How to serve water in style at an afternoon barbecue party

This story is a nice follow up to the Jello shots. It is about liquid and fruits.

Serving individual water bottles in a cooler is handy but it is not very good for the environment. There is a growing trend in US chic restaurants and city halls to ban water bottles.

Become a trendsetter by serving tap water in pitchers at your summer parties. The key is to do it in style. You can upscale the look of the most basic glass pitcher just by inserting beautiful fresh fruits and herbs in the water.

You see here how the vibrant red, yellow and green increase the water appeal. The idea is to add color and a light flavor to the tap water.

How to decorate and spice up tap water?

Berries, apple slices, pear slices, citrus and herbs are the obvious choices. Spices, like anis, add a nice touch. Think about your menu or the event theme to decide what to put in.

Grapes look great but they are mostly a decorative touch. You may pierce them to release some of their flavor. You can get inspired by sangria. Even vegetables can work. Take cucumber and celery for example, they will add a fresh taste.

You can use individual frozen fruits if you do not have firm fresh ones on hand. Europe’s Best is a brand that freezes berries in whole and other fruits in large pieces. Another technique is to add small pieces of fruits or chopped herbs when you are making ice cubes.

You can put mint, lemon thyme, basil or lavender herb in your water. Whole branches look the best.

Water popsicles

I also read about this Dutch designer, Nienke Vording who is experimenting with how to revitalize water in our own home. This is a tiny bit esoteric. From Nienke Vording’s Web site, we can read that

Through research it became clear that if polluted substances just mechanistically are filtered out of the water, still prints of them are present and the molecule – and crystal structures are not yet reestablished. Water that floats freely and makes contact with minerals will be able to regain its vitality and its crystal structure.

So Nienke Vording designed a few devices for home consumption. One is the Ice Lolly pop natural laser crystal stick. Whether or not this is true, the fact remains that its Ice Lolly pops are stunning.

For a hot summer day event, why not make water flavored popsicles instead of the juice ones. You will get a lot less calories and an even more refreshing taste.

My plea against disposable glasses

Excuse me about the disposable glasses and the sugar low bags. I took the picture in a food court. I take this opportunity to encourage you to limit your consumption of disposable glasses as much as possible.

If you have too many guests, think about renting or borrowing glasses from your neighbors and friends.

The green movement only reinforces my dislike of disposable glasses. They are far from stylish but more importantly, if your outdoor party is in a windy place, they make more spilling damages than good. I have seen it happened too many times at barbecue parties.

And how many of you really recycle them when you have a party at home? I am a tree hugger that likes to consume but who tries to do it responsibly whenever I can.

If you just start with the fruit-flavored tap water pitcher, you will put smiles on many faces.

Learn more: Web site of Europe’s Best
Link: Ice Lolly by Dutch designer Nienke Vording
Via: Designing Water for Consumption published on Core77 Design blog
Photo credit: Taken by Kim Vallee in a MBCo bakery