Loved the perfect SoCal weather in Los Angeles today — and needed a nice chilled drink to cool you off? Here are my top 3 recommended eco-ethical drinks to quench your thirst while supporting a good cause:
Adina Holistics. This organic, fair trade drink company has a Google-esque mission: “Drink no evil.” And Adina’s latest concoctions are about embracing organic yumminess with a dose of Ayurvedic health!
Each certified organic Adina Holistics drink’s infused with herbs — which Adina claims are “adaptogenic ingredients that put the body back into balance.” How much you believe that claim will depend on how much faith you put in Ayurveda. But undoubtedly, Adina includes some ingredients like green tea and açaí that are known to have healthful effects — and excludes weird synthetics, high fructose corn syrup or other excessive sweeteners.
A bottle has 90 calories — and all seven flavors are concocted from real organic ingredients. My favorites are the Peach Amalaki and Mango Orange Chamomile — mainly because peach and mango are some of my favorite fruits!
And kind of like Snapple, the bottom of the lids have “herbalisms for life” imprinted on them, like “If at first you do succeed, try to hide your astonishment.” That one made me smile –
Guayaki Lemon Elation. I first got to drink these at the Blogger Beach Cleanup volunteer event I organized for the International Day of Climate Action on Friday! Guayaki — an organic, fair trade company — kindly donated the drinks for our volunteers who gulped them down. The yerba mate goodness fueled them to pick up almost 40 lbs of trash in just 20 minutes!
As I’ve written about before, Guayaki’s a company with a mission to save the rain forests — so much so that the Lemon Elation drinks have the number 350 — which stands for 350 parts per million, the upper limit for carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere that many scientists say is necessary to achieve ASAP to avoid runaway climate change — incorporated onto their can design.
But Guayaki’s efforts don’t just stop with the design. The company gets its fair trade organic yerba mate from sustainably tended rainforests — made possible because Guayaki pays for environmental conservation and restoration through its products. Farmers get a monetary incentive to conserve the rainforest that’s there and to restore what’s been lost.
Steaz Teaz. Don’t want sweeteners in your refreshing tea, even if it’s organic? For eco-ethical chilled unsweetened teas, Steaz is one of the first go-to companies. Steaz is perhaps best known for making the first organic, fair trade energy drinks, but the company now also has an Organic Iced Teaz line, available both in one-serving cans and bigger bottles — and the Green Tea with Lemon flavor’s completely unsweetened. That means 0 calories!
Other 8-oz cans contain just 40 calories each, so even the slightly sweetened flavors are not going to as sickly-sweet as your average iced tea drink or soda pop. These “teaz” are also available in sparkling form for those who like bubbles. Want to try Steaz for yourself? Here’s a free coupon (PDF) to get you turned on to eco-ethical chilled teas.
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When I first started blogging, drinks that were both organic and fair trade were pretty much limited to plain coffee — bought whole bean and brewed yourself. Now, you’ve got lots of options. And while I honestly have been getting more queasy about the carbon footprint of transporting these heavy drinks in one-use (albeit recyclable) bottles, I’m very glad that these three companies are making eco-ethical drinks available to the average consumer.
Got your own organic, fair trade chilled drink to recommend? Let us know what’s quenching your thirst in the comments.
Images via Adina, Guayaki, and Steaz
Although there is still transporting involved, I like just buying organic, fair-trade ingredients and brewing my own teas (I’m more of a herbal tea person though). This eliminates the need to buy and ship the water part of the drinks. I try to use lemons and limes from nearby trees when available as well (I’ll make a “light limeade” by squeezing a bit of lime juice and sweetener to taste). In the summer I’ll sometimes make a larger container of tea in one of my Klean Kanteens and stick it in the fridge to drink later.
Mountain Rose Herbs carries a decent number of organic and fair trade teas, herbs and spices. The only thing I would suggest is that you team up with some friends that want to order with you or will share what you order for optimum freshness and to reduce packaging.
Comment by M — October 27, 2009 @ 6:40 am
I buy fruits and vegetables at the farmers market and throw them in the juicer. The only drinks I buy from store are soymilk, beer, and wine.
Comment by Jason Li — October 27, 2009 @ 5:55 pm
M — Totally agree about eliminating the water part being much more eco. As you know we had those Guayaki drinks at the cleanup — which means when they were delivered to my place I saw the seriously heavy poundage — and experienced them as I hauled them up a flight of stairs to my apt. So while I’m not against these drinks, I do certainly think about them twice when I make a personal decision about what to drink.
Jason — No organic vodka?
Comment by Siel — October 28, 2009 @ 10:28 pm