Essence of Chicken - is it soup?

I just took a swig of the what could be the weirdest Asian product I've EVER tried. Apparently it's "perfect for gift giving" if one were to believe what my mother tells me (and in fact, the bottles she gave me to try were regifted from my Japanese aunt)... if anything this is not just a Chinese thing then.

The packaging would have you know that this is all-natural and is made of the best quality chicken ever (KFC, this is NOT). This "essence of chicken" come in a small bottle of only a few of ounces - just as well as they also mention that once opened, it stays fresh in your refrigerator for only 24 hours or so.

One cool thing tho is that the stuff comes in a pretty snazzy unresealable container. It's glass but instead of a twist off cap, it's a metal ring that holds a seal in place - then you use the ring itself to give yourself leverage to pull off the cap. Weird.

Anyway, as for the drink itself... it taste exactly like what you'd think something called "essence of chicken" might taste like: sort of like an unseasoned chicken soup... I'm told they sort of boil chicken - bones and all until all the solids are completely liquified. Well, that sounds just about like making a soup to me. The only thing particularly strange is that this particular brand (called "Brand's" by the way; kind of the reverse of NoName brand, don't you think?) also added lingzhi... which, if you'd believe a Chinese medicine man, would pretty much infuse you with invulnerability or perhaps even render you immortal or something. Unfortunately, it also gives the concoction a bitter taste (like every herbal additive). Just as well, I didn't drink the whole thing and I'll polish it off tomorrow.

Maybe Super Mario was onto something after all, what with all those Mushroom power-ups. I don't recall him ever boiling whole chickens before in the games though.