I don’t normally do food reviews, let alone drink reviews, but well, this one is weird enough to justify it.

I was hanging out with a couple of friends at a polytechnic canteen recently when I decided I needed a drink.

I also decided to try something different.

At the fridge, my eyes kept coming back to this can drink with a rather unconventional design.

It looked like Chinese medicine.

Upon closer inspection, it wasn’t that far from the truth.

pi pa mi

Yes, if you’re Chinese and you’ve had a cough before, you likely would have tasted the well-known cough concoction called “Pi Pa Gao”. This, is “Pi Pa Mi”. The “Mi” refers to honey.

Well, to cut the long story of my decision-making process short, I bought it. You probably figured it out from the photo anyway.

When I thumped the can on the counter, the canteen auntie said “one-twenty”. Normal can drinks cost 80 cents there. I was already beginning to regret the decision.

After showing off my new buy to my friends, who weren’t just unimpressed - they gave me disgusted looks, I eventually had to open the can to drink it.

I poured the Pi Pa Mi into the cup of ice. It looked just like Coke, without the gas. Exactly the colour of Pi Pa Gao.

I generously asked if my friends wanted to try. No, they weren’t interested.

So I drank from my cup, as they stared at me with a slight grimace, probably half expecting me to keel over and cough out blood.

pi pa mi

Yes, it tasted like Pi Pa Gao.

Not exactly something you’d associate with a cool refreshing drink.

But after a few sips, and getting used to the cough syrupy taste, I decided it wasn’t that bad after all. In fact, I had this cool mentholy sensation in my throat. Not too bad actually.

I tried hard to convince the friends to try it. Just a sip. It’s really not bad!

“There’s no way I’m going to drink something from a can with two dead men staring at me.”

Fine.

I might buy it again when I have a sore throat.

P.S. Besides water and honey, there were a lot of other stuff in the list of ingredients, all of them multisyllabic and potent-sounding. I’m still alive anyway.