Yuppie Drinks

When I walk into a store like Whole Foods, Trader Joes, Wegmans, or any other health food or high end type grocery, I am instantly attracted to the wall of shiny and colorful bottles of juices, waters and beverages that can't be qualified by any known category. These drinks are what I fondly refer to as yuppie drinks. I can't help it, but I'm seduced by the array of packaging and bright colors every time, even though, in my experience, these drinks rarely live up to their lofty descriptions. Occasionally I succumb to reason and pass by these cases, but yesterday while in the city with R we stopped in at Whole Foods and I decided it was time to try something new. Sadly I didn't have my camera with me at the time to give you the full effect of the size and beauty of this drink case. The store itself, being in the city, is fairly compact, but luckily they felt the need to keep the drink case at proper size.

I felt in the mood for something with carrot in it. I don't drink carrot juice very often but every once in a while it seems appealing, and it did yesterday. The problem with yuppie drinks is that they tend to be obscenely priced, as are most things in Whole Foods. They had the standard array of juices including the Naked juices which is probably as close to drinking a whole fruit as you can come. I didn't feel like paying $3.50 for a tiny bottle so I opted for something else, which I suspected from its cheaper price would be less carroty than a few of the others, but seemed intriguing. I also love things that are orange, particularly foods, and this met the bill %100.

The drink I chose was by a company called Ralph and Charlie's and was titled Carrot Everyday Beverage. I read the ingredient list which consisted of Carrot pomace (30%), concentrated lemon juice, water and sugar. So I assumed it would be a bit lemony with a carrot flavor. I didn't really know what carrot pomace was but I imagined it was some sort of carrot pulp. As it turns out, pomace is the solid remains of fruit after its been pressed for juice. So I'm drinking the remnants of something after it was made into juice, which let me tell you, doesn't leave much room for carrot taste.

The experience of drinking this "everyday beverage" was quite unique. I wouldn't say I don't like it, but I'd be quite fine if I never tasted it again. It's sitting here next to me right now and still causing me much confusion. It tastes like several things simultaneously, none of which are carrot. First off it has body, you can see it clinging to the side of the bottle, which is what I expect out of a veggie juice. Second, when you open it up it smell a bit like tomato juice, or V8. Third, it tastes somewhat like lemonade since its sweet and lemony, but at the same time it also tastes like drinking a yam. I'm not sure if that's reinforced by its orange color, but I definitely get the feeling of drinking a lemon flavored yam. In no way do I feel I am drinking a carrot.

Reading the ingredients and nutrition facts makes me realize that this shouldn't be surprising at all since its basically composed of carrot waste ( grape pomace is used in winemaking, but carrot pomace seems to be a topic for discussion among the food industry). So despite the fact that this drink says right on the label that its "Fresh and Healthy," there is really no nutritious value at all. The nutrition per serving (1/2 a cup) of which there are 4 servings per bottle is as follows:
Calories: 60
Total Fat:0g
Total Carbs: 13g
Dietary Fiber: 0g
Sugar: 13g
Not a significant source of cholesterol, sodium, protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, calcium and iron.

So basically its sugar and carbs and no nutritional value whatsoever. That's what you get for drinking pomace. Don't think this will deter me from trying more yuppie drinks though. R tried some sort of cold tea which turned out not to be overly remarkable as it basically tasted like tea. We also found a remarkable array of cheeses in several stores including a log of goat cheese the size of my arm, but I'll save that for another entry since I could go on and on about dairy products, particularly cheese.