Posted by Erin Zimmer, July 15, 2008 at 2:15 PM
Starbucks had new signage today welcoming the Vivanno. As explained yesterday, it's a nutritious answer to the indulgent Frappuccino, with only 250 calories for the 16-ounce Orange Mango Banana flavor, and 270 calories for the Banana Chocolate. Are they worth it? Fewer calories than a Jamba Juice smoothie or a Frappuccino, but they're gross.
Banana Chocolate
After tasting one spoonful of the Banana Chocolate, Ed Levine compared it to milk of magnesia. Yum! Chewable tablets that relieve heartburn! Watery, with fake chocolate powder undertones, this isn't good. The closest Jamba Juice counterpart: Peanut Butter Moo'd, minus the peanut butter part. Vanilla frozen yogurt, chocolate "Moo'd base," soy milk, ice, and frozen bananas yielded no discernible flavor, but was more drinkable than Vivanno.
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Posted by Erin Zimmer, July 14, 2008 at 7:30 AM
Starbucks is unleashing another "healthy" answer to the extra caramel Frappuccino with extra whip. Launching Tuesday, the "Vivanno" will taste, look, and act like a smoothie but since it's "so much more than a smoothie" according to Starbucks, they won't let you call it one.
The Vivanno will come in two flavors: Orange Mango Banana Blend, made with Naked Juice, protein and fiber powders, milk, and ice, with 227 calories in a grande. In the Banana Chocolate Blend, mocha syrup replaces the juice, and there's 270 calories for the same 16 ounces. Each blend also contains a whole banana, which Starbucks really wants you to know and love. According to one barista blogger, staffers were reminded repeatedly that there's “at least one serving of fruit with a whole banana" throughout corporate training. They even watched a DVD underscoring the banana presence.
And bananas are good. Americans eat as many bananas as apples and oranges combined, according to banana sage Dan Koeppel. Less than 300 calories is also good, as Frappucinos can easily reach the 600- to 700-calorie range.
But is Starbucks a smoothie house? Not according to the barista blogger. "This isn’t Jamba Juice. This isn’t Smoothie King. This is Starbucks Coffee & Tea. Not Starbucks Coffee & Tea & Smoothies. Or I suppose Starbucks Coffee & Tea & Nourishing Blends."
What do you think? Would you grab a not-smoothie from Starbucks?
Read our review of the Starbucks Vivanno and a comparison to Jamba Juice Smoothies.
Posted by Robyn Lee, June 9, 2008 at 6:45 PM
This frosty Dryer's lime-flavored fruit bar eaten by Joy K looks very tempting in light of the hot and humid, sweat inducing, brain melting heat we've been having these past three days in New York City.
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Posted by Ed Levine, July 31, 2006 at 8:33 AM
I love chevre, I really do. All kinds: domestic chevre, French chevre, fresh chevre, aged chevre, even goat's milk cheddar. Hell, I like Coach yo-goat yogurt drinks. But try as I might to love Laloo's Goat's Milk Ice Cream, I just can't.
At least not the Deep Chocolate flavor. It's just too, well, goaty. Each spoonful gives you three intense, distinct flavor hits: first the goatiness hits your taste buds like a sledgehammer, then the chocolate kicks in, and just when you think the chocolate is going to carry Laloo to flavor victory, the goatiness comes back with a vengeance. Maybe the vanilla or the molasses flavors will be better. I will give them a try, but I can't say I'm optimistic.
Note: It's not as if I haven't tried and loved ice cream made with something other than cow's milk. Some of the best ice cream I've ever eaten was the water buffalo's milk ice cream I ate in Campagna last May.
Posted by Ed Levine, April 4, 2006 at 12:20 PM
Sorbet eaten in moderation is a dieter's best friend. Some of the best commercial sorbets on the market contain a hundred calories in a serving. Of course it's hard to limit yourself to a single serving of sorbet if it's really good, but that's a problem that can be solved by a creative sorbet manufacturer. When I found myself perusing the ice cream selection at Whole Foods the other day, I came upon Blue Moon Sorbets, made in Queechee, Vermont, undoubtedly by some old hippies that went to college when I did in the late sixties. I bought two pints, Blackberry Lime and Pear Ginger. They cost $5.00, or half of what a pint of Capogiro's sorbetto costs. They are not as smooth-textured as Capogiro's are, but they are intensely flavored and very clean-tasting. The Pear Ginger was downright smooth, perhaps because pears are naturally creamy. The flavor combinations are blessedly straightforward and carefully thought out. Pear belongs with ginger as blackberry belongs with lime. No savory flavors or herbs need apply here. I'm a fan of Sharon's sorbets and even of Haagen Dazs, but neither offers the judiciously chosen flavor combinations that Blue Moon does. I wish they were creamier, but you can't have everything.
