Probiotic iced tea and VaporTinis: drinks of the future?

Tanqueray Rangpur with candied citrus peel VaporTini at RedKiva

Let us explain. That orb pictured at right—the thing that looks like a futuristic, potentially portable cereal bowl—that's a cocktail. It's called a VaporTini, and Red Kiva will begin offering them on Thursdays beginning August 6. The concoction starts with a liquor—like Effen Black Cherry Vanilla or Knob Creek—which is heated to 110 degrees inside the orb. Each liquor is garnished with a sweet like raspberry candy or a chocolate-covered cherry, and is supposed to be inhaled via the straw, a process that takes 20 minutes. The idea, which was developed by Red Kiva owner Julie Palmer and her dad, an engineer, came from the Finnish practice of pouring vodka on hot sauna coals and inhaling the vapors. An alcoholic sauna in an orb? This is a concept I can get behind.

In other drink headlines: As if the introduction of the new flavor Tangomonium weren't news enough (I'm, umm, completely serious—read my take on the flavor in  next week's Eat Out section), Red Mango's rolling out probiotic iced tea on Monday, July 27. The tea will come in three flavors—Lemonocity (Lemonade Green Tea), Mysteaque (Vanilla Black Tea) and Fanteasia (Wildberry Hibiscus Tea), each of which has a tiny "TM" next to it in the press release. The iced teas all contain GanedenBC30 (also followed by a registered trademark icon that will not be attempted to be reproduced here), which is a strain of probiotic. (Ganeden is the name of the biotech company that developed and patented the probiotic.) All in all, not a bad incentive to check out the sparse new store (2806 N Clark St, 773-296-6304, open 11am–midnight daily, whose yogurt Heather Shouse named best in show), where you can ogle muscly dudes devouring pint-size containers of froyo, or maybe just head to the movies next door.