Kombucha Wonder Drink - Red Tea & Peach

This kombucha drink from Wonder Drink doesn't have a name like the others, though perhaps it should be Africa, as that is where the rooibos, or red tea, normally comes from. Rooibos, or redbush, is native to South Africa, and is produced in a similar fermentative manner as black tea (though there is a more expensive "green" version available). The taste is slightly sweet and slightly nutty, and has a reddish-brown colour when steeped. Rooibos tea has a high level of antioxidants, no caffeine (unlike black or green teas) and low tannin levels as compared to black or green tea. The other ingredient in this kombucha drink is peach, in juice concentrate and in essence form. This one is different too from the other three kombucha drinks that I have tried, Himilayan, Asian Pear Ginger and Orient, the others all use green oolong tea as the base.

Like kombucha, I think rooibos is an acquired taste, or a taste that suits some palates and not others. I would be more interested in a sour version, with roselle/hisbiscus, maybe, that would be red also. I didn't really taste much of the peach, it was a very underlying flavour. I like the kombucha flavour of this drink, but still far prefer the Himalayan.

Tentation Apple

This apple, also from New Zealand, is more like a Golden Delicious, and is actually a French cross between a Golden Delicious and an apple called Grifer. This cost almost $2/lb (essentially $1 per apple) and tastes very similar to a Golden Delicious, but has an orange blush to it. I think it's an okay apple (I don't really care for Golden Delicious, either), and too expensive to eat on a regular basis.

Lu Noir Extreme Cocoa Beans

I've tried other cookies from the French baker LU, but this one I like the most so far. This is one of their Premium products, and is thus, one, expensive; two, has small cookies; and three, has a small number of cookies. You look at the packaging when you open the box, and you could easily fit another pocket of cookies, or make them bigger. So, saying, I like the dark chocolate 70% coating, and the interesting creme and cocoa nibs filling. I just wish, maybe, that they were a little bigger, so I could enjoy more than one bite each.

Festive Yellow Rice

We were watching this program about the food prepared for an Indonesian wedding, and one of the dishes was a symbol of the successful union, fragrant yellow rice. My beautiful Bride found this recipe in the Asian cookbook we have, though for some reason, it was labeled a Thai dish (and the opposite page, which had a recipe that looked Thai, was labeled Indonesian). Thai or Indonesian, it still made a tasty and bright dish. Make it at least Thai, by using Thai Jasmine rice, the best. We don't know why it has the cover for 15 minutes step, really, it tasted good without doing so. Perhaps it makes the rice a little softer. This can accompany any dish, to make your meal a successful union of flavour and colour.

Festive Yellow Rice
from Thai & South-East Asian Cooking & Far Eastern Classics
450 g/2-2/3 cups Jasmine rice
4 Tbsp oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 onions, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
3 cups water
400 mL/14 fl. oz can coconut milk
1-2 lemon grass stalks, bruised
To accompany:
omelette strips
2 fresh red chilies, seeded and shredded
cucumber chunks
tomato wedges
deep-fried onions
prawn crackers

Rinse the Jasmine rice thoroughly under cold water in a strainer, then drain well.

Heat the oil in a deep frying pan on low heat. Cook the garlic, onions and turmeric for 2-3 minutes, until the onions are soft. Add the rice and stir well to coat in oil.

Either cook in a rice cooker, or continue in the frying pan. Pour in the water and coconut milk and add the lemon grass stalks. If using the frying pan, bring to a boil, stirring, then cover and cook gently for 12 minutes, or until all the liquid has been absorbed by the rice.

Uncover the pan or rice cooker bowl, then cover with a clean dish towel, replace the lid and stand in a warm place for 15 minutes.

Remove the lemon grass stalks. Mound the rice in a cone on a serving platter and garnish with the desired accompaniments.

Saphara Costa Roasta

I had no idea that Saphara Coffee and Tea comes from Celestial Seasonings, I've seen it in various health food stores, and never associated the two. When I had the opportunity to buy their Costa Rican coffee, Costa Roasta (I keep on wanting to write Coasta Roasta, but it's Costa - makes more sense!), at half the price I've seen it at health food stores (why do health food stores insist on selling things at high prices? - just a rant), I jumped at the chance. I like coffee from Costa Rica, certainly more than the more universally loved Columbian coffee. This is a dark roast of the beans, which are ground a little coarser than other Costa Rican coffees I've tried. I like that the beans are roasted in Canada. This is a Fair Trade product, too.

The coffee, once made, is tasty, with good rich flavour. It's not the best Costa Rican coffee I've tasted, but better than some.

Wonder Drink Kombucha - Orient

This, the third of the Kombucha flavours that I tried from Wonder Drink, is essentially their Original flavour, that is, it is kombucha made with Oolong green tea. Oolong is known to be an excellent green tea, with lots of the health benefits that come from green tea in general, so a good choice. The other two that I tried Himilayan and Asian Pear Ginger both also contain oolong tea, but, for whatever reason, the oolong plays second fiddle in those drinks, and is the predominant flavour in this kombucha drink. Oolong can be bitter, and this drink occasionally has a bitter taste to it. The kombucha part of it is still excellent, and I am still enjoying the experience of drinking it (though I would now really like to try some that hasn't been pasteurized, kombucha that is still a raw living food, much like raw milk), but I would say that I liked this the least of the three that I tried.

