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Chow released a great mini-documentary on a shop in LA that exclusively carries soda – Galco’s Soda Pop Stop! Indie soda lovers can order online through Galco’s site.

The documentary is about 12 minutes long and is worth every minute for a gander.

It started as an Italian grocery over a hundred years ago, but the love of soda from the current owner – John Nese – moved him to completely change gears and inventory.

Nese also makes some great comments on glass bottles, high fructose corn syrup (cane sugar is the way to go!), and diet drinks.

I’m a fan of chai tea, ever since it started growing in popularity 5-10 years ago. A quick trip to wikipedia reveals to us that “chai” is actually the word for tea in many south-asian countries. As a result, saying “chai tea” is a bit of a redundancy – what we refer to is more specifically “masala chai”.

Of course, the drink I enjoy is thoroughly westernized and probably tastes nothing like the real deal. Oh, how I relish my $4 iced chai tea lattes (er… masala chai) from Panera. A local chain also has a great brew of the beverage.

Now I’ve always been a bit tight-fisted with my money, but since I’ve been laid-off I’ve been stepping up by cutting out my Panera chais and Starbucks fraps. I stumbled upon this Mocafe chai drink mix at Marshall’s for $3.99 – for 10 servings per container that brings my drink to 39¢ a pop. A happy checkbook indeed.

You can get it at Amazon in boxes of 4 tins for about 48¢ a serving with their subscribe & save option. This way I can get my treat without the dread on my pocketbook! I’ll probably wait to see it at Marshall’s again, but I’m glad I can find it online if I run out and need a fix.

For a more serious from-scratch chai, check out this impressive concoction. It looks pretty intense – I’m not sure if my tastebuds can handle that!