Kirin doesn't make just beer! The company also makes (and imports) delicious teas. Their tea products (called Gogo no Kocha meaning "Afternoon Tea"):
These all come in 1.5 Liter (51 oz) bottles, about 4-5 dollars in the states, and 11 oz (I think) cans, which are made of incredibly strong metal that you'd need a sledgehammer to dent.
- Kirin milk tea: ingredients are tea, milk, sugar and emulsifier to keep it from separating, this stuff is incredibly delicious. Mixing tea, milk and sugar just isn't the same... The label on the bottle is white, very nice design, and sports the infamous "Sunlight and mist turn a young leaf into tea. Tea can turn you into something new. Tea. A natural gift of love." moniker. A tip on drinking this tea: Take small sips. Strangely enough, it has a wonderful, short-lived aftertaste, which is almost the best part. Heavenly.
- Straight tea: Tea. What else can I say? It's tea. A little boring if you ask me, but it's good tea.
- Tea with lemon: Tea with lemon juice in it. If you like tea with lemon, you'll like this (kicks the snot out of that horrible Lipton bottled tea).
Annoyingly enough the only places I've found this for sale are:
- Porter Exchange in Porter Square, Boston, MA. One of the many Japanese restaurants has cans of this, $2 for the milk, less for the others (I think), to drink with your meal. Across the way is the Kotobukiya Japanese market. They have 1.5L bottles for $5.
- Online: Japanesesnacks.com and Asiafoods.com both have it (cheaper, $3 bucks or so). Although Jsnacks frequently runs out, as its very popular.
Why Kirin doesn't sell the stuff to the general American public? Who knows? I sure don't.