True Ginseng is the source of a stimulant and supposed aphrodisiac that is extracted from the roots. It is native to China although closely related species, American Ginseng, occurs in Eastern North America and is sometimes substituted for the Chinese variety. Ginseng has a sweetly aromatic flavour. The basis of Ginseng's action is believed to be due to certain chemical agents in it that increase the brains adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) activity without involving the adrenal glands. A generalised mental arousal is thereby effected.

Neat tasting notes: this is very sweet, herbal with a lot of anise and caraway to start but you are then left with mint and chilli notes as a lasting impression.For a product that may not be a runaway success neat, it bears surprisingly well when mixing.To make this amazing drink at home, you need AGWA, tonic water, lime, ice, and a large bomb glass. It tastes really good. As with Coca-Cola, the makers of Agwa de Bolivia Coca Leaf Liqueur — the Bapco International Company of Dublin, Ireland — use an extract of "spent" leaves left over from a maceration and distillation process that removes the cocaine alkaloids. Bapco distills coca leaves shipped from Bolivia to Amsterdam, where Agwa de Bolivia is manufactured from a benign coca extract. Importation of the finished product into the United States is legal, although the U.S. version of the drink contains 32 milligrams of coca leaf extract, as opposed to the 40 milligrams of extract found in the European version. It was a hit over [at TT Roadhouse] as a shot and in mixed drinks," he says. "We're big fans of it."

I have a neighbor that's an ex-Tempe cop," Naegeli says. "And I've got him to where he loves Agwa, and one day he came down to the house and I had the mirror on the table and everything all set out, and he said, 'Rich, what're you doing?' and I said, 'Wanna do a lime with me?' Agwa is just the latest spirit in a centuries-old tradition of coca-based drinks. Coca leaves have been used in drink recipes for hundreds of years by the Andean peoples of South America, and the leaves continue to be a vibrant part of the culture. In Bolivia, a drink called mate de coca is almost as popular as tea and coffee. In Colombia, the Nasa Indians make and sell a brew called Coca-Sek, a carbonated energy drink containing syrup from boiled coca leaves. Hey, my friend brought this stuff," she says. "And I've been dying to try it. It's supposed to get you high. Everybody needs to do some with me." And he asked to borrow the mirror because he was having a party with his cop friends and wanted to have the mirror on the table to kind of freak them out. People want to know whether the drink will make them feel like they're on cocaine, or whether it's as strong as absinthe or Jägermeister. The effects of the liqueur vary for each drinker, but one thing's fairly certain: It's a potent brew. "The herbal liqueur we developed is different from any normal alcohol experience," Babco CEO Wilson says. "But responsibly, we suggest never to drink more than three."

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Simultaneously, the marketing campaigns behind Agwa have clearly played off the faux blow angle. Slogans have included "Alco-Jolt," "Melts in your mouth, not in your nose," and "lqdblo." South American natives are said to chew raw coca leaves with lime to release the cocaine alkaloids from the leaf, and many Agwa drink recipes include limes or lime powder. One marketing kit even included an Agwa de Bolivia mirror, vials of lime powder, and straws. The AGWA brand claims a longstanding heritage that honors traditional Bolivian coca leaf liqueurs, the first of which was produced by the De Medici family in Bologna in 1820. [3] Previous to this, however, the coca leaf had been used for thousands of years by the native South American population. However, they for the most part chewed the leaf; by comparison, the making of alcoholic drinks was of a more limited scope. [3] These older variants of the liqueur were enjoyed by many in anecdotal accounts, including Rudyard Kipling, who described the drink as being made "from the clippings and shavings of angels' wings". [4] AGWA itself claims to build upon this long-standing tradition of coca leaf infused liquor. Once you do drink it and have a couple shots of it, you'll feel a different feeling. Rather than actually getting drunk, you'll get a little buzz, like a drug high, but it's perfectly legal," he says. "The alkaloids that would normally test positive for drugs have been removed."