That’s just me drinking chinotto (same name as the fruit the beverage is made from, myrtle-leaved orange in English, not that anyone calls it like that) from a bottle… with a straw. Yes, that’s not beer like some ask, and I’m really drinking from it with a straw for some reason. It was about three years ago in a bar at night in the open, I’m 20 now and I still look like I’m thirteen.
TF is Chinotto?
Chinotto [kee-NOT-toe] is an Italian drink with mysterious origins, like the fruit. Should be called like that because it is speculated to have been imported from China somehow, but it could also be from anywhere in the Mediterranean. You can have it either concentrated or orangeade style, looking black or like watered-down cola respectively.
I’m drinking the Lurisia one you see from this page which is supposed to be “true” one since it’s from the province it was originally made in, where I’m from. Lurisia is an historically serious, somewhat more expensive and representative brand. Think of what San Pellegrino drinks are to, I don’t know, Dasani water…
It’s popular in the Ligurian and French rivieras, and apparently in Malta. To me it’s very Italian so I see it as something from here exclusively, can’t imagine some French dude going “ah, I want to drink le chinotto” nonchalantly
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What does it taste like?
If you’re British you might know about Vimto, the soda that tastes like intense bubblegum and is pretty viscous, whose Arab market version I sometimes buy from an ethnic shop. Think of it as natural-tasting, close to orange, not bitter at all, with Coca-Cola density, slightly carbonated. Goes well with ice in the glass IMHO, and only the concentrated version/the extract one is slightly bitter but not invasive. Like a rough lemon, a cross between a normal one and an orange… pretty much what it is. And not that close to actual myrtle in taste.