I do have to apologize for lack of images. I took the pictures with my camera, then drank the tea and made notes, and then I deleted the images before I uploaded them. I plead post surgery brain drain.

The Pom White Tea and Wildberry is a “light” drink. It has only 35 calories an eight ounce serving, or two servings per bottle. It has to be refrigerated and  you should be able to find it in your refrigerator section.

Although I saw no mention of artificial flavors I got that funny feeling in the back of my neck that I get when I drink things with aspartame or sucralose (etc) in them. Not a full blown headache, but a stiffening of the muscles just where my head and neck meet. If you are concerned read the bottle carefully…I may have missed it being listed as an ingredient.

The flavor was refreshingly tart with the slightly acidic white tea flavor hitting me first, followed by the tart pomegranate and then finishing with the sweet wildberry/blackberry flavor. It was more white tea than juice in flavor, nice and refreshing and light. I thought it would have been great with club soda added to it for fizz and a strawberry tossed in the glass.

This one gets a 3 on the flavor scale. I think I would have liked more intensity in the fruit.

image:sxc

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This is not the Enviga drink they came out with a few years ago..nope..this is seriously green tea flavored Coca Cola. Supposedly you can have the real thing and get your health groove on at the same time.

Is it still the Real Thing?

Now, I have a son that is stationed in Northern Japan so you can bet I am going to ask him to try this stuff..or maybe send me some of it. I like Coke, I just can’t figure out why they want to keep adding weird stuff to it.

Green tea?

And..not to be outdone Pepsi is countering with a Basil infused Pepsi.

Now, let’s see if  RC adds cilantro.

You can read more about this in  MSNBC

image:sxc

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A few weeks ago I saw Pepsi Throwback in my local grocery store. In case you haven’t heard, several of the companies are coming out with retro-style soda (wow, it was hard not to type coke there..I call everything coke…) that is made with sugar.

Now, Dr. Pepper has always made sodas with natural cane sugar in glass bottles. You probably can’t get them everywhere but you can here. They are bottled in Dublin Texas. We have been there and it is a cool day trip. The thing is, I am convinced that corn syrup with it’s GMOs and other nasties is bad for you. I know that it tastes different. I was, therefore, excited to try the Pepsi Throwback.

It has that clean taste that I remembered. No cloying sweet residue on your tongue, bubbly, slightly spicy…just like it used to be. It’s worth getting a twelve pack of it if for no other reason than to taste for yourself what real Pepsi whould taste like.If only it was in glass bottles….

image:marye audet

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O.k..so this isn’t coffee.  Or tea.  Or even hot chocolate or Italian soda…But I will tell you what it is…

Really daggone stinkin’ good.  I have been quasi lowcarbing (that means, if you must know, that I am low carbing when it is convienient, most days, when I think about it) and low carbing makes ya really thirsty.  I was picking up a few things at  my local healthfood/fresh vegetable market the other day and saw this..since I could not have the Reed’s Extra spicy Jamaican Ginger Ale (carbs) I took the MetroMint Peppermint water (no carbs).

WOWWEEEE. I love this stuff.  You don’t taste anything and then all of a sudden that peppermint rush hits you and it feels like one of the old York Peppermint Patty commercials. I am SO serious!  0 carbs…0 calories… lots of yum.

Image:Amazon

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Sometimes you want something besides sweet tea or lemonade.  This is absolutely the best slushy drink in the universe, and you can vary the juices to suit what you have or your own taste.

Sweet Tea Punch

1/2 cup sugar or to taste
2 cups sweet tea
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 c key lime juice
2 1/2 cups orange juice
2 cups pineapple juice

4 cups ginger ale or cream soda (not red)

Freeze the first six ingredients.

At serving time thaw the frozen juice enough to become slushy and add the gingerale or cream soda.  Serve garnished with a ripe strawberry.

makes about 24 cups

Image:MaryeAudet 

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So, we are talking about lifestyles in bloom here at b5Lifestyles. There are all kinds of things in bloom right now and many of them can be made into beverages. How’s that for a smooth transition?

