Food Expo Part 3

Drinks, drinks, drinks. I had no idea Americans could drink so much fluid, and the drinks I'm going to tell you about aren't even alcoholic! Coffee, tea, water, sparkling drinks, aloe drinks and Kombucha are just some of the liquid refreshment I sampled.

My favorite aloe drink was T'best, an aloe vera drink with real pulp in it. In addition, it contains plenty of vitamins, minerals and amino acids. For 60 calories per serving, it was delicious. It's a huge seller in Korea, and is just entering the American market. Look for it.

Kombucha was new to me until a few weeks ago, and is now available everywhere. It is made by many companies, including High Country Kombucha and Hain Celestial. What is it you ask? It's a fermented tea meant to detoxify your system. It contains live cultures from the Himalayas. I did not like it at all. They kept telling me it's an acquired taste. I'm not sure I want to acquire the taste for Kombucha. It tastes like vinegar. Honest. It comes in several flavors, including passion flower, lemon myrtle, honesuckle and koji berry. It can be found at Jimbos, Seaside Market, Sprouts and Frazier Farms. You've got to try it at least once. It's the new "in" drink.

Viovi is a new juice tea drink that comes in some unusual flavors, like pomegranete mojito, blueberry lemonade and blood orange. It's just a new twist on fruit flavored teas, this time with more unusual teas.

Kicking Horse coffee, is a new offering from Colorado. The coffee is strong and delicious, and comes in several blends, my favorite one being the Kick Ass blend.

One final drink I just loved was fresh Ginger le by Bruce Cost (www.freshgingerale.com). This was the most delicious ginger ale I ever tasted. It is made with real ginger, and the only resemblance between this and tradional ginger ale is in the name only. Look for it.

It's a shame to think that most of these companies won't survive. They can't. There is just too much competition. If the company is any good it often gets bought out by one of the big drink companies like Pepsi, Coke, or Lipton. It's so difficult for the little guy to survive. Hopefully, some of these drinks will catch on and survive, as they do give us some great new options.