The Single Origin of Sodas

Get to Know a Shrub

The Pear Fizz, Blue Bottle’s newest seasonal shrub

Our New line of Sparkling seasonal Shrubs

Focused, balanced, dialed in—we like our sodas like our coffees: made with care, and with just the right balance of acid and fruit. And sometimes even we need a break from caffeine.

That’s why we’ve launched a new line of seasonal sparkling fruit shrubs. Think of them as single-origin sodas: Made with hyper-local organic produce, they’re concocted with the same quality, care, and seasonality as our coffees. But they’re caffeine-free. And like our single origins, they’re only available while the fruit is at its peak.

So what’s a shrub?

Generally speaking, a shrub is a delightfully refreshing drink made from a potent syrup of fresh fruit, vinegar, and sugar, that’s poured into sparkling water. Though they’ve lately resurfaced as a bar trend, shrubs and other sipping vinegars date back to antiquity and can be found in cultures around the globe. According to Webster’s, the word comes from the Arabic sharāb, meaning “beverage.”

Shrubs and coffee also have a certain amount in common. Start with the science: Just as brewing coffee dissolves its flavors into water, preserving fruit in vinegar and sugar injects the surrounding solution with potent fruit flavor. No surprise early canners figured out how nice it tasted to splash a little of those preserving liquids into water for a tangy-sweet drink.

Getting fizzy with it

Blue Bottle already offers our lightly sweet cascara fizz, made with coffee cherry from Aida Batlle, one of the coffee world’s greats. We can offer it year-round because the cascara is dried, not fresh.

Like our cascara fizz, our new shrubs will feature premium fruit from favorite regional growers. But these will only be available for as long as the fresh produce is in its peak.

Now on the menu: Our Pear Fizz, tangy with apple cider vinegar and lightly spiced with nutmeg.