It’s almost All Hallow’s Eve, but we are not going to be spooky-scary! Bucking the trend, we are instead going to dig into the wonderfully weird start-ups once more… This time from the food and drink industry!

 

Let’s start with an easy one. What has your life been missing up till this point. Answer honestly. Was it more money? Greater job satisfaction? Perhaps someone to love? Whatever your answer was, one entrepreneur from Surrey, UK, has the only correct reply to that one: better tea!

In an ultimate show of true Brit, one Guy Woodall, owner of a farm in Surrey, claims to make tea even better by offering it… In aerosolized can form!

Specifically, his Yum Cha iced tea start-up sells pre-made, pre-brewed and pressurized tea that is designed to offer all the taste of a Five O’clock without any of the teabag hassle that is usually involved. You’ll have tea ready in a jiffy!

Well, almost in a jiffy. Despite being pre-brewed, it still needs to be heated up before serving. And then, you’ll need to add water for good measure. But, at the very least, the inventor promises you won’t need to tell your beverage fortune from tea leaves – the tea will definitely be as strong (or as weak) as you need it to be.

But wait, I hear you ask, wouldn’t having to heat it up and add water be almost exactly like what we are already doing to get that sweet theanine fix we so desperately crave? Well… The inventor doesn’t think so, but the jury is still out on how good it is. Although who knows, perhaps in the future, we’ll all be drinking tea out of a can! I, however, prefer it the old-fashioned way: out of a kettle and with teabags, after a ritual that is far more important then its end result – a fragrant brew.

All right, so we have our tea now. But I’m getting mighty peckish, and looking towards another quite successful start-up I cannot help but admire the gall of that one, as far as gastronomical innovation goes.

There’s a company that invented a machine that helps you make your own sous-vide cooking. Nomiku – that’s the name of his start-up – was successfully Kickstarted (to the tune of above USD 750,000) and also appeared on Shark Tank, where for 10% stake in the start-up, investors offered to pour in an additional USD 250,000. The company claims to have sold products for a total of USD 3 mln in the past four years, which means they are doing something right!

So, for those among you that do not necessarily have a chef’s hat handy or don’t frequent the hoity-toity gourmand restaurants, let’s explain their product. For starters, is a French-named method of vacuum cooking of meat and vegetables in water baths.

Oh, but if only it were that simple. Apparently, to properly prepare your grub sous-vide style, you still need to pack it, remove air from the packaging (usually a plastic bag of some sort), then carefully control the temperature of water that serves as a heating medium for a very precise amount of time. The result should be mouth-wateringly tender meat, crisp, very flavourful vegetables.

Alas, this type of cooking is usually limited to restaurants, since they can afford the pricey, industry-level sous-vide machines. Nomiku went ahead and decided to offer a customer-grade machine that would reliably make sous-vide for you at home for a fraction of price. As many of its satisfied clientele can attest, the idea really panned out, big time. And now having a sous-vide meal is within anyone’s reach… Well, if you’re willing to dish out USD 200 for the pleasure! Hey, at least it comes with Wi-Fi connectivity and an interactive cookbook.

So… Aerosolized tea anyone? With some sous-vide style snacks? Move over, Mad Hatter!

VOCABULARY

All Hallow’s Eve – wigilia Wszystkich Świętych
spooky – straszny
to buck the trend – oprzeć się trendowi
to dig into sth – zagłębić się w coś
up till this point – do tego momentu
entrepreneur – przedsiębiorca
reply – odpowiedź
Brit – Brytol, Angol (pot., slang.)
aerosolized – w postaci aerozolu
pre-made – zrobiony zawczasu
to brew sth – uwarzyć coś, tu: zaparzyć
pressurized – pod ciśnieniem
Five O’clock – podwieczorek z herbatą (UK)
hassle – kłopot, zawracanie głowy
in a jiffy – za momencik, za chwilę (pot.)
to serve sth – podać coś
for good measure – na dodatek, na dokładkę
at the very least – chociażby, przynajmniej
inventor – wynalazca
beverage – napój
to tell fortune from tea leaves – wróżyć z liści hebraty
theanine – teina (kofeina w herbacie)
fix – działka, dawka (np. narkotyku)
to crave sth – pożądać czegoś
the jury is still out on sth – jakie coś jest nie jest jeszcze do końca wiadome (pot.)
old-fashioned way – staroświecki sposób
kettle – imbryk
fragrant – pachnący
mighty – strasznie, mocno
peckish – głodnawy (pot.)
sb cannot help but admire sth… – ktoś nie może nie docenić (z)robienia czegoś…
the gall of sb – czelność, tupet (kogoś)
sous-vide – gotowanie próżniowe a la sous-vide (fr.)
to the tune of X – w wysokości około X
stake – udział
to pour in X – wlać (w coś) X (funduszy)
chef – szef kuchni
to have sth handy – mieć coś pod ręką
to frequent sth – uczęszczać gdzieś
hoity-toity – wymuskany, (zbyt) wyszukany (pot., slang.)
gourmand – tu: smakosz
for starers – na początek, po pierwsze
vacuum – próżnia
grub – żarełko (pot.)
medium – medium, ośrodek
mouth-wateringly – apetycznie
tender – delikatny (np. mięso)
crisp – chrupiący
flavourful – pełen smaku, smakowity (UK)
alas – niestety (arch., form.)
to afford sth – pozwolić sobie na coś
pricey – kosztowny
customer-grade – dostępny komercyjnie (o produkcie i jego jakości)
reliably – niezawodnie
fraction – ułamek
clientele – klienci
to attest – przyznać, poświadczyć
to pan out – tu: powieść się, udać
big time – w ogromny/wielki sposób
to dish out X – wybulić X

by Prochor Aniszczuk

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