Columbia Gorge Organic Apple Cider
Price: $2.50
Serving: 12oz., 1 bottle
Servings Per Container: 1
Calories: 180 per serving
Fat: 0%, 0g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 3%, 67mg
Protein: 9g
Carbohydrates: 15%, 43g
Fiber: 7%, 2g
Sugar: 39g
Weight Watchers Points: 3 Points
Columbia Gorge says: Unparalleled in the world of apple ciders. We blend several different kinds of apples to achieve the tart yet sweet flavor of this cider. Making it from soil-enriched grown organic apples is the best way to taste the real apple flavor.
Abi Says: In Washington State, Fall means apples and apples mean cider. Okay, cider and apple sauce and deliciously cinnamony pies. But this is not a pie blog.
During a six-day visit to Seattle I figured that I’d just drink my way across every coffee shop in town. This is a good idea in theory, but in actuality it means jitters, possible tooth stains, and peeing all the freaking time.
In order to avoid the uncomfortable side-effects of diuretics, every noontime I switched to juices. Sometimes it was the blackberry version of an Izze sparkling soda and other days I turned to one of these adorable bottles of juice from the Columbia Gorge Juice Company.
The organic cider was lighter and clearer than I expected, a forewarning that the drink would exhibit few of the qualities of farm-fresh pressed cider. Columbia Gorge delivers a refreshing drink, made simply with organic apples. However, their cider walks a line between juice and true cider.
So, if you’re looking for something to mull with spices and wine, or spike with a bit of Jack Daniels and you have lots of cash to burn, you can’t go wrong with this cider.
Filed Under Vegan, Apple, United States, No Preservatives, Columbia Gorge Organics, No Genetically Modified Organisms, Organic, High Fructose Corn Syrup Free, All Natural, Juice, Fat Free, Four Stars
Honest Tea Pomegranate Red Tea with Goji Berry
Price: $0.99
Serving: 8 fl. oz. (236 mL)
Servings Per Container: 2
Calories: 40 per serving
Fat: 0%, 0g
Cholesterol: 0%, 0mg
Sodium: 0%, 5mg
Protein: 0g
Carbohydrates: 3%, 10g
Fiber: 0%, 0g
Sugar: 10g
Caffeine: 0mg
Honest Tea says: Red is the color of passion, and this red tea combines three of our strongest passions: great taste, good health, and social impact. There’s the antioxidant power of pomegranates, sweet goji berries from China, and caffeine-free red tea from a community-owned farmer’s co-op in South Africa. It isn’t just tasty tea with a long name. It’s passion with a purpose.
Honestly yours, Seth and Berry
P.S. When Seth and his son went to South Africa to meet our red tea farmers, they climbed Table Mountain where his 9-year-old wondered “Is this what heaven is supposed to look like?” This organic tea has a heavenly taste and you don’t have to climb a really steep mountain to enjoy it. Just take a sip.
Joe says: As one of Honest Tea’s nine new flavors for 2007, the Pomegranate Red Tea with Goji Berry is a little rough around the edges but is clearly ahead of other tea brand offerings.
First, this tea is downright delicious. The flavors complement each other beautifully, demonstrating that pomegranate and red tea were destined to be together. However, a delicate balance exists in the tea flavorsphere when it comes to flavored teas, and this one barely walks the line between too fruity and too tea-y. The pomegranate doesn’t quite overpower the unique red tea flavor, but it almost does. In each sip, you get the sweetness of the sugar and pomegranate up front, and the earthiness of the red tea at the end and in the aftertaste. If I were to design this tea, I would bring the pomegranate level down just a skosh… but then they would probably have to call it “Red Tea with Pomegranate and Goji Berry.”
Speaking of goji berries, what the heck are those things anyway? As it turns out, they come from places like China where they have been used for centuries as medicine. That’s right, these exotic little superfruits are said to “enhance immune system function, improve eyesight, protect the liver, boost sperm production and improve circulation, among other effects” (Wikipedia). The supposed tartness of the fruit was understated, although I admit I don’t know what they actually taste like. It’s only a shame that they are the last ingredient on the list. Medicine in my tea? Sounds great! I probably would have amped up the berries a notch.
I would also bring down the sugar content a little bit. Although it is labeled as “a tad sweet,” it is definitely a tad too sweet for my tastes, especially compared to many of their other teas. I would have liked to see a tad more flavor instead. Toward the end of the bottle it almost tastes like not much more than sugar water. If you are used to drinking Mountain Dew, this is your tea.
In fact, this is probably the perfect crossover tea for fans of sugary sodas and very sweet teas, like Lipton Brisk, Nestea Cool, or the Snapple varieties, so it makes a lot of sense in Honest Tea’s tea lineup. And, since they are such a socially conscious company, purchasing their teas with organic and fair trade stamps of approval instead of another company’s almost seems like a no-brainer.
