The Slow Life Company | Jorg and Olif » slow drink

Slow Tipple review: Dragonfly Teas

Lena — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 06:00:35 +0000

Over 100 years ago, Benjamin Ginsberg left his Russian family and travelled to South Africa. He used his extensive knowledge of traditional Chinese green tea techniques to perfect the making of rooibos (redbush) tea and is widely known as the founder of Redbush. Today his grandson, Bruce Ginsberg, continues this passion with his own brand, Dragonfly Tea, offering not only rooibos, but also finest quality green, yellow, white and black teas.

Through his personal relationships with tea-makers and growers in China, Japan, India and Africa Bruce has found the highest quality, sustainable and fairly traded harvests. Carefully selected for flavour, many of his teas are hand-made and organic, some are rare teas from remote tea gardens, renowned the world over amongst tea lovers.

Bruce and his company focus greatly on the purity and quality of their teas and champion traditional methods of production. Dragonfly believes ”that more and faster have resulted in reductions in quality to the detriment of both the land and the people who work it. We therefore passionately support small-scale food production, trading directly with farmers whenever possible. We never use artificial additives, chlorine teabags or GM crops.”

The company is a member of The Organic Food Federation, supports the Slow Food movement and is also a member of Fairtrade, which means they are able to sell their teas through Oxfam.

Both delicious and in full support of Slow Life, do try Dragonfly’s huge range of teas, and if you’ve looking for a cold drink to cool you down on a hot summer’s day why not try this recipe for a Rooibos Sundowner – sit back and unwind:

You need:
5 Rooibos Evening Blend or Camomile teabags
1 litre water
500ml apple juice
Slices of lemon, apple or orange to garnish
Steep the teabags in freshly boiled water for approximately 20 minutes. Chill, add apple juice and garnish.

Slow tipple review: Daas beer

Lena — Thu, 13 May 2010 06:00:16 +0000

Belgian brewery Daas only produce limited quantities of their beer each year due to the limited availability of the organic ingredients and also to ensure optimum quality. The hops, wheat and barley that are used are all grown without pesticides and chemical fertilisers, and each brew is hand-crafted by just one master brewer with two dedicated assistants.

Daas is the only Belgian beer to carry the UK Soil Association Organic certification as well as the Belgian Certisys Organic certification. In addition to being certified as organic, Daas is also suitable for both vegetarian and vegan drinkers.

In a next step – as part of their continued effort to develop links with organic and ethical traders – they aim to eventually produce a carbon neutral beer.

The Daas Organic Blond is “top fermented bottle conditioned” beer, meaning it undergoes a second fermentation in the bottle, similar to the technique used in Champagne production. Not only does this contribute to the overall quality and flavour of the beer, but also ensures that the liquid remains stable for longer than a pasteurized beer.

In terms of taste , a subtle honey spice aroma and the perfect balance of bitter sweet flavours are followed by a classic dry hop finish. Delicious!

For more information on Daas click here.

Slow Tipple Review: Bionade

Lena — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 06:00:13 +0000

Organic fruit juices are getting a serious rival in Bionade, the world’s first non-alcoholic, organically produced soft drink and instant jorg&olif Slow Drink favourite. With its fruity flavour – it comes in Elderberry, Lychee, Herbs and Ginger-Orange, Bionade is a new class by itself, technologically and qualitatively.

Rather than conventional soft drinks, which are mixed together from various ingredients, Bionade is a fermented drink, which through fermentation is organically produced from scratch. It’s the first such non-alcoholic refreshment drink, made by a young, innovative and privately owned German company.

In order to guarantee a high level of quality, the company produces all drinks exclusively from natural raw materials. The addition of artificial substances, which are not found in nature, is strictly forbidden.

The drink not only contains no nasties but also tastes delicious. Try out this fabulous recipe for a lychee cocktail:

Lychee Cooler
1 cl lemon
1 cl Mango syrup
Bionade Lychee
Place lemon juice and mango syrup in a glass filled with crushed ice. Fill to the top with Bionade Lychee. Stir and enjoy.