Russian soft-drinks explained: tastes like forests, rye bread, licorice, bubblegum

On Metafilter, Deathalicious rounds up links to some of the more interesting drinks mentioned in two videos by YouTube user 513755, explaining the various uniquely regional Russian and ex-Soviet soft-drinks.


A few of the drinks mentioned, with tasting notes:

  • Kvass – a strong sweet/sour beverage, with a definite flavor of rye bread.
  • Tarkhun – very pronounced herbal flavor, delicately tart. Unmistakable tarragon flavor (close to anise/licorice but "greener").
  • Baikal – tastes like a forest. Really. Strong evergreen and pine sap notes.
  • Buratino [link goes to origin of the name] – golden bubblegum soda. [Bonus NSFW Buratino Weirdness]

Russian Soft Drinks

(Image: Tapxyh.jpg, Wikimedia Commons/Yy-bo)