The tale of two water companies
Mixing up your liquid intake
Humans function much better when they consume about a gallon of water each day.
If you don't do that already, imagine what it might be like. Water is water. For
the most part it's tasteless, unless for example, you live in Eastlake and don't
filter your tap water. Then the flavor of old pipes hits your palate and
that's one more reason to avoid drinking enough water.
At home, my tap line is filtered and I make a point of grabbing a fresh glass of
water following every visit to the loo. But sometimes I want a little more than
the sweet taste of clean water. I want some flavors, a burst of fruitiness, a
splash of summer and so on. Until a few years ago that was only possible by ingesting
copious amounts of sugar as part of soda beverages. Today it's different and a
lot better for you.
Here in the Puget Sound region we have not one, but two companies that offer
flavored water beverages, sans the sugar.
Sparkling Ice
Talking Rain is a privately-owned company founded in 1987 and based out of
Preston, east of Seattle. They have their own well drawing natural spring water
from local rainfall and Cascade snowmelt all year long.
After the success of their popular carbonated spring water beverages sold in 2
liter bottles, the company rolled out a line of flavored water beverages under
the name Sparkling Ice with 10 flavors in 17 ounce bottles. Recently they
introduced several of the more popular flavors in 1 liter bottles.
Sparkling Ice is sweetened with
sucralose, aka Splenda. The water is also
fortified with a few vitamin Bs, a caffeine-free green tea extract and
potassium. That last addition is something few people get enough of each day,
but is an essential element of creating electrolytes and makes a great
substitute for salt.
The company recommends you refrigerate after opening and also directs on the
bottle, "As in life, chill for best results."
Find them on the web at:
http://www.sparklingice.com
Cascade Ice
The Unique Beverage Company out of Everett produces Cascade Ice which is
available in 31 flavors in 17 ounce bottles. They too use sucralose and
potassium in their beverages, but there are no green tea extract or vitamin B
additions.
Cascade Ice splits their 31 flavors into three categories: basic flavored water, organic flavors and
cocktail mixers. The USDA Certified organic flavors use no colorings, just pure
water and essence.
There are six cocktail mixers and the company offers 10 drink recipes to go
along with each on their website (Sparkling Ice also provides recipes on their
site). Choose from making a Lemon Drop, Margarita, an
Apple Tini and several others.
While Cascade Ice is also caffeine- and sugar-free, Unique Beverage Company
isn't 100% caffeine- and sugar-free about their business: the company also owns
the Wired Energy Drink brand.
Find them on the web at:
http://www.cascadeice.com
So if you're not already having fun with your water, give a few flavored
bottles a go and enjoy life a little more.
Tom Mehren/May 2013
