As the first Jarritos soda to appear on this blog, you may already be a little familiar with it since you can find it in many U.S. supermarkets among the Mexican foods. The name Jarritos, means "little jugs" and was so named because the water, flavored with fruit, popular in colonial times was served in clay jugs. Jarritos was founded by Don Francisco Hill, a chemist by trade, in 1950, in Mexico City.
Strangely, the first flavor they came out with was a coffee flavored soda. Yes, there are other coffee sodas out there, but this seems like an odd choice for the first product of a new company. So Don Francisco created a process of extracting juice from the Tamarind. For those not acquainted with it, the Tamarind is a tree native to Africa that spread to other countries with similar climates because the ugly pods it produces as fruit were used in cuisine and medicine. Again, not my first choice for a new beverage but Jarritos, armed with its new extraction process started bottling a tamarind flavored soda. They were smart to subsequently also release a list of several more traditional fruit flavored sodas as well. In 1988 Jarritos began exporting to the U.S. Today they produce around eleven flavors.
Other than being a product of Mexico, I don't know that there is any real difference between this "Mexican Cola" than any other cola. It smells very refreshing though. Interestingly it's cola flavored but it has a sweetness to it like that of candy. It reminds me of those little candies shaped like soda bottles with cola flavoring. It's sweet and nice, a nice break from many of the colas I'm accustomed to. Although I can imagine drinking too much of it might get sickeningly sweet. I would definitely classify this as a dessert drink, ideal for a light treat after a cookout.
Part II
ReplyDeleteI apologize for the history lesson, but this was one story I could never forget. When I visited Mexico City nearly a decade after these events, locals would speak in hushed voices about the tragedy of Alphonse Beliveau. From one soda connoisseur to another, I could not resist sharing. Fit for Hollywood, I say. It is a shame then that Zionist media would not allow such a tragic but true tale to exist on the silver screen. Not without Coca-Cola sponsoring it!
As to the quality of the product itself, I can say that in my time in Mexico City the last bottle from Beliveau was long dry, but I heard whispers that the modern version is merely an imitation. Perhaps Beliveau had the last laugh. Now, my own evaluation of the product differs slightly from yours: I find the sweetness to be actually more akin to Chañi, an Argentinian soda that, in case you have not sampled it, is still sweet but actually less so than Coco Brynco. So, yes, it is on the sweet side, but nothing to get this old man bouncing off the walls! Also, to correct a slight error in your notation: the first flavor of Jarritos was not coffee but actually toffee. A strange choice, nonetheless.
As I cannot yet finish with evaluating the quality of Jarritos, I must make a startling confession: my favorite quality of any soda is how evenly the CO2 bubbles are arranged. Even my old, dry, scratchy tongue can still make a good guess every now and then! Jarritos has a reputation for being of moderate carbonation, but I decided to tackle that assumption more scientifically. Since my new carbonation detector came in (not sure if I told you -- forked over a pretty penny for this state-of-the-art model), I have been dying to test various sodas in order to more accurately gauge their potency. Needless to say, Jarritos was a clean 8.8/10 -- extremely potent. I was absolutely stunned. I don't remember it being so carbonated in the past, so perhaps they changed the process?
And that about puts a cap on it. :-)
Well Mr. Ross, I am breathless (be careful, I'm old!) in anticipating both your response and your next reviews. I so enjoy reading them, even if I lost my bifocals. Please continue to write about your travels; soda fans drink them up!
That is the word from Terrence Pinlittle!
Warm regards to a friend (ah, I miss my Rada),
Terrence
Terrence: Your tale of Alphonse Beliveau was quite fascinating. I had found nothing like it. How did you hear of this story. I had translated El "Güero" as warrior and left it out simply because I figured it to either be a sign of a ruthless corporate scoundrel or something he liked to call himself so others would be more intimidated by him. I too enjoy well carbonated drinks. There is certainly a wide amount of different out there both in the amount of carbonation and the size and feel of the bubbles. As much as I travel unfortunately most of my drinks are picked up along the way, brought to me by family, shipped to me online. There are occasions when I hear of places and make some road trips to. Thanks for sharing the story and for reading my blog.
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