Non-Alcoholic Beverage

The beverage is the potable drinks which have thirst quenching, refreshing, stimulating and nourishing qualities. Any potable liquid which is alcoholic or non-alcoholic is known as a beverage. The beverage is mainly consumed to quench thirst, feel fresh, to compensate the loss of body fluid due to perspiration.

Non-Alcoholic beverage

Non- alcoholic beverages have become a way of life. We start with the morning tea; carried through the morning and afternoon with a cup full of coffee. Refresh ourselves with carbonated drinks at the end of dining day or at the party and finally, go to bed with a warm nourishing drink. This aspect of the person life is fully understood and propagated by hotels and restaurant. It is essential to know a little about this beverage as they add a sizeable contribution to the establishment’s profit.

Types of Non-Alcoholic Beverage

Non-Alcoholic Beverages can be broadly classified into three types as:

1. Stimulating beverages (tea, coffee)
2. Refreshing beverages (mineral water, syrup)
3. Nourishing beverages (milk and malt based drinks)

1. Stimulating Beverage

Stimulating beverages contain a stimulating ingredient called caffeine which stimulates the in its work.

Tea

History: Tea was discovered by an accident over 5000 years ago when leaves from tea bush accidently dropped into some boiling water and delicately flavored the liquid. It is believed that that the origins of tea were from China where the tea plant was introduced from as unknown source. The East India Company introduced it into India around the 17^th century and tea became a popular drink in India and Europe through London.

Definition: Tea is a non-alcoholic and aromatic beverage drunk hot by boiling water, adding tea leaves to it and stirring till the water imbibes the color and flavor. Milk is added to sugar with taste.

Ice tea has a similar process except that one can add or not add milk and refrigerate the mixture.

Coffee

History: It is thought that the energizing effect of the coffee bean plant was first recognized in Yemen in Arabia and the north-east of Ethiopia and the cultivation of coffee first expanded in the Arab world. The earliest credible evidence of coffee-drinking appears in the middle of the 15^th century, in the Sufi monasteries of Yemen in southern Arabia. From the Muslim world, coffee spread to Italy, then to the rest of Europe, to Indonesia, and to the Americas.

The origins of coffee are mysterious but many tropical countries have a thriving coffee trade. Brazil is the world’s largest grower of coffee, Columbia is second, the Ivory Coast third, and Indonesia fourth. Other countries such as Angola, Zaire, India, etc. also produce high-quality coffee in huge quantity.

Definition: Coffee is a brewed drink with distinct aroma and flavor, prepared from roasted coffee beans, the seeds found inside “berries” of the coffee plant . Some varieties of coffee are:

• Ground coffee captures the best essence of coffee beans and is made by boiling it with water in a closed apparatus.
• Cona coffee is best under a closed system.
• Turkish coffee is made by the common method of boiling water, adding a teaspoon of powdered coffee and drinking it with or without milk ,with sugar to taste.
• Espresso coffee is made by the infusion of the system through a special espresso machine that gives a frothy texture to the coffee when served.
• Cappuccino is the espresso coffee with a sprinkling of cinnamon powder on top.
• Cold coffee is a very popular and is made as Turkish coffee is made with and sugar and then chilled.

2. Refreshing beverages

Refreshing beverages actually refresh our body. These can be categorized as;

Aerated water

These are charged or aerated with carbonic gas and comprise a combination of water, gas, sugar, and artificial essence. Common essence used belongs to the citrus family –e.g. lemonade and orangeade. The flavorings found in different aerated waters are imported from various essence. Example:

• Soda water :- purified carbonated water, colorless, test less
• Colas:- Pepsi, coca-cola.
• Orange: - Mirinda, gold spot, crush,fanta.
• Lime: - lime, team, 7up, lime.
• Tonic water: - a carbonated soft drink with a bitter flavor , used as a mixture with gin or other spirits .

Non-aerated waters

1. Natural spring water:- it has less regulation apart from those concerning hygiene.
2. Mineral water: - it has a minerals content which is strictly controlled.
3. Squashes:- these are concentrated fruit extracts .
4. Juice: - it can be bottled or canned. E.g. orange juice, pineapple juice , grapefruit juice ,and tomato juice .with squash always.
5. Syrups: - the main use of these concentrated , sweet fruit flavoring is the base of cocktails . examples :

• Grenadine (pomegranate syrup)
• Casis (black currant syrup)
• Citronelle (lemon syrup)
• Gomme (white sugar syrup)
• Framboise (raspberry)

It should be noted that syrups are available as flavoring agents for cold milk shaken and milk drinks.

Service of syrup: they are never served as drinks in their own right but generally served as flavors for cocktails, fruit cup, milk and long drinks.

3. Nourishing Beverages

We usually associate nourishing drinks with fresh juices or milk. Amongst drinks with fruit juices are fresh and tinned orange, mango, grapefruit, pineapple, and lime; while tomato juice is the loner from the vegetable family. As regards milk based nourishing drinks we have popular cocoa based drinks like drinking chocolate, Ovaltine and Bournvita. These are sweetened powder mixes that dissolve readily in milk to give rich cocoa flavor.

References:

Joshi, Basant Prasad et.al., Fundamentals of Hotel Management-XII, Sukunda Pustak Bhandar, Kathmandu

Bhandari, Saroj Sing et.al., Principle of Hotel Management-XII, Asmita Publication, Kathmandu

Oli, Gopal Singh et.al., Hotel Management Principle and practices-XII, Buddha Prakashan, Kathmandu