EDIT: Back to the main post though, I have one of the Bloodbag drinks I will be trying at work. A friend saw one and grabbed it for me.

It was very wierd. The taste was fine, but as a texture freak the consistancy was difficult to swallow. I don't suggest trying to drink it at room-tempurature, that may have had something to do with it.

It seems like mimicking the texture and temperature of blood would only appeal to the people that like drinking blood, which I'm going to assume is a statistically insignificant portion of their target demographic.

Oh ye of little imagination

I'm sure they weren't exactly going for the mass market with the product. I've heard^tm that some goth/emo/vampire type people are into the whole bloodletting and subsequent drinking of the blood. Well, I'm sure that provides limited refreshment, and thus the reason for requiring full bags. Does seem odd that they wouldn't try and replicate the taste at all, there is something about that coppery tang to blood...

If you're a really rich Essence-impaired individual, the answer - as always - is magic. An initiate with Invoking and access to Guardian Spirits can get the spirit to use Endowment to grant Sapience to a box of kittens. Now you can feed off of their Essence since they're Sapient. Various Asian recipes are available, or substitute with dog for variety.

Joking aside, I had a Norse tradition vampire magician that used this trick to keep his small group of vamps fed without endangering the non-Infected members of their little Norwegian commune.

This thread refreshed an old memory for me; a while back, when I could wear fang-caps, I went to a Halloween party as a "corporate vampire" (before I ever heard of VtM), dressed in my very-nice tuxedo, and I brought a cooler. A friend who was a nurse at the time got me a clean, empty IV bag which I filled with red Kool-Aid. Occaisionally during the party, I'd break out the bag & sip from it. Most of the people there got the joke, and I made a few of the party-ers wince.

Do you think it would have been better cold or warm? I mean blood should be around 98ish degrees or so (I would imagine), so maybe that would be optimal drinking temp.

It definately would have been more blood-like, but the fluid itself lacks any flavor resembling blood. Back in my more youthful days, I was in to interesting things. The taste difference was wierd. It's like eating marshmallows, but tasting roast duck. The difference of taste from texture is very offsetting.