfectly normal life ever since. His family doesn’t eat in front of him, because just seeing them makes him sick, and he gets all his energy from carbonated drinks. He drinks three large bottles of soda per day and insists that he never feels hungry.

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Japanese Hotel in Hot Water for Fermenting Drink with Bacteria on Employees’ Hands

A popular Japanese hotel has been forced to issue a public apology after it was reported that employees at its cafe fermented a citrus drink by using the bacteria on their own hands.

The AWA Nishiizu Hotel in Numazu, Japan’s Shizuoka Prefecture, has come under fire for putting its clients’ health at risk by breaking basic hygiene rules. On April 23rd, the popular TV show ‘Beat Takeshi’s TV Tackle‘ showcased how much Japan’s travel trends have changed in Japan by featuring a ‘health’ drink sold by a hotel cafe in Shizuoka. The orange concoction kept in large plastic jars was apparently a syrup made with squeezed summer mandarins and sugar, but the secret ingredient that set it apart from similar drinks was the fermentation process. According to an interviewed employee, the syrup was fermented with the help of bacteria indigenous to the human hand, so they would just stick their hands in the jar and stir it…

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GigaBier- Tesla’s Infamous $30 Beer

Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla recently unveiled an unexpected new product for its loyal client base – GigaBier, a special brew that comes in bottles inspired by its unreleased Cybertruck.

GigaBier was originally revealed in October 2021, to celebrate the inauguration of Tesla’s Gigafactory in Berlin. That grand opening was delayed for over 260 days due to environmental activists and permit problems, and so was the new beer. Things slowly got back on track, and Musk’s popular automotive company recently made its special “cyberhops” beer available to the masses. The beers come in packs of three, bottled in glossy black bottles with sharp edges that emulate the sharp shapes of the Tesla Cybertruck. One pack of three 330ml bottles costs a whopping 89 euros ($98).

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German Brewery Claims Its Beer in Powder Form Could Change Industry Forever

Neuzeller Klosterbräu, a brewery in eastern Germany, claims to have devised a way to create a powdered beer that, when mixed with water, tasted almost exactly like the original liquid beverage.

The global beer industry is massive, but it’s also one of the least efficient in the world. Transporting large quantities of beer bottled in heavy glass bottles all over the world is expensive, but what if you didn’t have to? What if some of the world’s most famous breweries could just ship their products overseas in powdered form, and the company on the receiving end would just have to add water to it? German brewery Neuzeller Klosterbräu claims to have come up with a process to create any type of beer in powdered form, alcohol and carbonation included. All anyone has to do is add water and they are left with a regular beer.

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Chu-hi-cha – A Unique Type of Tea Brewed From Caterpillar Droppings

Chu-hi-cha is the name of a new type of tea discovered by a Japanese researcher at Kyoto University. It involves brewing the droppings of caterpillars that have feasted on various plants.

Tsuyoshi Maruoka came up with the idea of caterpillar tea during graduate studies at Kyoto University’s Faculty of Agriculture, while researching the mysterious relationship between insects and plants. One day, a senior brought 50 gypsy moth larvae into the lab and told Maruoka that they were a souvenir. He didn’t really know what to do with them at first, but he eventually decided to at least keep them alive until he could decide, so he picked some leaves from a nearby cherry tree and fed them to the caterpillars. When cleaning the droppings left by the critters, he noticed that they had a pleasantly fragrant smell and was almost instantly inspired to brew them into tea.

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Kupi Khop – Indonesia’s Upside-Down Coffee Is Best Sipped Through a Straw

Kupi Khop is a unique type of coffee served in an upside-down glass on a glass plate and sipped through a straw. For obvious reasons, it’s also known as Indonesian upside-down coffee.

If you ever find yourself on the West Coast of Aceh, in Indonesia, you owe it to yourself to enjoy a Kupi Khop coffee. The unique serving method alone makes it worth a try, as even if you don’t enjoy coffee, you can at least share it on Instagram or on whatever other socials you prefer. Kupi Khop consists of coarsely ground robusta coffee brewed in a glass that is then turned upside down on a glass saucer. A plastic straw is then used to gradually extract the coffee from the glass without it spilling uncontrollably.

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Dumpling-Flavored Soda – Probably Japan’s Worst-Tasting Soft Drink

A Japanese beverage company launched a controversial dumpling-flavored soda that many are calling the worst soft drink ever created.

Gyoza traditional pan-fried dumplings are a staple of Japanese cuisine, but they are also the inspiration for one of the world’s most bizarre refreshments. “Gyoza cider”, or “Gyoza soda”, as some Japanese news outlets have been calling this abomination, is the creation of Nagai Garden, a refreshments company based in the city of Nikko, Japan’s Tochigi Prefecture. Originally launched in 2019, gyoza cider has been making news headlines and going viral on social media ever since, due to its unusually faithful dumpling taste.

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Bottled Water Jelly – A New Way to Cool Off This Summer

If you don’t like the watery texture of water, you may want to try to keep yourself hydrated with some water jelly, a new hit summer product from Japan.

I’m too old to spend time on TikTok, but every once in a while I deep dive down a rabbit hole only to find the craziest things imaginable. The latest such experience lead me to a short clip of someone buying a bottle of water from a Japanese vending machine. Only the water doesn’t flow as you’d expect; instead, it comes out as jelly, which apparently makes sense, since it’s something called water jelly. You can drink it right out of the bottle, eat it with a spoon, or top it with fruit and enjoy it as a refreshing treat.

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Green Peas and Pickled Cabbage-Flavored Beer Proves Big Hit in Iceland

An Icelandic brewery has been getting a lot of attention because of its newest creation – a holiday beer that tastes like green peas and pickled red cabbage – which has been selling like crazy.

Ora jólabjór, the beer that has taken Iceland by storm, is brewed by RVK Brewing in a modest Rejkiavik brewery with an annual capacity of 50,000 liters. Master brewer Valgeir Valgeirsson had already made beer from unusual ingredients like seaweed or even dried fish, so when he received a call from preserved vegetable company Ora about a possible collaboration, he welcomed the challenge. Traditionally used as a side dish for smoked lamb leg and potatoes at Christmas, the preserved peas and pickled cabbage proved an excellent brewing ingredient, as the first batch of the unusual beer sold out in just six hours.

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World’s Hottest Shot – Overproof Rum Infused With Carolina Reaper Peppers

When it comes to “spicy” liquor, you’ll have a tough time finding something hotter than this crazy combination of overproof rum infused with the world’s hottest pepper, the Carolina Reaper.

The World’s Hottest Shot comes in a deceptively small and harmless-looking 45ml bottle that you can just pour in a shot glass and gulp in one go. But before you do that, you should know that this is no ordinary drink. Not only is the rum overproof (over 63% alcohol by volume), but it also has also been infused with Carolina Reaper peppers for at least three months. The result is a barely stomachable concoction that is almost guaranteed to make you gag, sweat and scream in agony as you wait for the fire inside you to stop burning.

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