Still wonderful, though.

This drink I found at Whole Foods, which had it on sale for $2.50 per bottle (regularly $3).

Hachez Cocoa D'Arriba Erdbeer mit Pfeffer

This bar from the German chocolatier Hachez features cocoa beans from Ecuador, and has a cacao content of 77%. The flavour profile, apart from the chocolate, comes from dried strawberries and green pepper; an odd combination, to say the least. The ingredient listing looks otherwise good, cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter, strawberries (1.5%), natural flavourings, green pepper and Bourbon vanilla. Going to their website, they have an interesting and informative section on Wild Cocoa (in German), on their search for excellent cacao in the Amazon.

How does it taste? The smell of strawberries came out first when I opened the package, a good smell. The chocolate snapped well and looked good and dark. The taste of the chocolate was not so good, I found it a little chalky, and the green pepper at times was more dominant than the strawberries, almost overwhelming the taste of the fruit (unless you're used to spice, in which case you may find the strawberry more dominant and the bar sweet). I don't know that I would like to eat this one again, but it was not that bad, that I would not try any of their other offerings.

Feodora Grand'Or Chili-Limone

The German chocolatier Feodora Chocolade, making chocolate since 1910, gets its name from the sister of the last German Empress, Princess Feodora, an afficianado with a selective taste, who allowed her name and signature to be used to market this chocolate. This is a dark chocolate bar with flavourings added, and has a cocoa content of 75%. The ingredient listing looks good, cocoa beans, sugar, cocoa butter, natural chili flavouring, citric acid, natural lime flavouring and Bourbon vanilla.

How does it taste? The first thing that hit me, was how it smelled lemony, and not the lemony of cleaners, a good lemon. The bar snaps well and looks very dark. It melts well in the mouth, and tastes like lemon, though some of it likely comes from the citric acid (as a lot of "sour" candies use). The chili flavour was not strong, though still there; the lemon flavour was stronger. But, then, it's only chili flavouring, not actual chili spice (or maybe it is, it's not clear). I found this in a German delicatessen, and, if I could get back to it, I think that I would buy another.

Cocoa

Cocoa is good on a cold winter's night, but also good on a lazy Sunday morning, in the middle of a hot summer. This recipe is mostly milk, use at least 2% for better flavour. I used a Scharffen Berger chocolate square, to add a chocolate punch to the drink. Serve with a large marshmallow, or lots of little ones.

Cocoa
2-1/2 tsp cocoa
1-3/4 Tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 cup hot water
1 square 70% chocolate, broken into pieces
1-1/2 cups milk

Place all ingredients except milk in saucepan, and heat until boiling. Remove from heat and add milk. Place saucepan on heat again, stirring the cocoa until it is steaming. Do not boil.

A. Vogel Bambu Filter Organic

I am intrigued by this coffee substitute for a couple of reasons: my parents tried for a while a chicory-based product long ago, called Caf-Lib and the notion of it intrigued me at the time, though I was never a coffee drinker when young, it is only more recently that I have drunk coffee, and only 5 or 6 cups per week; and Bambu contains, along with chicory, figs and, more interestingly, acorns (which I have been long intrigued in as a food source - they contain large amounts of protein, carbohydrates and fat, along with niacin and the minerals calcium, phosphorous and potassium). Chicory has some interesting properties, it aids digestion and the heart, and also may help you sleep (as opposed to coffee, which contains caffeine, which could hinder your sleep). Bambu, made from fruits and cereals (chicory, wheat, malted barley, figs and acorns), tastes likes coffee but is caffeine-free, is gentle on the stomach and heart and nerves, and is also suitable for children (though my young one won't taste that for a long while). You can make it in the same way that you make coffee, by pouring boiling water on it (use a teaspoon per cup of water).

The first thing I did when I opened the bag, was to smell, and I immediately thought, what is that smell?, but then it resolved itself to 'figs'. The packaging I have lists figs as the main ingredient, followed by rye, chicory and acorns (all roasted); as opposed to the website, which lists chicory as first, no rye, and wheat and malted barley. I like figs, so I don't mind that, certainly, but I don't know whether the recipe is different in Canada, or the website is wrong. Looking inside, I see that the ingredients are wet and crumbly, small bits. I put some inside my individual coffee filter and poured boiling water over it, essentially preparing it the same way I would prepare my coffee, I just didn't use as much Bambu to fill up the filter reservoir. This worked, except that it was weaker in the first few sips, and much stronger in the bottom of the cup. I then tried it by putting some in the bottom of a cup and pouring hot water over it. This worked better, in terms of taste, but there was the problem of the grounds at the bottom of the cup. I think that I will try it next, with a French press (which worked best, and tasted good; I added a little raw cocoa powder, too, for a chocolate mocha taste).

I like figs, and this tastes very much like figs, hot watery figs is the predominant taste, and it doesn't really taste anything like any coffee that I've had. I keep thinking that the chicory should be the first ingredient, like the website says, and then I could see how it would taste like coffee.