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Sunday, February 14, 2010

Algae!

I'm not a fan of seafood. I wish I ate more of it, but I've just never seen items from the the ocean as particularly appetizing. Therefore, you can imagine why i wasn't overly excited to try a beverage that featured algae (yes algae) as one of its ingredients. This isn't about me though; I do what I do for all you loyal readers out there, so this had to be done.

Once upon a time, I mentioned to a friend of mine that I was starting an interesting beverage blog and he mentioned a drink that I knew I'd have to tackle sooner or later. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that place The Farmacy has smoothies with, like, seaweed or something in them," my pal inquired. And he was right, well, kind of.

This particular post takes place at The Farmacy Natural and Specialty Foods located at 28 West Stimson Avenue. It's an awesome mini-grocery store that offers a wide range of local and organic foods. I didn't get to check the products out too much though because I was on a mission and headed right over to the smoothie area.

Upon examining the menu, I located my target. A smoothie uniquely named the "Spiritulina", that featured a combination of strawberries, bananas, yogurt, papaya juice and the special ingredient, spirulina, that actually features a tremendous amount of health benefits. Don't be fooled though readers, spirulina is simply a fancy word for algae.


I did my best to convince myself that spirulina was just some crazy fruit that I had never heard of as I coughed up the $4.35 that I owed for the smoothie. As my smoothie was in the process of being created, I wandered around the store a bit until I heard the barista call me over, for my beverage was ready for consumption.

Now, I feel that I'm not too squeamish of a person...until I saw this beverage. Okay, yes I already knew that algae was one of the ingredients buttttt, little did I know that my drink would look like the droppings of some old, extinct sea monster. Had I not watched the barista make the drink herself, I would have assumed that someone simply vomited into a cup and handed it in my direction. It was an awkward, dark green with glimpses of red, blues and purples floating around. Basically, it looked like liquid guacamole.


"I can't let my fans down," I kept telling myself. I stepped away from the counter, popped the straw in and proceeded to take my first sip.

Welp, turns out I'm an idiot. Since this blog has been in existence, this is by far the tastiest beverage I've reviewed. This may even be one of the tastiest beverages my taste buds have ever had the pleasure to meet. It was very reminiscent of a simple strawberry-banana smoothie, but the algae taste really shined through with the aftertaste. It still tasted fruity and simple, but exhilarating at the same time. While this beverage is quite expensive, you owe your palate this experience.

God bless you, you sweet, sweet ocean.


3 comments:

  1. I spent a few weeks at Northwestern University in high school and they assigned me this asian kid for a room mate that listened to foreign jazz on a shower radio and ate algae from vacuum packs. He let me try that algae once and I nearly threw up. Gotta try these Farmacy smoothies though, I know my blog will send me there too.

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  2. You are a brave kid! This drink looks repulsive! I'm a bit on the adventurous side myself, but I don't know if I would be up for this!

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  3. bravo! Good to remember not to judge a book by it's cover...keep trying and good luck with your blog

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