New Orleanians have learned to seek every opportunity to beat the heat that envelops us. It is time to try many of the non-alcoholic specialty beverages in New Orleans that will help both beat the heat and tantalize the taste buds.
One need not look too far to find the right cool beverage that will bring the body temperature down. The rise in consumption of specialty drinks is presented in many forms of frozen or iced beverage choices that have been served locally for a number of years. Avid coffee, smoothie and even snowball fans can experiment and take advantage of much to chose from.
Plantation Coffeehouse. (5555 Canal Boulevard, 482-3164) rules supreme with the best-iced coffee offerings in town. Their 16-ounce Iced Coffee ($1.95) can be accented with any number of flavors or ordered “Just Plain.” If you are looking for more than just iced coffee, peruse their full service gourmet coffee shop featuring more than 75 roasted bean flavors. Their staff is both knowledgeable and eager to help guide one through all the choices. The staff at Plantation Coffeehouse also serves up a choice of ten revitalizing Smoothies ($2.25-~2.50) made from nothing more than fresh fruit, crushed ice, honey and plain yogurt. One delicious smoothie concoction that cannot be found anywhere else in the city is Pineapple-Papaya. It delivers a cooling sensation to the whole body without tasting too sweet and dense like smoothies often can. Plantation Coffeehouse houses a full service deli featuring generous Plantation Salads ($4.50-6.50) and more than thirty Plantation Sandwich ($3.25-5.75) creations. Do not forget to peer inside the dessert case to see if there are any remaining pieces of towering Peach Shortcake or Snickers Pie. Take a seat in the shade of their front porch and enjoy a cool coffee drink or dessert. Plantation Coffeehouse is open Sunday-Thursday from 7 a.m.-10 p.m., Friday-Saturday from 7 a.m.-Midnight.
One can find four Rue de La Course coffeehouses spread throughout New Orleans and another coffeehouse outpost in Covington, the first of which was opened in 1990 at the corner of Race and Magazine Street. The Garden District Rue de La Course coffeehouse (3128 Magazine Street; 899-0242)remains one of the most beautiful settings to consume any number of their great offerings. The eclectic music and separate smoking and non-smoking sections meet any customer’s needs. This coffeehouse also balances the atmosphere for btch students and social coffee drinkers with ease.
A quick jump out of the starting blocks brings one to the finest Italian Caffe Granita ($2.10-3) in the city. Add a shot of vanilla or chocolate to the cool icy mixture for a real treat! One also will find immeasurable delight in discovering their original Iced Caffe Crema ($2.95). Here they take equal parts espresso and half-and-half cream with your choice of flavor, served over ice in a pint glass and topped with either cinnamon or cocoa. Their New Orleans lce Cream Sodas ($3.85) are made with your choice of flavors including Almond, Blackberry, Chocolate, Kiwi, Mango, Nectar, Raspberry, Vanilla or Vanilla Hazelnut to a carbonated drink and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. These treats can be further accented by a splash of half-and-half, whipped cream and garnished with cocoa or cinnamon. You can spot these drinks on the tables by their respective vibrant colors to decide what is the most popular.
Sample their daily selection of pastries including one of six Coffee Cakes ($1.95), eight lce Box Desserts ($2.50-3.30) or the extravagant French lce Cream Bombes ($3.99). The best choice for this Victorian dessert remains the Cafe Au Lait Crunch Bombe. Layers of French Vanilla and Coffee Ice Cream are laid upon a Chocolate Cookie Crust and topped with Whipped Cream and garnished with an appropriate chocolate covered espresso bean measuring almost five inches.
Chai tea has been recognized as another healthy alternative beverage. Chai tea is an ancient aromatic spiced Asian beverage that blends ginger. cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, cloves and black tea leaves to create a real tea with an almost supernatural kick. Chai drinkers like to add honey, milk and sugar to create the ultimate iced Chai Latte. Chai also contains caffeine equivalent to a cup of regular coffee. More than a dozen local PJ’s Coffee and Tea locations serve Chai Latte cold or hot. A large Chai Latte ($3.30) mixed with equal parts whole milk possesses startling new flavors. Check out PJ’s new Berry and Mocha Velvet Ice smoothies as well.
New Orleans can now be recognized nationally as the original home of the smoothie. Smoothies were created long before the California juice bar concept became popular. Smoothies are the most healthy and coolest beverages to replace fattening snacks and rich milkshakes.
Regular smoothie drinkers claim these beverages help increase productivity and promote overall health by virtue of their ingredients including Vitamin C and Soy Protein. One may notice a particular brand, Ultimate Smoothies, have begun popping up in local health stores and country clubs. Ultimate Smoothies are both fat and cholesterol free. A twelve-ounce serving also provides 420 milligrams of potassium and ten grams of pure protein in addition to 100 percent recommended daily allowance of Vitamin C. The main ingredients simply remain pure fruit, fruit juice and protein. Think of these all-natural beverages as the new “cool brew”.
The creators of Ultimate Smoothies have labored to pack in these nutrients in delicious flavors including Strawberry/Banana, Peach/Mango, Berried Treasure, Orange/Pineapple, Vanilla and a coffee flavored java. These delicious health shakes were first served up in Tucson, having been created by a native New Orleanian. The first Ultimate Smoothies machine has been installed in Mackie Shilstone’s GNC Store (2901 Magazine Street:897-1 030) in Magazine Commons. Four more Stores will install these dispensers soon. A 16-ounce serving costs just $3. One of the greatest aspects of Ultimate Smoothies is that you are guaranteed consistent flavors and no wait. Health food store shoppers are not the only ones to discover these new beverages. Both Shaquille O’Neal and Penny Hardaway are rumored to sample Ultimate Smoothies at their Orlando Magic training facility.
Even before smoothies arrived on the scene, nearly every family sought out a daily Snowball treat or Huck-A-Buck treat, the most inexpensive ways to cool off. Snowballs are simply made from shaved ice and colored sugar syrup flavors. Some snowball’ stands will add condensed milk. Popular unique Snowball flavors include Spearmint, Wild Cherry and Nectar. Nectar is an original New Orleans flavor represented in a pink colored mix of almond and vanilla. Even more outrageous is the flavor of Peanut Butter and Jelly or Bananas Foster. When the heat becomes unbearable I turn to my local snowball guide, young Caroline Searcy, who proudly wears more of her favorite flavor Wild Cherry than she can eat. Caroline has led me by the hand to her two favorite snowball stands in the city including the legendary Hansen’s Sno-Bliz (4801 Tchoupitoulas Street; 891-9788) and Pandora’s (901 North Carrollton; 486- 8644). Hansen’s Sno-Bliz is usually open from 2-7 p.m. daily and Pandora’s is open usually all day seven days a week. Part of the excitement of snowball consumption is the eternal wait in line as the excitement builds until one can purchase an extra large pail of the favorite flavor.
Huck-A-Bucks are frozen sugar water flavors served in a Dixie Cup with a wooden spoon frozen in the middle. First peel off the Dixie Cup and work your way to the treat of candy or bubble gum buried in the middle. Look for Huck-A-Bucks anywhere you can find them.
Everyone realizes the heat will not evaporate until sometime this Fall, so take advantage of these summertime discoveries to cool off.
