You might not have had the chance to go to this year's Coachella, but you can still drink like you were there.
Miami's Bar Lab <https://bar-lab.com/> recently partnered with Xicama™ a jicama-based food and beverage line based in Los Angeles, to create the world's first jicama-based cocktail/ready-to-drink beverages. The result: Xicamix (pronounced HEE-kah-mix), a collection of three jicama-based cocktail mixes that debuted at the Broken Shaker pop-up at Coachella 2019.
Touted as a healthier way to imbibe, the cocktail — a blend of Xicama, jicama, cucumber, and ginger — was the featured mix on Broken Shaker's Coachella menu. It sold out in record time, with more than 2,000 cocktails served the first weekend of the California music festival.
The star superfood ingredient of both Xicama and Xicamix is the root vegetable jicama. Native to Mexico, it's recently been elevated to superfood status by celebrity foodies like Goop's Gwyneth Paltrow, Food Network's Rachael Ray, and Genius Foods author Max Lugavere. With a light, fresh, subtly sweet taste, Xicama claims to provide a dose of vitamin C, prebiotic fiber, and other essential vitamins to boost gut and immune health.
"Modern drinkers are considering their relationship with wellness and alcohol, and cocktails with health-boosting benefits — and without booze at all — are gaining popularity," says Xicama CEO and founder Mona Sharma. "Xicama™ embodies that spirit
of wellness."
Sharma says she started drinking jicama while pregnant, hoping to benefit from the root vegetable's gut health and immunity-boosting properties. The realization of its health benefits led her to establish her own company, IQ Foods International, of which Xicama is the flagship brand.
Today, Bar Lab is more than Broken Shaker. The lifestyle consulting agency focuses on creative hospitality, event planning, market branding, and innovative beverage programs.
"We're very excited to work on a product that is tasty and also beneficial for you," says Bar Lab cofounder Gabriel Orta. "This is a great example of pushing the spirit world with innovative products."
Xicama™ cocktail mixes are available for purchase on Shopify and Amazon, as well as at select U.S. retailers. For non-imbibers, Xicama™ can be enjoyed with sparkling water on ice. Additionally, hemp-infused versions of all Xicama™ mixes will be launching soon alongside jicama water, jicama gut "shots," and even jicama flour.
Locally, Bar Lab will be creating exclusive Xicama-based cocktails for its two South Florida establishments, Broken Shaker and the Anderson.