Port City Java Lemonade
Price: $3.50
Serving: 16oz.
Calories: 140 per serving
Fat: 0%, 0.3g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 0%, 7mg
Protein: 0.3g
Carbohydrates: 11%, 33.9g
Fiber: 2%, 0.4g
Weight Watchers Points: 3 points
Port City Java says: You won’t believe how this one is made. Apples and lemons, all-natural.
Abi says: For the last couple of weeks, Washington, DC has experienced some of the most glorious autumn weather imaginable. While I loved such a delightful send-off, wearing shorts in October felt a bit amiss. And avoiding coffee in the morning because, hello - freaking hot - also meant that I arrived at work sans-caffeine buzz. It was great to go for evening walks in little more than a sun dress, but during the day it was evident that warm days ≠ gorgeous fall foliage.
All of this insane weather has me craving summery foods and beverages. I’m not ready for root vegetables and pumpkins! Give me sno cones, hot dogs, lemonade, and cold beer! Basically, I want to live in a baseball game. And that baseball-game inhabiting self just about drooled when I saw approximately 18 people drinking tall, icy glasses of lemonade outside of the Eastern Market Port City Java.
“Ah!” I thought with glee “That’s just what I need! Lemonade!” Yes, my mind is that exclamatory.
While my friend Lisa checked out one of the myriad clothing sellers, I braved the line in anticipation of a tartly sugarrific expression of the last days of summer. And then waited some more for them to make my lemonade. And after about 5 minutes I started thinking “Where the hell is my lemonade already?”
“One lemonade on the bar!” called the person who could only be described as ‘The Juicer.’ I took one look at the bar and thought “That cannot possibly be my lemonade.” Scroll back up the page and take a look at it: opaquely cloudy, decidedly non-yellow, and definitely not containing a lemon wedge.
“Is this the lemonade?” I asked the barrista, who assured that yes, it was indeed the lemonade. I took an exploratory sip, worrying that I was about to experience a horrific meeting of dairy and unknown orangey fruits, when the taste of fantastically tart lemon zipped across my tongue. This was lemonade. Real lemonade. Really good lemonade.
I have a feeling that this drink consists solely of apple cider and lemons. From that sentence you might think that I didn’t like the drink. But then you would be wrong. It is everything you’d expect from that fresh-squeezed stuff you pay big bucks for at a ballgame, but instead of using sugar, or (God forbid!) high fructose corn syrup, Port City Java uses apples and lemons.
I don’t know exactly how they do it, but this drink it magical.
Filed Under Vegan, United States, Port City Java, Lemonade, Five Stars, All Natural, Juice, Fat Free, High Fructose Corn Syrup Free
Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Lemonade
Price: £0.99
Serving: 250ml
Calories: 64 per serving
Fat: trace
Sodium: trace
Protein: 0.1g
Carbohydrates: 14.8g
Fiber: 0.2g
Sugar: 12.8g
Caffeine: 0mg
Sainsbury’s says: Lemonade made from freshly squeezed lemons. Sharp yet refreshing.
We say: Summer means summer drinks and you don’t get more summery than old fashioned lemonade. Sadly, society has become accustomed to chemical drinks rather than good ‘ole squished lemons. This drink harks back to a finer age when grandma squashed the lemons from her own back garden. One pleasant surprise in these times of complicated ingredients you need a degree to understand is that this lemonade contains only water, freshly squeezed lemon juice, sugar and lemon pulp.
Sainsbury’s lemonade is sweet initially (but not sickly), with the sour finish expected in all good lemonades. It reminded us a bit of the aromatic honey and lemon one would use to treat a cold. Plus, we were pleasantly surprised to find they’d not sieved it, leaving the elixir au natural with bits of lemon pulp. Reaching the bottom of the bottle we experienced a refreshing sour shiver from that pulp sediment. Due to the strong flavour this is not a down in one gulp drink - and savoring rather than gulping is the point of this lemonade. It’s only ‘fizzy’ nature is the slight zing from the fresh lemons, so you’ll need to look elsewhere for something carbonated.
Instead of the laborious squeezing of tons of lemons you’d need for decent lemonade Sainsbury’s bottled product really does reach the spot. And the complete lack of artificial sweeteners ensures that the taste is pure and fresh, not the chemical aftertaste found in other lemonades. Too bad it’s not a very large serving and didn’t refresh our thirst so much as make us want to drink 2.
Filed Under United Kingdom, Sainsbury's, Vegan, Lemonade, High Fructose Corn Syrup Free, Juice Cocktails, Four Stars
Honest Ade Cranberry Lemonade
Price: $1.19 at Whole Foods
Serving: 1/2 bottle, 8 ounces.
Nutrition Information Below for Entire Bottle
Calories: 100
Fat: 0%, 0g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 10%, 0mg
Protein: 0g
Carbohydrates: 8%, 24g
Fiber: 0%, 0g
Sugar: 24g
Calcium: 35%
Honest Tea says: When the beverage aisle kept handing us lemons, we made lemonade. That’s because we were thirsty, and tired of super-sweet drinks filled with stuff we couldn’t pronounce. Introducing HONEST ADE. Ours tastes fresh-squeezed - like what you get from a summer lemonade stand, but with a kick of cranberry. It’s pure organic bliss - must a tad sweet so it gets your taste buds doing the mambo without going into sugar shock. All that’s missing is one of those colorful paper drink umbrellas. Real fruit. Real flavor. Honest.
We say: Considering the wonderful tart-sour combination created by cranberry and lemon, this drink should make you pucker up and say Hello! Too bad that it can’t deliver on the promises that the label makes. Honest Tea took a great concept and watered it down to the point of pointlessness. Plus, this thing is less than 1% juice. Seth and Barry, the owners of Honest Tea must have shunted their ethics to the side when they claimed “Honest Ade, our line of refreshing thirst quenchers, have twice the fresh-squeezed taste of those super-sweet drinks.”
We don’t want something super-sweet, but does that preclude a little tartness and flavor? There’s no good reason to drink this bland, over-organic-cane-sugared concoction unless you’re allergic to clear water and need something with a little carrot-extract-created color.
Should a beverage with the word ‘cranberry’ in the name need carrot extract for coloring? We think not.
Filed Under No Genetically Modified Organisms, Gluten Free, Cranberry, Lemonade, Honest Tea, Organic, Juice Cocktails, One Star
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