Whew! We got through another holiday season. We had a long break between the end of Sukkot and Thanksgiving, followed by a flurry of activity. Between Hanukkah, workplace holiday parties, wrapping up the end of the year, and New Year’s Eve, it seems like we’ve been celebrating for a long time — which is good.
What’s not so great is all the extra food and drink we treated ourselves to. For me, it started with turkey and Beaujolais Nouveau and ended with caviar and champagne. I’m feeling stuffed and a little soggy.
As we settle back into our normal routines, many of us are trying to eat more mindfully. Another recent practice is Dry January — some call it Damp or Dry-ish January — when folks either take a month off from drinking alcohol or at least cut back on the amount they drank over the holidays.
Trending NA beverages: If you are practicing a dry or damp January, this is the perfect time to try some of the new non-alcoholic (NA) beverages and “cocktails” on the market.
At the Fancy Food Show in June, one of the top trends was upscale, adult NA beverages. Flavored cocktail mixers and cocktail kits started appearing several years ago, but these NA beverages are something completely new. They seem to be a response to people’s increased drinking during the Covid-19 lock downs and their subsequent efforts to drink less alcohol while still enjoying the craft cocktail and exotic flavors they came to love.
That’s where these new NA drinks come in. They offer sophisticated, adult flavors and look great in a fancy glass with a garnish. Some are designed to mimic the flavor of cocktails, such as an Old Fashioned or Gin & Tonic, but the best ones don’t try to pretend they are anything else. Most are not very sweet; they are often flavored with citrus rind, herbs, and spices. Some are carbonated, others are still, and some bring a little heat. They tend to come in sophisticated packaging with beautiful logos and graphics. You will find them in liquor and party stores, not in the pop aisle at the grocery store. And, ironically, they make great mixers for cocktails too.
I wrote about plant-based meats a couple of years ago. These meat substitutes are not targeted at vegetarians; they are specifically designed to appeal to meat-eaters. Many of these technology companies who produce plant-based meats claim to have the altruistic goal of reducing carbon emissions and chemical pollution created by the meat industry. The idea is that planet Earth will benefit if meat-eaters can be enticed to replace even a quarter of their meat with a plant-based substitute.
In the same way, these new adult NA beverages are not targeted at non-drinkers. They are designed to appeal to drinkers who, for whatever reason, want to drink less alcohol, either on a particular day or more permanently.
You don’t have to go out and buy NA beverages to enjoy something more interesting than water, pop, or juice. Here are some ideas for interesting non-alcohol (NA) drinks that you can make at home.
Coffee: Fancy coffee drinks are expensive at coffee shops. You can make them at home if you have the right ingredients and equipment.
There are four basic ways to make coffee at home — drip and its younger cousin, K-cup, French press, espresso machine, and my personal favorite, percolator.
Any coffee maker with a filter uses the drip method. You put ground coffee in the filter, hot water runs through it and the resulting coffee “drips” into a pot, cup, or carafe. Because there is a filter between the coffee and the pot, you can use regular, packaged ground coffee that you find at the supermarket. It’s affordable and you have a wide variety of coffees from which to choose. The downside is that the water doesn’t spend a lot of time with the grounds, so it doesn’t make a super strong, rich cup of coffee.
K-cup coffee makers use the drip method too, but one cup at a time. Again, K-cups come in hundreds of varieties, and they are convenient if you don’t need more than one cup. K-cups have the same weak coffee problem as regular drip makers, plus the added downside of adding literally millions of used K-cups to landfills all over the world.
In a French press, hot water coffee is added directly to ground coffee. After it sits for a while, use the plunger to push the filter disc down through the liquid, leaving the grounds at the bottom and the coffee on top. The French press makes delicious, rich coffee; the downside is that it isn’t quite as hot as other methods.
Espresso machines are lovely to have if you have room. They also tend to be pricey, although a quick online search found models ranging from $69 to $1,450, with quite a few in the $200 range. They can be tricky to use and, in my experience, the less expensive ones don’t work very well. But when they do work, they make great coffee. To get a regular cup of coffee, add hot water to a shot of espresso. This is called an Americano.
