Erewhon is a luxury organic grocery store chain that in my head lives in Middle Earth but in reality serves the Los Angeles area. (No really, doesn’t the name make it sound like it’s where the Rohirrim shop for their staples?) I have never been to an Erewhon (because I’ve never been to Middle Earth) but I imagine it’s like a Whole Foods on steroids. Plus add in the niche angle of serving milk to the rich and famous while seeing just how much they can milk from the rich and famous for fairly basic items jacked up with celebrity and woo-woo marketing. Their latest offering further proves my point: in a new collaboration with shower filter brand Jolie, Erewhon is unironically selling 12-ounce cups of “Sacred Water” for $12 a pop. What’s in the drink to warrant $1 per ounce? Nothing. Water, ice, organic jasmine tea, and some botanical extracts. So… it’s iced tea? People Mag, of course, was all over this breaking beverage news:
Erewhon describes the drink as “a clarified herbal tonic infused with Organic Jasmine Tea and Botanical Extracts — served as a refreshing elixir poured over ice,” according to an Instagram post.
The ingredients are listed as organic coconut water, organic jasmine tea, organic raw honey, organic holy basil, organic anise hyssop, organic green cardamom, organic white grape juice and organic coconut milk.
Social media users were split after the drink was announced, with some excited about the collaboration and others shocked at the steep price tage.
“ooooo sounds divine!!” one Instagram user wrote, while another added, “You got me with JASMINE!”
“$12 for a cup of coconut water sounds ridiculous,” another person wrote.
Erewhon also carries Jolie’s filtered showerhead, which is “engineered to remove harmful chlorine, heavy metals and other contaminants from your shower water,” according to a product description.
The $172 shower device promises “cleaner, softer water” that results in “noticeably smoother and more hydrated skin after each shower,” “shinier, stronger hair with reduced frizz and less shedding” and “significant reduction in skin irritations, acne and eczema.”
The grocery chain has gone viral many times in the past for some of its pricier products, including $20-plus smoothies made in collaborations with celebs including Hailey Bieber, Christinia Aguilera, Heidi Klum and more.
Erewhon has also faced controversy for some of its priciest items, which have included a $19 strawberry from luxury Japanese fruit vendor Elly Amai that comes packaged individually, as well as $30 cocktail ice.
Erewhon’s website states that the cocktail ice is from the Southern California-based specialty ice brand Penny Pound Ice, which focuses on providing “an elegant solution to keeping your beverages chilled without diluting the flavor.”
The description also states that the ice “melt[s] slower than traditional ice cubes, ensuring your drink stays colder for longer.”
Jolie’s “Sacred Water” will be available at Erewhon’s Tonic Bar, located at the grocery chain’s 13 stores around the Los Angeles area, until the end of September.
Ah yes, I remember the $19 strawberry kerfuffle. Demi Lovato gave it a rancid review: “Just wasted $20.” Being allergic to strawberries myself, I wasn’t susceptible to that particular temptation. But to give Erewhon a little credit over the $30 cocktail ice, you have to remember that the only way to access the inner ambrosia of long-lasting ice cubes nestled deep within the prickly Cocktail Cactus plant (Carnegiea cocktailius, if I recall correctly) is to slice into the heavily-needled plant by hand. It’s dangerous work, that’s what the steep upcharge is for!
And speaking of steep… Is this $12 12-ounce cup of iced tea overly priced? Yes. And fwiw, all the extract ingredients seem to be heavily infused, to the point where the drink just looks like a cup of water with ice. Still, does Erewhon know its target audience? Yes again. And do I, Kismet, have any right to judge an overpriced beverage when I just spent $13 on a 16-ounce vanilla & chocolate milkshake over the blazing hot Fourth of July weekend? YES! No! What I’m more interested in, is how this ties in with the Jolie shower heads. Is the water in “Sacred Water” exclusively welled through Jolie shower heads? If I buy “Sacred Water” and simply use it to soak my hair, will my hair come out “shinier, stronger” and “with reduced frizz,” with a jasmine tea scent? Cause the glass appears more half full if it’s $12 for hair conditioner instead of just water!
PS — The mischievous imp in me would love it if the Catholic Church issued a cease & desist order over the term “Sacred Water.”
So wrong.
With a slight messing with the letters of their name it becomes “Nowhere” . Made me think of Haagen Daz…from New Jersey.
Is that a plastic cup tho?
Of course! To be drunk out of by the rich who talk about the importance of the environment and the causes they support then hop on their private jet or helicopter for a half hour flight.
With stuff like this I’m always torn between eh let people waste their money and COME ON just stop with this nonsense.
But I don’t understand the shower head link unless that’s where the water comes from. Which is weird.