Samuride!

When I first arrived in Japan, energy drinks were just starting to catch. The Monster Energy drink had just made its way around, and slowly but surely, new ones started to pop up.
I don't drink coffee, personally, and yet there have been a number of times I desperately needed a little help keeping awake. Once in a while, during my college years, I'd line up energy drinks in the fridge and work on assignments during sleepless nights. Even in the present, I can't deny energy drinks are of a great help when I need to put out crazy energy to keep up with the kids.

 To get to the point, recently, a Japanese competitor to the energy drink scene has made an appearance. It's called Samuride. That's sure to light up the local market, right? I gave it a try. It costs just as much as the other energy drinks anyway.
 Though it does contain some of the more common energy drink ingredients, Samuride has a distinctive, bitter taste. I highly suspected ginger, and I was right, but only partially. The drink also prides itself in its use of traditional herbs such as Asian ginseng, star anise and jujube. Cool! Not that I'd think it's much healthier than the other alternatives.
 The packaging is pretty cool, though. Gritty!
 It ain't my favorite in terms of taste, but it's probably worth trying out if you're interested in an energy drink with the added local touch to it.