I wanted to try it, but was afraid of the brown gelatinous cubes jiggling on top of the icy drink. What is it? I bought my first from a street vendor outside of Warorat Market this afternoon when I was feeling parched and hungry after my 20000 step forced march.
The first sip of the drink was impossibly sweet---egads, thousands of calories! It tasted like molasses mixed with milk. The jelly itself had a smokey quality, was not sweet. Maybe like tobacco-flavored jello, but without the sugar? I decided I liked it. The jelly--not the sugar water-- filled me up.
Grass jelly is available all over Asia according to Wikipedia, but is served differently in each country. It is made from the platostoma palustre plant, which is a relative of mint. It is aged, oxidized, boiled with potassium carbonate and starch, and then poured and cooled. I suspect that the plant's ability to jell is its most attractive quality, but I am rather fond of the smokey taste.
The molasses I tasted in the drink was apparently a raw type of sugar and of course the ubiquitous evaporated milk finished off the flavor profile. I would order it again, but hope the sugar water part could be toned down a few notches.
I have had those gel cubes before, don't like as well as the tapioca. Peggy
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