Schin Guarana

SCHIN!  Looks like a sound effect of some sort doesn’t it?  It’s almost a bike.  It also could be a misspelled body part.  Today though, Schin is a soda… and its full name is Schin Guarana to be more specific.  We’ve dealt with Guarana before, but just as a reminder here’s what it is.  Guarana is a climbing plant commonly found in Brazil that is especially good at producing caffeine.  The fruit of a Guarana plant produces about twice the caffeine as a coffee bean while being approximately the same size.  Now you have something to mildly impress your friends with.  Who am I kidding?  They’re gonna stop listening right after you say “Guess what I learned yesterday from this soda review site.”  Schin Guarana, from here on being called Shin, is indeed a Brazilian beverage brought to me by The Coolest Man on the Planet.  The can art that surrounds the liquid known as Schin would make Willy Wonka proud.  It’s resembles the colors you might find in a tie-dyed shirt… without the tie portion.  Schin does use real deal sugar so I’m happy to see that on the label as well.  Enough of this blibber blabber, on to the drinking!

Upon opening this 350ml can I get very little aroma at all.  Maybe if I knew what Guarana smelled like I could identify it, but I don’t so I’m sorry.  The only scent I do detect is that of bubble gum.  It’s not your pink bubble gum standard smell, but I can’t describe it in any other way.  If I practically inhale the beverage through my nostrils I can also pick out the scent of red delicious apples.  Again, maybe Guarana smells like bubble gum and apples… I have no clue.  Let’s move on to something I might be a bit better at.  Drink on.

Well that’s odd.  Schin’s carbonation level is lower than I expected it to be.  While many drinks go for the “numerous tiny bubbles to make your tongue burn” technique, Schin goes for the “less giant bubbles that just kind of fumble around” technique.  The taste I am greeted with is one of gum and apples.  It’d be crass of me to say that’s all that I can taste, but the flavor is more complicated than the words I can use.  I honestly think this is probably what Guarana tastes like.  I really need to become more familiar with Guarana (a word I’ve never typed so many times before in my life) so that I can better assess situations like this.  Schin is a tasty drink with a somewhat tasty aftertaste.  This is a bit sweeter, and fruitier than I like my sodas but I can see why it’s so successful.  I’m not sure you should pick up multiples of Schin if you saw it in a store though.  Perhaps just one and see if your love grows from that single seed.  That single Schin seed.

~A

Faux Fact:  Twist is the official everything of Brazil