Add some oomph to your drinks this festive season with flavoured cubes
Spanish summer
The pandemic has not been a straight line for most of us, so why should our drinks be straight fixes? Two Opera House-based couples, Dr Barkha and Rushabh Tharani and Akanksha and Gaurish Rangnekar, thought so too. They became friends during their strolls on the building terrace and the idea was born from those sessions. "While everyone around us was cooking amazing food, no one was talking about drinks. That is when we decided that we could explore a business idea to create easy mocktails and cocktails," says Gaurish, partner, Toast in Andheri and Hyde in Kala Ghoda.
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Botanical cooler
Ice Burst, artisanal frozen mixes, was launched in Diwali with five easy flavours. Each tray comes with eight cubes. "When it comes to making cocktails, there is the tedious process of prepping fruits and vegetables, chopping, mixing and muddling. We decided to experiment with ready-to-use naturally flavoured ice cubes," says Barkha. For the same, the team set up a 200-square feet walk-in freezer and refrigerator. "The moment the trays are filled, we freeze them so no bacteria multiplication is possible. We add no preservatives or colour," explains Rushabh.
Take the plunge
The team sent us two trays to sample: Spanish summer (Rs 199), which came with apple and pomegranate, and Botanical cooler (Rs 199), a cucumber-ginger mix. First up, we tried both without the addition of alcohol to savour their natural taste. While Spanish summer was packed with cinnamon, we felt the taste of cranberry was less. The team recommended two cubes per serving, but we felt the need to add one more cube to elevate the drink. We paired this with white rum and the sugar levels were perfect. While other products in the market tend to lean towards a sweeter finish, we liked that the option to add more sugar is left to the consumer.
The cubes come with rosemary sprigs
The cucumber cube is pretty with a rosemary sprig in the centre. We sipped it neat first up and found that we missed the punch of the herb - ginger in this case. The packing isn’t convenient, which the owners promise will improve in their next lot. This is an easy option to make impressive drinks. Coming up next on their menu for Christmas is a berry flavour that they recommend goes great with soda for a mocktail and vodka for a cocktail.
At: Society Stores (Santacruz and Lokhandwala), Neelam Foodland (Khar) and Chedda stores (Matunga) and other leading retail outlets
Log on to: iceburst.in
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