Seven Chillin’ Summer Beverage Recipes:

1. Apartment Therapy has a suggestion for elder flower syrup.
2. A just found this blog and I will be back. FXCuisine has a recipe for a dandelion flower syrup.
3. Airy Fairy has a lavender, lemon and mint iced tea.
4. Pink Lavender Lemonade
5. Lavender Mint Tea Punch
   
6. I don’t even know how to title this..you just have to look.
7. Lassi with Rosewater

And….Seven Floral Teas to Try:

1. Jardin du Soleil Lavender Chai
2. Stash Chanakara Blue Ginger
3. Golden Moon Jasmine Pearls
4. SpecialTeas Green Spring Thunder
5. Harney and Sons Chinese Flower
6. Numi Sweet Meadows
7. Blue Flower Earl Grey
   

You can also read why you won’t be seeing flowering teas on this post:Why I Don’t Buy Flowering Teas

You can check out my list of 50 of the Best Edible Flower Recipes Ever on BAking Delights and be sure to check out other channels for more Lifestyles in Bloom.

Images:Marye Audet

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I don’t often drink cokes anymore.

Now, when I say that you have to understand that cokes is a generic word for sweet, fizzy drinks.  Here in Texas you go to the Whataburger, and they will ask what kind of coke you want.  Dr Pepper? Root Beer? Cola? Sprite?

So, I have the occasional Italian Soda but nothing more than that..usually.  I am addicted to ice water. I drink gallons of it a day.  I seriously carry around a quart mason jar and keep it filled with ice water at all times.  I have a 5-6 lb a day ice habit.

Yes..I am anemic. Yes I know that chewing ice is a sign of anemia. Yes, I know it is bad for my teeth.

All righty then.

Cokes seem very sweet to me.  However, I saw the Java Pop and I was curious.  It is organic, Fair Trace and the coffee used is Green Mountain. I thought..Hmm..why not? I grabbed the mocha flavor (there are several flavors) and chilled it to perfection.

Ewww. I would not drink it on a train, I would not drink it in the rain.  I would not drink it on a boat, I would not, could not with a goat.

I did not like it.  The chocolate part of the mocha had a weird chemically taste, like it wasn’t real chocolate.  It was sweet. not overly sweet but the aftertaste was not great either.

SO, if you want something cold and fizzy…have a coke.  Whatever kind you prefer.

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Image:Morguefile 

One of the big favorites at our tea room was an Italian Soda, or Cremosa. What are THOSE you ask? Only the best cold fizzy beverage in the universe, and possibly beyond. You make them at home, flavor them your way..and pretty soon you have a hot weather addiction that is almost as incredible as your coffee/tea addiction.

Basically you take 2 ozs of Monin, Da Vinci, or Torani flavored syrups and put it in the bottom of a frosted glass. You add ice and club soda and stir. That is the basic edition. We always added a generous amount of whipped cream on the top with a cherry.

A cremosa (some call it a French soda) is made the same way, only you would add about 4 oz of half and half or heavy cream to the glass before adding the club soda. Don’t forget the whipped cream and cherry on top.

Absolutely, you must drink it with a straw.

So now, what kinds of flavors? Well, that is limited by your imagination and ability to procure the flavored syrups. Here are a few combinations we like:

• strawberry- banana
• mango-mandarin orange-green tea
• blueberry- vanilla
• blackberry-white chocolate
• toasted marshmallow-coconut
• Lavender-lemon
• granny smith apple-caramel
• peach-passionfruit

We sort of made them up as we went along..and any of the flavors can be made into cremosas by adding the cream. Here is an article that I wrote with more recipes for Italian sodas and other healthy alternatives to cokes.

So o.k..there is a calorie or two in there. I admit it.
I prefer the Monin syrups..but you can use whichever you like. Give them a try..Let me know what you think. Just be sure to keep your glasses in the freezer to have that soda fountain/coffee shop iced glass that is so awesome for serving these!

