Refreshing

The other day it was over 100 degrees. To celebrate I drank a refreshing bottle of Krest. Krest is bottled by the Coca-Cola Company in Africa.

I was introduced to it by my friends the Cashs (Jeff & Cheryl) when I visited them in Uganda. As many of you know I try to avoid beverages with copious amounts of caffeine. (You think I’m hyped up now? You should see me after drinking a Coke.) Before I went to Africa, I was instructed by Johno, Steve and Ike that a cold beverage should never be refused; that it was a luxury to be graciously accepted and savored. However, in every picture I saw from their trip, the cold, bottled beverages they had were Cokes. Understanding the importance of their exhortations, I resigned myself to the notion that I would be drinking a few Cokes while in Uganda.

For some reason they don’t have Sprite. They do have Krest. Jeff told me that in an effort to get people to take malaria medicine, they invented a citrusy drink and laced it with medicine. It had a bitter taste, probably from the medicine, and became a favorite of many. After a while, they stopped putting medicine in it, but demand for the drink was still high so Coca-Cola continued to bottle it complete with a non-medicine, medicine taste. To me, it tastes a little like Squirt, but not quite as sweet and with more bitter. Its like the bitter part of the grapefruit skin was included right along with the sweet fleshy part. My wife tried a sip and puckered like a pleat on Fat Albert’s khakis.

I drank quite a few of them in Africa and remember their cooling, refreshing qualities with fondness. Since my return I have not located anyone in the States who sells it. Imagine: a luxury that an African can enjoy for a dime that I can’t get here in America! Recently my friends Tim and Chalon went to Kenya and they brought me a bottle. I figured the hot weather was a perfect excuse to enjoy it.