As I mentioned, I use a percolator, specifically an electric percolator. It’s simple to use. Add water up to the line inside the pot that corresponds to the number of cups you want; then add ground coffee to the removable basket. Put the cover on the basket and the basket on the hollow stem. Add the lid and plug it in.
As the water heats, it rises up through the stem as bubbles and steam which turn back into water when it reaches the top. The water drips slowly through the basket cover onto the coffee and spends enough time in contact with the coffee to result in a smooth, rich brew. Most percolators have a light that indicates when the coffee is done. Electric percolators keep coffee warm after it’s brewed. Besides the amazing coffee, percolators have a cool, nostalgic vibe.
There are two downsides to using a percolator. First, because it needs a coarser grind than ready-ground products, you have to buy your coffee as beans and grind it yourself. Larger grocery stores got rid of their in-store grinders during Covid, but there are still several stores left in our area that have them. Simply, set the grinder to the percolator setting. The second downside is that percolators don’t have an on/off switch, so they stay on until you unplug them. Adding an external timer to the outlet takes care of that.
Once you make your coffee, it’s simple to add flavored syrups, your milk of choice (warm it first), whipped cream, sprinkles, and drizzles such as chocolate or caramel.
Tea: I like to drink iced tea all year ‘round; I try to keep a pitcher in the fridge all the time. Instead of using a processed powder, I make a pitcher of real tea, then refrigerate it. I make the tea extra strong because, even though it’s cold, I like to add ice, which dilutes the tea.
I use 4 tea bags in an 8-cup Pyrex measuring cup (which is heat-proof). I add hot water and let it steep for at least 20 minutes; sometimes I forget about it and let it steep for much longer. You can use any kind of tea, with or without caffeine, and you can make your own blends by using different flavored teas together. I love herbal teas including cinnamon and licorice flavors, as well as more typical fruit flavors. For my husband, I make green tea and add a small packet of zero calorie lemonade mix for a citrus green tea combo that he loves.
Sparkling waters: If plain sparkling water doesn’t appeal to you, it’s easy to mix up all kinds of concoctions to please your palate without spending a lot of money on artificially flavored versions. You can buy sparkling water to start. Good old fashioned club soda or seltzer are inexpensive and readily available. The difference is that club soda has added mineral salts to enhance its flavor; seltzer is just water with carbon dioxide bubbles added. Seltzer is what you make with a Soda Stream machine, if you have one.
Use those same flavored syrups that you bought for your coffee to make flavored sparkling water. You can add any kind of fruit — citrus and cucumber are popular, but you can add anything you want. Juice is another way to add flavor; add just a little for a hint or a lot to create sparkling juice.
It’s easy to create your own syrups too. Mix equal parts sugar and water in a small saucepan, bring to a boil, and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Remove from heat and infuse with herbs or spices to achieve the flavor you want. Fresh mint is a great choice, but you can also add tarragon, parsley, or anything else that you like. For a spicier syrup, infuse with cinnamon stick, star anise, whole cloves, peppercorns, allspice, or a combination of all. When the syrup is flavored as strongly as you like, strain the infusion and store in a sealed jar in the refrigerator for up to 10 days or so. To use, add anywhere from a tablespoon to a couple of ounces of syrup to each glass of sparkling water and stir.
Spiced Syrup Sparkling Water
Ingredients:
½ C brown sugar
½ C water
10 whole cloves
About 6 inches orange peel
Sparkling water
Orange slice for garnish
Directions:
1. In a small saucepan, bring sugar and water to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved.
2. Remove from heat; pour syrup into heatproof glass such as Pyrex or canning jar.
3. Add cloves and orange peel; infuse until syrup is cool or overnight.
4. Strain. Keeps in refrigerator for about 10 days.
To make drink, add about ½ to 1 ounce syrup to glass of sparkling water or tea. Stir and garnish with orange slice.
