Be Wary of Misleading Beverages
Few things are better than iced tea when the temperature turns tropic.
Unfortunately, too many of the pre-bottled varieties seem to burn your throat with the harsh sweetness of corn syrup.
For more taste and less treacle, try Honest Tea ($1.49). It comes in varieties from berry to a mix of mint and green tea that was sparkling in the mouth. Not only are these teas brewed rather than reconstituted, but they are just sweet enough to cut the bitterness without losing the flavor.
I should say now that I have a bone to pick about the underhanded -- if not downright dishonest -- beverage industry trick of listing calories per serving while claiming multiple servings per bottle, even though it's clearly intended for one person.
In the case of Honest Tea, there are only 34 calories per bottle, so it's unimportant. However, the new fruit smoothie line from Saratoga Beverage Company ($2.79 to $2.99) is none so figure- forgiving at up to 280 calories per bottle. The fruit juice blends taste fine, with flavors that include Mango Peach, Raspberry and Ginseng Zing, but I'll stick with Fresh Samantha's fruit juice blends, which have a richer texture.
On the other hand, Saratoga's orange-and-tangerine flavored sparkling water strikes a perfect balance between citrus and bubbles ($2 for a 12 oz. bottle). But stay away from Saratoga's Splash ($1), with flavors that include Orange Twist, Lemon Frost and Strawberry Mist. The label claims "naturally flavored spring water," which leaves you expecting plain water with a fruit finish. Instead, it's heavily sweetened -- a stealth sugar rush, cloying and annoying -- and 160 calories.
Another home of marketing miscreants is Beck's Bier. Beck's has a new mini beer keg, which sounds good at first: 5 liters of beer in a metal can for parties. But that keg goes for $11.99, while one and a half six-packs, about $10 at a non-discount package store near me, has more beer. What's more, the tap is on the bottom and there iis no pump,, so you poke a small hole in the top to let the fluid flow. But that means you can't conveniently keep it buried in ice, so the beer gets warm, and you can't keep the leftovers because of the hole in the top. To cap it all, Beck's claims the keg has 15 servings of beer by redefining the serving size to 7 ounces.
A better beer alternative is Hooch ($4.99 to $5.99 a six pack). This English import has the unlikely sounding but refreshing combination of malt liquor and lemonade. Sweet with a zip, it didn't impress me at first. But as the weather stayed hot, I found myself opening more bottles.
Another good summer drink is Glaceau's Fruit Water ($1.29). Unlike the Saratoga Splash, this is water with a fruit flavor, electrolytesto replace what you sweat out, and no sugar. The watermelon flavor was popular with my family, with peach-and-ginseng coming in second. Don't bother with the cranberry-and-mint, as it's worse than it sounds.
Less successful is the new skim milk from Farmland Dairies (about $1.09 to $1.49). The company wanted to make skim milk richer-tasting by removing much of the water. Still low in fat, it seems more like regular milk, at least until you smell it. Grass. It smelled like liquid grass, leaving me to worry that my jaw would start working from side to side, just like Bossie.
- BY : Erik Sherman
- SOURCE : The Patriot Ledger1999.07.21
|
Newsdesk