Several weeks ago, I was browsing the shelves at the alternate Shop-Rite when something caught my eye. Soft drinks which had either probiotics, or prebiotics in them. This was all new to me, so I snapped up a few. Specifically, the cranberry iced tea from Halfday, and two Culture Pop ones--the orange mango & lime kind, and the wild berries & lime one.
Halfday's prebiotic offerings were inspired by an unfortunate incident when Kayvon Jahanbakhsh was 18 years old. Due in part to overwork and stress, he was hospitalized for ulcerative colitis, which eventually caused him to lose 80 pounds (about 36.29 kilos). Understandably, after this ordeal Kayvon was very focused on digestive health. So, he and his close friend Mike Lombardo started to make soft drinks which had prebiotics in them. If you're unaware (I was), prebiotics are essentially food for probiotics. Probiotics are the beneficial, "good" bacteria which live in healthy people's digestive tracts, and help with their digestion and immune system health. There are a few competing bits of information about Halfday's founding, though. Some online sources peg this as being in 2017, under a different name--Topos Tea. Others claim that it's 2021. The headquarters of the company are debated as well. The label on my can notes that it was made in Laurel Springs, NJ, and some sites have this as the company's headquarters, too. But others say that it's Blackwood, NJ, and yet others claim that it's across the river in Philadelphia, PA. Maybe the headquarters have moved around a little. Wherever the headquarters are, and whenever the company actually began, alternate flavors of Halfday are raspberry iced tea, peach iced tea, lemon iced tea, and green tea.
The origins of Culture Pop, which is a brand of GuTSY, Inc. (no, that's not a typo--that's how they capitalize the letters in the name) are even murkier. I had to consult alternate business websites to even learn who the founder is. It's a man named Tom First, and the founding date appears to be 2020. Although one website noted that First may have purchased Townshend's Tea in 2018, so maybe he renamed it, or at least utilized the existing drink manufacturing facility. Also, Gutsy (with traditional capitalization) is unfortunately a rather common company or organization name. It stands for the Guyanese United To Serve our Youth program, as well as being a computer security company. So, short story even shorter, I can't say much about the brand or the company behind it, other than its base is in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and its workforce is reportedly 11-50 people. Alternate flavors of their sodas are ginger lemon, strawberry rhubarb, black cherry, watermelon & lime, and pink grapefruit. Culture Pop's sodas contain probiotics, or the bacteria itself, and not the food for them like in the Halfday drinks. If you were wondering, the bacteria put in their products is Bacillus Subtilis.
Halfday cranberry iced tea: Had a reddish brown color. It had some cranberry flavor, but was too "tea-y" for my taste. (I don't like plain iced teas, just flavored ones.) It tasted carbonated, with some white bubbles present. So not as good as a regular flavored iced tea like Snapple. Maybe if you like more tea-forward iced teas you'll like this better. Not terrible, but not that good, either.
Culture Pop orange mango & lime soda: Had a dull orange hue. Smells fruity. Taste is weird. I detected a fruity, orange and mango taste, I guess, but it then had an unpleasant aftertaste. Not very good at all. Maybe it was all the probiotics? (Just joking, I realize those don't affect the taste.) But it was very disappointing. I couldn't finish the 12 ounce (355 mL) can.
Culture Pop wild berries & lime flavor: Had a light purple color, and a slight berry-ish odor. I could detect a berryish tang, but the aftertaste ruined it once again. Maybe it was the lime flavor? Whatever it was, the effect was very unpleasant, almost metallic. I found this to be very off-putting, and I would never willingly drink it again. Not shockingly, I drain poured much of this.
Therefore, I wasn't very impressed with these, especially the Culture Pop ones. Personally I'd rather help my out my gut health by eating a tasty yogurt, or some sauerkraut, or a nice soft cheese, or a sour pickle, and washing it down with a beverage that I actually enjoy. But others may disagree, as always.
No comments:
Post a Comment