From a marketing perspective, the fact that they feature pomegranate so prominently makes me wonder if Honest Tea is trying to ride the pomegranate popularity wave a little. Honestly, I can’t blame them.
Filed Under Honest Tea, United States, Pomegranate, Organic, Fat Free, Tea, All Natural, Four Stars
Stonyfield Farm Organic Peach Smoothie
Price: $1.69
Serving: 10oz., 1 bottle
Servings Per Container: 1
Calories: 240 per serving
Fat: 5%, 3g
Cholesterol: 3%, 10mg
Sodium: 6%, 140mg
Protein: 20%, 10g
Carbohydrates: 14%, 42g
Fiber: 8%, 2g
Sugar: 40g
Phosphorus: 30%
Calcium: 40%
Weight Watchers Points: 5 points
Stonyfield Farm says: Every delicious sip of this incredibly smooth and refreshing drink delivers all of the natural benefits of our yogurts - calcium, protein, dietary fiber and six live active cultures. Now that’s a toast to your health. Cheers!
We say: Luscious summery peaches are the perfect complement to the creamy sweetness of yogurt. Not that yogurt needs a ‘complement’ per se, just that sometimes you need a little something to go along with the yogurt and really, who wants to glug down a bottle of vanilla anyways? Is it really that satisfying?
Stonyfield is still pleasantly pesticide and hormone free, making their yogurt with all organic ingredients. That’s why I’m still confused by the use of added (albeit natural) coloring in such terrific product. And that’s why I just sent them this letter:
Dear Stonyfield Folks,
We at Imbibable.com love your yogurt smoothies. They are quite fantastic. However, they are also colored with added, unnecessary ingredients. We know that the stuff isn’t bad for us, but we also know that peaches don’t make yogurt bright yellow/orange and raspberries don’t make yogurt a shocking pink. The smoothies come in opaque bottles, so it isn’t as though people are making purchase decisions based on the colors. Would you ever consider getting rid of the beet juice?
Sincerely,
Abi Jones
Editor, Imbibable.com
I hope they get back to me sooner rather than later because it really is quite frightening to look into a bottle of peach yogurt smoothie and see an otherwordly glow emanating from deep within. Orange coloring ≠ thinking highly of this line of smoothies.
Filed Under Probiotic Bacteria, Stonyfield Farms, Peach, United States, Smoothies, High Fructose Corn Syrup Free, All Natural, Organic, Three Stars
Stonyfield Farm Organic Strawberry Smoothie
Price: $1.69
Serving: 10oz., 1 bottle
Servings Per Container: 1
Calories: 230 per serving
Fat: 5%, 3g
Cholesterol: 5%, 15mg
Sodium: 6%, 150mg
Protein: 2g
Carbohydrates: 13%, 40g
Fiber: 8%, 2g
Sugar: 38g
Potassium: 14%, 500mg
Calcium: 40%
Weight Watchers Points: 4 points
Stonyfield Farm says: Every delicious sip of this incredibly smooth and refreshing drink delivers all fo the natural benefits of our yogurts - calcium, protein, dietary fiber and six live active cultures. Now that’s a taost to your health. Cheers!
We say: New Hampshire is a pretty fantastic place. After all, it has the best campground in the world (Waterville Valley), plenty of hiking, and is the home of Stonyfield Farm.
Granted, the name 'Stonyfield' makes us think of 'Stonybrook' which makes us think of the Baby-sitter's Club and of course then we have to mull over which character would most enjoy this smoothie.
At first we thought it might be Dawn, the child of California hippies. After all, the smoothie is made with 100% certified organic ingredients. Or it might be enjoyed by Claudia, the sweet tooth of the bunch. She'd certainly be satisfied by the 38 grams of sugar. Considering the huge amount of sugar in this drink, Stacy (the diabetic) wouldn't be able to consume any of Stonyfield's smoothies.
In the end, this drink would be Mary Anne's. It is reasonable and predicatable and reliable, all adjectives that we would use to describe Mary Anne. Sadly, just like Mary Anne, this drink also lacks self-confidence, using beet juice concentrate to add color. Isn't about damn time that we admit to ourselves that strawberry juice mixed with 9 ounces of yogurt does not produce a bright pink drink? Yes, we are adults and we can deal with truth in product coloring.
Thankfully, the flavoring in here is simply strawberry. No scary fake flavors, no Splenda, just fruit. And how could this product be improved? For one, we prefer our smoothies a bit thicker (this one was perhaps too drinkable) and we'd prefer Greek-style yogurt as a base. Perhaps Stonyfield can make some tangy fruit-infused smoothies for adults. After all, even the girls of the Baby-sitters Club had to grow up.
[After beginning on the Babysitter's club theme, we had to reference the Wikipedia article about them when we realized that we could not remember Stacy's name. Or whether ‘Mary Anne’ was one word or two. -Ed.]
Filed Under Probiotic Bacteria, Stonyfield Farms, Strawberry, United States, Smoothies, High Fructose Corn Syrup Free, Organic, 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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