I could have died?!?! AKA 'How to make your own Calpis'

Ok, so last summer I visited that wonderful land we call Japan! It is indeed that land of the bizarre. Anyway they have a drink there called Calpis. (Known as 'Calpico' elsewhere in the world because, I am told, it sounds like Cow-piss. Not sure why this would be a problem in non-English speaking countries but there we are.) It is a milk based drink and comes as still (water) and, recently, fizzy (soda).

I fell in love [sic] with the Calpis Soda and have been craving it ever since. I even went to the lengths of going to buy it online but when I realised that including P&P it would cost me about £5 a can I regrettably gave up. I have since moved near croydon where there is a massive food store called Win yip. It sells various oriental food stuffs including: Calpis Water! alas, not the soda :( . I did however get the water and thoroughly enjoyed. However I now crave it even more. "Oh Calpis. Fickle is thy name!"

Whilst stumbling 'Japan' recently (for the uninitiated its a web tool which brings up various pages in the genre of which you are interested. See here) a page came up with Calpis and the news that Coca-cola are releasing their version in America called 'Vio'. Apparently it's not to the American pallet: see here. Looks like it won't make it here then. Sad times, or as my little brother says, "Too bad, so sad".

I also stumbled upon this:



Genius! So I gave it a go. Now granted I used Schweppes, not 7-up, so its not really a fair assessment however here is what I found. I came on here to say that it wasn't good and don't try it however during the time it took to write this I ended up liking it. Not good really. I suppose it's better for me then just lemonade. What does worry me is that whilst I was searching for the picture above I came across the following website: Yahoo!answers. It asked "Could drinking a glass of real lemonade after a glass of milk kill a person? Which president died from this?" WHAT!!!!! Lemonade and milk can kill me? All I wanted was a refreshing drink and now I'm going to die. After reading further I discovered that no president had died of this and that it doesn't kill you. It's based on an old wives tales that it makes you sick. Phew! I particularly liked the response by Major Eyeswater (lol) who said "Can you cite your source? To my knowledge, no US President has ever died from consuming lemonade and milk." A lesson to us all. As in panic raising questions and Theology alike, please cite your sources.

Till next time! Go and enjoy a nice glass of home-made Calpis!