FOOD & DRINK
Putting the Tea in Nightlife
JWU st ud e nt s co n co ct c re at i ve d r i n k s t h at a re b oth h ea lthy a n d elevated By Abbie Lahmers The antioxidants, nutrients, and benefits in reducing inflammation made blueberry acai an easy choice for their citrusy-sweet drink. Angie Escalante was similarly drawn to the tea’s health benefits, but bringing her marketing major to good use, also saw the opportunity to make her bevvie Insta-worthy. Her Bigelow Blueberr y Butterfly Empress, which stole the cocktail categor y, achieves a vibrant fuschia color. Pulling inspiration from Providence’s bar scene, Escalante explains, “I went out one time to the Alley Cat and ordered a lavender gin spirit and it had the beautiful diffusion from indigo into lemon,” which is how she discovered the butterfly pea blossom gin Empress 1908 that transforms a simple drink into a stunner. Taking a farm-to -table approach to their alchemy, baking and pastr y arts majors
Kinnear y and Lundquist perfected a drink that’s elevated enough for the nightlife yet alcohol-free for anytime sipping. “Emma is the bartender and knows ever ything about mixolog y,” says Kinnear y. “I put all my brain power into the ingredients and the sustainable efforts in each one, and what makes each ingredient healthy, and she measured out ever ything and fig ured out all the quantities, so it was a pretty good duo.” When asked how best to enjoy these decadent drinks, Escalante is quick to answer “Brunch!” – the BBB Empress isn’t overly sweet so it pairs well with stacks of pancakes and other indulgences. Both drinks are nourishing and sure to drive away the winter blues with their summertime flavors. To learn more about JWU’s partnership with Bigelow Tea and to see other student cocktails, visit JWU.edu/news.
Photos by Mike Cohea
I
t’s a cocktail…but also tea, trendy yet good for you: it’s a Super Bev. This is the premise distilled (or steeped) into the competition Johnson & Wales University hosted this past fall in partnership with Bigelow Tea. Eight student teams (some working solo, others with partners) meticulously developed and then put their recipes to the test by shaking them up for a panel of judges to see how their Super Bevs stacked up in two categories of Bigelow herbal tea-based drinks: cocktail and mocktail. The two winning recipes share a superfoodforward tea: blueberry acai. “Knowing that the beverage was supposed to be healthy, I wanted to make something very light and something attention-grabbing ,” explains Celia Kinneary, who, along with Emma Lundquist, won in the spirits-free category for their Purple Pineapple.
Creative cocktail contenders for JWU’s Super Bev competition
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