A Flowery Song

Background: Another drink with chunks of Nata de Coco floating in it, this one from Thailand and, according to the ingredients, pandan flavoured.

Nose: Sweet and reminiscent of coconut.

Taste: Whatever pandan is supposed to be, this tastes to me an awful lot like toasted coconut. Very sweet, slightly fruity.

Overall: With chunks of Nata de Coco and bits of aloe vera floating around, this is a defiantly textured drink. I had difficulty finishing the glass, as it’s quite sweet and the flavour is very one-dimensional.

Background: Lychee is a fruit. Nata de Coco is more interesting; it’s produced by fermenting coconut water with Acetobacter xylinum, a unique bacteria that synthesises cellulose. The result is a chewy, translucent, slightly sweet jelly-like substance.

Nose: Sweet, floral lychee.

Taste: Very sweet lychee. It’s got a good fruity flavour, but this is flavoured sugar water, not juice. The Nata de Coco is floating around as small cubes, approximately 3mm on a side. It adds an interesting texture dimension, but has a tendency to settle to the bottom.

Overall: I found it too sweet for my tastes, but other than that very interesting.