The Warm Weather Beverage

The warmth is coming and with it, we are drawn to cold, sweet beverages.  Some are fizzy, some are creamy and some might even be spiked.  We wanted to share some ideas that keep sugars low, freshness high and give you the option to splurge or be very budget savvy.

Fizzy

There is nothing like the thirst quench from a fizzy bevy.  While drinking too much fizz can pull much needed minerals from our bones, a bit of fizz is playful, satisfying and part of that "balance" thing.  Finding ready made fizzy drinks are as easy as visiting the cooler at your local Amaranth store where you can find copies of your favourite soda pop, creatively flavoured spritzers of all kinds and of course the very popular Kombucha.  If you want to play with some of your own fizz, give this a try:

1 part soda water or carbonated mineral water (tonic water has added processed sugar if you are watching)

1 part juice (try combinations of fresh or bottled that may include: lemon, lime, grapefruit, black cherry, pure cranberry, orange, pomegranate, etc)

a few pieces of whole fruit (berries, lemon/lime slices, etc)

maple syrup, stevia or honey to sweeten (if you have chosen tart juices, you may want to add a bit of sweet)

You can keep it as a beautiful mocktail or turn it into a cocktail of your choosing...

Tart

Sometimes it is nice to have a cold and flavourful drink without there being the sweet kick.  Brewed ice tea is a great option and super budget friendly, especially if you use loose tea instead of tea bags.  If you want to provide bevy's for the block party or family reunion, don't break the bank as iced tea can be made with high quality ingredients for a fraction of the cost of many other beverages with the added bonus of the nutrients.  You just need to get yourself some large jars (Canadian Tire?) or a fancy dispenser type of contraption and boil your water nice and hot.  Make the tea twice as strong as you normally would since you will add ice cubes later which will dilute things (leave room for ice).  Let it steep for at least 5-15 minutes (unless it is green tea - 2-5 minutes max depending on the type of tea).  Once cooled, lemon or lime can be a great addition or maybe even chunks of peaches or nectarines.  Right before it will be served, load it up with ice cubes.  Here are some nice tea mixtures, but there really aren't any rules:

• Any kind of green tea on its own or with mint or a fruit blend green.  A fresh tasting green tea that brews up green instead of brown is your best bet.
• Rooibos makes a great iced tea.  Rich and dark and very flavourful.  There are blends with vanilla and rose petals or dried apple and cinnamon.  Rooibos is also really nice on its own with some lemon slices.
• Traditionally, iced tea is made from black tea and you could go that route too.
• Of course, you can sweeten with honey if you are not sweet enough!

Lemonade Stand

Making your own lemonade is so refreshing and filled with far less sweet than you would get from a mix, plus it is cleansing and detoxifying to the body as well as alkalinizing.  To make a 2L jug, juice 4-6 lemons (depending on size and juiciness).  You can remove the seeds if you would like, add stevia or honey (stevia is quite a good flavour match here) and then fill the jug to the top with water.  If you want fizzy lemonade, you could certainly use soda water here instead of flat.  Stir it well and serve with sliced lemons/limes or any berries/fruit of your choice.  Fresh mint or rosemary would be a delicious addition of colour, flavour and nutrients.

The Slurpee

There is a reason why your local convenience store slurpee machine is well attended… the idea has great merit.  You can in fact make one of these beauties in your own kitchen.

1.5 cups ice

1 can of a natural soda pop option

Blend or pulse until it is at the desired consistency, taste and flavour as needed.

The Chocolate Milkshake 

2 frozen bananas (really ripe to make sure they are sweet)

1/4 cup cocoa powder or really add your antioxidants with raw cocao powder

1 1/2 cups milk (almond or goat milk are especially delicious, the thicker and richer the milk the better, seriously, the goat milk is delicious)

1 tsp natural vanilla extract or powder

sweetener to your taste, liquid honey would work well (creamed honey might freeze before it is fully mixed)

If you want to add some super foods to this milkshake, mushroom combinations and maca would go especially well with chocolate

The Fruit Milkshake

1 1/2 cups frozen fruit (choose one kind of fruit, not a blend)

1 1/2 cups milk (full fat coconut milk from a can or goat milk are especially delicious, the thicker the milk the better)

1 tsp natural vanilla extract or powder

sweetener to your taste, liquid honey would work well (creamed honey might freeze before it is fully mixed)

If you want to add some super foods to this milkshake, bee pollen or one of Harmonic Arts berry powders would be delicious here!

Swift and Simple

One super easy thing that you can do to brighten the beverage of your day is to fill a jar with water, lemon slices and a few berries or peach slices, stir, put the lid on and use this as your water bottle for the day.  For a flavour other than sweet, try cucumber slices, celery, or mint leaves.  Delicious, pretty and simple.

Honorable Mention

We can't mention warm weather beverages without mentioning coconut water.  Whether you drink it from the coconut or from a bottle, the stuff is filled with minerals, a delicate sweet taste and leaves you feeling energized and less "withered".  You can find it unpasteurized in our freezers or the regular goodness in cans, bottles or tetra packs.  Coconut water is an excellent option to traditional sport drinks.  Every brand tastes different depending on where the coconuts were grown and the type of tree and you also want to enjoy coconut water really, really cold.

Here's hoping for a spring and summer where we need cool beverages that rehydrate and remineralize.  Have fun experimenting and try to drink a few of these while you are in a hammock...

Posted by Amy Buckman