Now You Can Drink Your Herbs and Spices

Herbs and spices are full of health-boosting benefits. Turmeric fights inflammation. Cinnamon can lower blood sugar. Paprika and oregano are antioxidant packed.

And if your culinary prowess barely extends past throwing a salad together, you're probably not getting enough of their benefits. But what if you could drink your herbs and spices?

"In India, we put spices in everything, but it's not the same in the Western diet. So I wanted to create a way for all people to eat more spices," says Sunitha Ramaiah.

Ramaiah created Manjoor Estate, one line in a whole new category of sippable spice concoctions that infuse good-for-you herbs into juice, coconut water, tea, and even beer. (One word of caution: Don't gulp these like water during a spin class the first time. Drinking spices is an intense sensory experience. Proceed slowly, please.)

Here are three new herb- and spice-infused beverages that have way more than flavor to recommend them. —Lisa Elaine Held

Photo: Manjoor Estate

 

ALTAR Herbal Martinis

ALTAR's beverages are healthy mocktails on their own, and they can also be used as mixers to create healthy-ish cocktails. (Bartenders around the country have even started stocking them.)

Each beverage comes with its own unique base, herbal blend, and objective. Chi, for example, is meant to inspire energy and vigor with ingredients like green tea, white ginseng, astralagus, and Oregon spearmint; Aphrodisiac is made with peach and nectarine juice, muddled rhubarb, and spices like cloves, anise, and saffron to put you in the mood. (Maybe try a Restore after?) $19.95, Purchase online, in New York at high-end grocers like Citarella and Forager's, and at Whole Foods in select markets

 

Manjoor Estate

Bombay Talkie owner Sunitha Ramaiah teamed up with Bar Lab cocktail guru to create these beverages with a dose of Indian history and Eastern culture, packaged in pretty corked glass bottles. (Note: The glass was limited-edition and they're now switching to plastic for broader distribution.)

Each drink represents an element. For example, Water infuses cocoa and cinnamon into coconut water; Earth blends saffron, peppercorn, and turmeric into a Greek-yogurt-based lassi. The drinks are catching on—at the VPL show at New York Fashion Week, models sipped Manjoor's herbal drinks backstage. $10–$12, Purchase online, on AhaLife in October, and at The Greenwich Hotel in Tribeca

 

Tumeric Alive's PurePRANA

Tumeric Alive pioneered the category with its orange turmeric-filled bottles that have become ubiquitous at yoga studios and healthy grocers around New York. Its most recent launch is in line with the juice world's recent obsession with shots, and doing this one may inspire a tequila-shot facial expression. PurePRANA is just three concentrated ounces of power herbs: turmeric, cardamom, ginger, spearmint, tulsi, and more. It's also certified USDA Organic and non-GMO. $4.99 each or $29.94 for case of 6, Purchase online or at Whole Foods markets

 

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