In the Heat of the Afternoon

In the heat of the afternoon, when every right thinking person in town is indoors, away from the furnace like heat, I am wandering down the main street of Rutherglen in northern Victoria, searching for something to eat. I am lucky enough to discover a café where a young lad is outside stacking the pavement chairs and tables prior to closing; I slip in the door and place the last order of the day.
 
While I am waiting for my lunch order to arrive I take a drink from the fridge and return to the counter. Sitting at eye level on the counter in front of me is a display of some attractively presented bottles of fruit juice. I pick one up and examine it. There is a lot of printed detail on the bottle and after glancing at the front labelling which tells me I am holding a bottle of Noah’s Creative Juices, which in this case is an orange, apple, guava, banana, pineapple and paw paw juice Smoothie, I turn the bottle around and read the back.

In the list of ingredients the words Australia and Australian appear six times. I think I’m onto something here. When I ask the woman behind the counter where this juice is made she only knows that the people who own this café have another in Wodonga and the stock comes over to Rutherglen and they put it into the fridge. I walk across to the fridge, replace my first choice of drink and take a bottle of Noah’s Creative Juices.

Taking my lunch order, the drink and a straw I walk back out into the blazing sun. This not only allows the woman to finally close up the café, it allows me time to peruse the label at my leisure. Nearby, in an area set back a little from the street, I find a seat and a small patch of shade. There’s plenty to peruse on the label; so much in fact, that I wonder whether anyone ever reads all of it. I read all of it; every word, even the figures in the nutrition information block. I am impressed with the detail set out in the ingredients list; each ingredient is listed as either Australian or imported and the percentage of each ingredient is also listed. I discover there is Australian Valencia orange juice; Australian crushed apple juice; imported guava puree and imported banana puree; Australian carrot juice and Australian paw paw puree. And last but not least Vitamin C and flavour.

While this may not be the bottled fruit juice of my dreams, when it comes to all Australian content it is far ahead of those labels where the description simply reads ‘made from local and imported ingredients’. On this label you can identify the amount of local and the amount of imported ingredients. Well done in that regard Noah; I’m not too sure who Noah might be, as the company identified on the label is Baca Pty Ltd and the address is in Hawthorn Road Caulfield Victoria.

I eventually peel the label back, as is suggested on the bottle, and drink the juice. I like it, but then again, in temperatures like today, I’d probably like any drinks, whether they were juices or not. The 260 ml is about as much juice as I can drink in one sitting and I have only one minor quibble; it is about the peel off lid. Once you remove the lid you are not easily able, without the prospect of mishap, to stow the partly finished bottle in your handbag and drink the balance later.

According to the display pack on the counter in the café, there were two or three varieties and I will be on the lookout to see if I can find this brand somewhere when I return to Melbourne. Maybe they have a line that has fewer mixes of the juices and I might find one that has 100% Australian content.

I can always live in hope.