Infused!: 70 Thirst-Quenching Healthy Drinks

First, the positive: the photos of each recipe are full-paged, colorful, and gorgeous, making most of the concoctions seem incredibly appetizing, however . . . .The negative: Though most of the "recipes" have only two or three ingredients, some of those ingredients are difficult to source for many people and some could be problematic. Sadly, the author assumes a level of arcane knowledge of these ingredients that not everyone possesses. Here are two examples:Blue Pea Flower Tea calls for "1 handful of dried butterfly pea flowers." I've been an avid gardener for a number of years and I had no earthly idea what a butterfly pea flower is. I had to do some research on it and found that it is a plant common to South East Asia that is chock-full of anti-oxidants and makes a dramatically blue tea. Okay, interesting, but I have never seen this item in a store. I did finally find the dried flowers on Amazon (should have started there in the first place.)Then there is the Digestive made with Iyokan, Millet, and Bark. I discovered (again, more research) that Iyokan is a type of citrus fruit, quite popular in Japan. However, it certainly hasn't made its way to my local grocery store. An extra sentence or two explaining what it is and what one might acceptably substitute for it, would have been useful to this reader. More problematic, the type of bark to be used in the infusion was not specified in the ingredients list, though "bark" appears in the recipe's title. In my opinion, the author should have clearly stated what bark is safe to ingest in a tea and while warning people that the bark of some common trees and shrubs can be quite toxic.Overall, with these caveats in mind, there are still a number of recipes that give creative ideas for appealing and healthful drinks. When the author sticks to the more readily available ingredients, the ideas are compelling, eg., a Pineapple, mango, Lime, and Basil infusion. I can't wait to try that one. When she veers off to the more, shall we say, adventurous infusions, she's lost me. I'll be giving a miss to the Charcoal and Vinegar, Agave and Passionfruit infusion. Even the photo of that one makes me shiver. 3 stars seems about right.

A chance spotting of this book led to discovering some fun and playful combinations of infused drinks. Do I admit I was excited to pop into my local grocery store to source some of the ingredients?This book presents simple easy to make recipes with many different flavor profiles and benefits. Great for a gift idea for you - or someone else.