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So..when have you heard that before?

I think it is lame.  When a small, socially ethical company sells out to the big monopolies…(whooops…I mean conglomerates, monopolies are illegal aren’t they?  ) and then says that it was so that the social mission can touch even more people…

..honestly it makes me gag. Honest Tea is selling out to Coca Cola for a reported 43 million.  Now, that 43 million only buys 40% of the company…..which is good and all…I mean  Seth Goldman, co founder of Honest tea says “Coca Cola’s vast distribution network and manufacturing prowess will help his company expand its social mission”(Baltimore Sun).

C’mon guys..it is about the money.  Let’s not play Hide and Seek in Never Never Land, o.k.?

Which is fine. I mean faced with 43 million I would probably sell my company, if I had one, too.  In fact…right now..$43,000.00 would get my attention in a big way. I admit it. I would so sell out to the establishment…And I would do it while listening to Joan Baez, too.  Without thinking twice.  But…and this is important..I would admit that the only mission that I was interested in was getting out of my current ‘hood.

I like supporting small companies.  I like promoting them here when I can. But you have to read the small print…an awful lot of the time small companies end up in the sack with big companies..and all of a sudden instead of supporting Burt’s Bees you are supporting Clorox.

So, does it mater to you? Will you, if you have bought Honest Tea in the past, stop buying it because Cocoa Cola is now Sugar Daddy?

Coca Cola has been in many lawsuits for various things, the most significant to me is the 2003 lawsuit filed by a Colombian Trade Union, Sinaltrainal, calling for a boycott of Coke   products because of intimidation, kidnapping and murder of workers in Coca Cola bottling plants.  The suit was filed with the help of the United Steelworkers of America, but was later dismissed because a significant amount of the evidence did not happen within US jurisdiction.

There is more than that that has happened, but you get the idea of what I am saying.  So, what do you think? Will you continue to buy from a small company that “sells out” to an unethical company? Does it matter?

Image:Morguefile 

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Ultrapasteurized milk is subjected to very high heat to kill bacteria and other microbes.

That’s good, right?

Well, no. Not really. You see it also means that the milk has a really long shelf life. Like your nuked milk that is in your lovely organic coffee right now? Probably months from the cow. You can’t even make cheese with ultra-pasteurized milk.

And it doesn’t taste like milk. It tastes like…

yeah.

In the battle for healthy, pure, and just really good food please know what you are drinking.

I wrote an article called,Ultrapasteurized:What Does It Mean? I don’t usually push my other articles here, but this one is near and dear to my heart. Please read it. Please research on your own. Here is an exerpt that I want you to read even if you don;t read the rest of the article:

If drinking tasteless milk is acceptable to you maybe the health information won’t be. You see, milk has both friendly and unfriendly bacteria in it. For the most part milk produced in clean environments, with careful farming practices does not have an over abundance of unhealthy bacteria, and in the small amounts actually help our body build up a resistance to illness, while the good bacteria keeps our bodies healthy and working properly.

Pasteurization also cuts the nutrient content of the milk. Pasteurized milk has up to a 66 percent loss of vitamins A, D and E. 50% of the Vitamin C is lost. High heat affects water soluble vitamins and less effective. How much less? Anywhere for 35-80%. Vitamins B6 and B12 are completely destroyed during pasteurization. Pasteurization also kills numerous beneficial enzymes, antibodies and hormones. Pasteurization destroys lipase (an enzyme that breaks down fat), which impairs fat metabolism and the ability to properly absorb fat soluble vitamins A and D. This is why the milk is fortified with vitamin D. It is also why Americans in the 20th century experienced high cholesterol like never before. Milk is a wonderful source of calcium, but pasteurization makes calcium and other minerals harder to absorb. One method of testing to see if milk has been adequately pasteurized is to test to make sure that phosphates have been completely removed. Phosphates are essential for the absorption of calcium. Uh oh.

Now, go find milk that  is not ultra pasteurized. Here’s to your health.

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