Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Food & Drink / Food Chain Take a sip: Borjomi mineral water from Georgia
Posted by Mike Sula on 12.10.08 at 03:30 PM
The Republic of, that is.
Recently, the tireless Cathy Lambrecht over at LTH initiated a swell of love for the Niles Georgian bakery/soup shack with the decidedly twee name of Bread 'n' Bowl Company. I've since become a fan too, and even with the bakery's relatively limited offerings I seem to discover something new each time I visit, one of which is Borjomi mineral water.
This is a lightly carbonated, strongly flavored, slightly salty water, beloved in the former Soviet Union. The waters that spring from the ground in the Borjomi Gorge in the Caucasus Mountains where it's collected have been touted for their therapeutic qualities since the early 19th century. I can't vouch for them, but Mineral Waters of World rates Borjomi 13th among hundreds of rated waters for bicarbonate levels, which means it's good for indigestion and hangovers, and likely the reason it has bit of Alka-Seltzer bitterness on the back end. It seems strange to say, but this water has body, substantial, but still refreshing. It isn't something I'd guzzle every day, but it might be just the thing after powering down a pound of Bread 'n' Bowl's buttery pelmeni, or after a schvitz.
The brand has an interesting recent political history. Mineral water, along with scrap metal and wine, is one of Georgia's chief exports. Up until 2006 Borjomi was the top-selling mineral water in Russia, but that same year the Russian government embargoed imports as part of what Georgians viewed as a campaign of economic warfare against the Republic (and then of course, things got really bad). When I brought it up to B'n'B owner Arkady Kats, a native of Ukraine, he smirked and said, "So what they boycott it? People want it, so they get it."
I can't say how well it does on the Russian black market, but the boycott led the company to diversify its exports--which may be why you can now find it so easily in Chicago. I picked up a six-pack of one liters at Farmer's Best Market, 8526 W. Golf in Niles. In the city I've spotted it at City Fresh Market, 3201 W. Devon, and a friend of the Food Chain reports that he gets his at Rich's Delicatessan, 875 N. Western.
Comments (4)
Showing 1-4 of 4
like
dislike
You can buy it by the case at the Marketplace on Oakton (just west of Skokie Blvd). I think they may even carry two different varieties of the water...
Good to know. Arkady mentioned that they bottled a "light," weaker tasting version.
I've know about this product and have seen it for sale in Fresh Meadows, New York for months. I know of at least two places in my neighborhood that sell Borjomi Seltzer. I don't know what all the excitement is about with this seltzer water? Would you get excited about drinking Manichewitz wine? This Borjomi seltzer water has a thick and rather slimy taste to it. I could get better water out of the tap to be 100% honest with you. I've had water samples from many places in the United States and most of the water I drank tasted better than this seltzer. Who would want a drink of water with such a thick and slimy taste, regardless of its origin? I bought this seltzer because I was interested in buying an authentic product from Georgia, other than holding onto a bunch of Lari banknotes and coins. My advice is unless you can't locate a sink with clean pipes pass this product by. This wasn't the best use of $1.49 for me. I'd sooner spend the same money on an imported avocado from Mexico, a bag of cherries from Pontos, Asia Minor or for someone to sing me a sad folk song from Adjaria.
