Arriving at 2 am in Reykjavik on a Saturday, and deciding I did not want to join the throngs of people getting drunk on a very expensive beer, I found myself at a 24-hour market and headed in to see what a penny-pinching traveler might get.
I discovered a Pepsi would cost me $4, yes, $4, but an Orka would cost about $1, I decided to buy 2, it tasted quite nice and seemed to liven me up, so the next day I got two more.
I then had a very productive day of work, before deciding it would be interesting to research what Orka is, and apparently what it is is the most unhealthy soft-drink anywhere perhaps! NICE!
Apparently, Orka is so unhealthy there has been a public debate about whether it should be banned. Thankfully (for Orka anyway), they do not have to publish how much of each ingredient is in it.
Confirmed ingredients do though contain caffeine, ginseng, yes that ginseng the Koreans really like, and guarana, which is something from Brazil that gives energy/makes you high. Oh, and it contains sugar, a hell of a lot of sugar.
Allegedly the “strip club” Shooters is the best place to score actual drugs, but short of that a bottle of Orka will keep you going.
And I have to say, not only did it taste quite good (it is apparently the local version of Mountain Dew), but I guess the energy it gave me helped me have a productive day of work.
It also helped to wash down the taste of the Hakarl I had tried earlier. If you don’t know what Hakarl is, check out my 5 most disgusting foods blog. But to summarize it is a fermented shark that smells and tastes like ammonia/piss.
Reykjavik, you continue to intrigue me!