Not Since The 90’s Have We Been This Obsessed With A Drink

Yea, you remember the early 90’s. Chain smoking Marlboro lights (before we cared about cancer or knew about animal testing,) chugging our beloved Diet Cokes and Diet Snapples (before we knew about the horrors of fake sweeteners) while basking in the hottest possible sun. We also had blonde chunky highlights, platform sandals, and wore the occasional cowboy hat.. but we digress. We drink green juices because we have to (let’s be honest,) kombucha because it makes us a little relaxed and loopy (without actually imbibing in real booze,) and water because if we don’t we feel like shit. We haven’t had a pleasure drink in ages… til now. Meet our new boyfriend, Bai.

Or more formally called bai5 Antioxidant Infusions. We discovered them in our little next door coffee store, and being exclusively tea drinkers were interested in the “coffee fruit.” We’ve tried every superfood there is, but never coffee fruit. So we bought one. And.. friggin’ delicious, refreshing, and seriously boost inducing!

Not to mention ethical; The Indonesian coffee growers that supply the coffeefruit that is in bai5 have a direct trade relationship with Ben Weiss, the Founder – which is better than Fair Trade as the grower’s profits are their own. bai5 was created in Princeton, NJ only 3 years ago and the company was a small start-up for a few months before it grew beyond a van and door-to-door sales in natural food stores to being sold in Whole Foods and more across the country.

The beverages are 100% natural, antioxidant-rich, only 5 calories, low-glycemic/low-sugar (1 gram of organic stevia and all-natural Erythritol) and Gluten & Soy free as well as Kosher, Vegan and GMO free.
Best of all? All 8 exotic natural fruit juice flavored varieties (congo pear, dragonfruit, etc..) are delicious! The kick is from the 35 mgs of natural caffeine from the coffeefruit (like a cup of green tea.)The down side? They are seriously sweet, like we generally pour half the bottle into a cup and fill the rest up with filtered water so it doesn’t knock us out with sweetness. Which is fine for us, stretches the dollar (they are anywhere from $2.19-3 depending on your retailer) and the drink!

We asked a nutritionist friend about the ingredients and here was her take;

Erythritol is a sugar alcohol, a sweetener with “less calories” than sugar. But the reason that sugar alcohols provide fewer calories than sugar is because those sugars aren’t completely absorbed by your body. This is why some sugar alcohols give people gas and diarrhea – yikes! Stevia is fine, but it does make people accustomed to higher and higher levels of sweet taste, which kind of numbs their taste buds and makes real food like fruit not as appealing.

Overall, we love this new drink in a major way. It’s a perfect afternoon boost/ treat drink and the natural foods market needed this yummy option. Drink up! L’chaim, dollface.