I spotted this at a 7-eleven convenience store in Singapore. Maeil is the brand name, and this is the "original" flavour, even though it is not a plain soymilk. The ingredients looked interesting (see image below for the full ingredients list) as it included "roasted mixed grain powder" consisting of oat, lentil, sprouted brown rice, soybean and quinoa. Furthermore, there was salt (important for a balanced soy taste), polydextrose (which apparently reduces sugar and fat while increasing dietary fibre content) and cellulose (added fibre). It seemed very healthy, so here's a taste check.
First off, I didn't take a picture of the contents, as it was a normal soymilk colour from what I could tell.
As for the taste, I liked it very much, except that I found it too sweet ironically. It contains 10g of sugar, which is probably just a tad bit too high for me. It was like a 50-60% sugar level for major milk tea brands (I'm thinking Chagee, HeyTea or Chicha Sanchen). But it was balanced out a bit by other factors described below.
What I loved was that it had a very fragrant roasted grain taste, reminding me of the Genmai Milk that I tried in Kyoto. The exact grain was like a mix between fragrant toasted genmai rice (or rice crispies) and toasted kinako powder (ground soy powder), but it leaned more towards the toasted rice side.
The salt balanced the taste very well, and the beany soy taste was also prominent and thick, so that the salt and toasted notes rested on a solid creamy body.
The salt and overall good balance helped to balance the sweetness, so it was not too cloying. The sweetness came across as having a somewhat maltose-like quality instead of the pure unhealthy fructose or sucrose syrup taste. I ended up finishing most of the packet despite not planning to due to the sugar.
The good news is that Maeil has other healthier versions, including a sugar-free option which has 2g more protein. I don't know if they all have that lovely toasted grain taste, however. They also have black bean and chocolate versions.
For reference, this is the ingredients list. You can click to enlarge the photo if you can't see the words clearly.
Other interesting grain-based drinks
- Osmanthus Rice Wine Milk Tea by Tastea
- Genmai Milk (mentioned)
- Purple Sweet Potato Latte
- Pulut Hitam Latte (black glutinous rice with milk)
- Barley & Malt Soymilk
- "Double Black" Soymilk (Sinin rice and black sesame soymilk)
- Roasted Barley Milk Tea with Japanese Mugicha from Saga
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