Xtra Ginger Zinger (Waitrose) By @spectreUK

I may have mentioned it a few times, but there are certain aspects of my job that could be considered as boring. My job has tedious meetings where I’m talked at for ages until I zone out and start to doze off. This can happen quite quickly, especially if someone turns down the lights and commits “Death by Powerpoint (other presentation software is available)”. I drink hot drinks like tea and coffee to try and keep me awake. I’ve even got some spicy ginger tea as a pick me up if the other two don’t work. I sometimes appear rude by leaving a meeting half way through to make a cup of tea and to clear my head. So I suspect a one stop remedy could help.
This Xtra Ginger Zinger from James White’s Zinger Shots range is made with real ginger juice to “wake yourself up!” It also states “Intense & Hot” on the front of the bottle. This drink has organic chilli in the ingredients, just in case the ginger juice isn’t enough to wake you up. It seems like this little ‘shot of horrors’ could be considered a kill or cure. If it doesn’t wake me up, it may kill me! This could possibly be one of those moments Cinabar always wants to catch on video when I eat or drink something that could provoke an interesting reaction. It is just after 9am and a prime time for dozing (been as though I couldn’t keep my eyes open for a while yesterday at this time). An open plan office probably isn’t the right place for this, but oh well, here goes…
On opening the little plastic bottle there was a nose hair tingling smell of ginger, but this was then dulled by sweet apple. I looked at the ingredients and then started to doubt how ginger hot this drink could be. I wondered if I should drink this down in two to relish the flavour or down it in one as a precaution to not wanting the rest. I opted for two and whoo… the ginger and chilli hit first and hard, instantly setting the inside of my mouth on fire. There was then a sweet apple cushion for my tastebuds to land on after their freefall, but the burn lingered and I felt it travel down my throat and into my tummy. The trouble was I still had half of the bottle left. This time I held the rest of the liquid in my mouth for a time until it felt like my eyes were bleeding (mere seconds). I downed it and felt the same lingering ginger and chilli burn in my mouth and down into my gut. The sweet apple juice seemed an afterthought this time as I just concentrated on sitting still and not shouting for help. The aftertaste was a mixture of ginger, chilli and a little of the sweet apple cushion, but the burn in my mouth and throat lingered for ages, and my nose began to run a little. This is definitely a hot and tasty wake me upper. No chance of dozing off for a while at least…
Information on the bottle;
The 70ml bottle contains 50 calories per 100ml, with 8.2g of sugar, 0g of fat, and 0g of salt. The ingredients included; apple juice 59.5%, organic ginger juice 40%, organic chilli flavouring 0.5%, and antioxidant ascorbic acid.