The Wonders of... Calpis?!

I'd like to take this time to talk about the wonders of Calpis （カルピス）, a Japanese drink:
According to the carton currently sitting on my desk, Calpis is "A Refreshingly Sweet and Tangy Beverage with a Hint of Citrus Flavor". Personally, I think that the flavor cannot be captured in words... its something that you just have to taste for yourself. The closest approximation I can come up with is if you had a drink with the consistency of water that tastes kind of like sour yogurt (but not in a gross way?)... actually, I give up trying to describe it. o_0 Obviously, it's actually much easier to describe the flavored versions. Aside from the original flavor I've tried mango, peach, strawberry, and lychee. Out of the flavored ones, mango is definitely my favorite.

For those of you who have not tried some before (flavored or non-flavored), I highly recommend it. Although I enjoy drinking the kind that comes in the can/plastic bottle, I highly prefer the kind that comes in the carton. The ones that are pre-diluted are not tangy enough for my taste. However, the kind that comes in the carton is just the concentrate. Thus, I can dilute it myself and create the perfect flavor (at least according to my taste, haha)...

So you may be wondering how exactly I came to be familiar with a drink that cannot be found anywhere but the nearby Asian grocery store... it's a somewhat long story, but here's how I was introduced to the wonder that is Calpis:

Here in Columbia, I am part of La Liga Filipina, the university's Filipino culture group. Every year around the end of October we host an event called "Halo-Halloween", where we and the other Asian culture groups at Columbia serve Halo-Halo (or in the other groups' case each respective group's culture's version of it) to the university community. For those of you who don't know, Halo-Halo is a Filipino dessert where one takes shaved ice, evaporated milk, ice cream, and whatever else one desires, then mixes it all and eats it. During the event, each group offered their own version of the dessert. And at Columbia Japan Society's table, they were offering cups of shaved ice mixed with... you guessed it... Calpis.

Although I was skeptical about trying it at first (I had never seen something like it before), after trying it it became an instant favorite. In fact, I remember going back at least 5 times for more of CJS's Calpis/shaved ice mix. Eventually the person manning their table told me that if I liked their Calpis that much, I should buy some bottles of it for myself. He was kind enough to tell me the closest place I could go and buy some (it's actually a few blocks down).

Since then, I've never been without a can/bottle/carton of Calpis in my refrigerator...

For those of you who have been inspired to try this wonderful drink, you can find some at M2M on 115th, or you could go down a few blocks to JAS Mart (they sell some there too).