New product Wednesday: San Pellegrino Chino

by Teresa Gubbins

It winked from the shelf at Jimmy's, with its intriguing bottle and name that sounded like pants from J Crew: Chino by San Pellegrino. "A refined and adult alternative to cola," is how one site describes it. Another says Chino is "Italy's top selling soft drink," although does that amount to much, given the fact that in Italy, they drink espressos and sparkling water a whole lot more than they do sodas?

Chino is a not-very-sweet cola made from the chinotto, a citrus fruit used as an ingredient in Italian bitters. Chino is one of a line of soft drinks made by water producer San Pellegrino, along with orange-flavored Aranciata and lemon-flavored Limonata. Chino is dark brown like cola, but doesn't taste like regular cola. The first hit I got was mincemeat -- the dark, sticky pie-filling made of marinated dried fruit with a mild clove flavor. I would guess that if you grew up on typical American-style sodas, you might be nonplussed by its starkness. (One soda consumer in East Plano made a face after tasting it.)

It's more like an exotic, flavorful alternative to plain sparkling water than Coke; but it's neat that we have it here, thanks to Jimmy's -- whose attitude when queried about it was what one might call "studied distinterest". I guess if it's not wine, they don't care about it? Or maybe they just didn't want to admit that they didn't know what it was.

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Donna Chen, says:

TG, is the bitter flavor as pronounced as in the Coca Cola brand Beverly soft drink sold in Italy, or more subtle?

Sounds like the beverage may be an acquired taste.

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1 year, 9 months ago
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Michael Anderson, says:

Ah, chinoto. Definitely an acquired taste. My wife laughed at me the first time I tried it because she knew I wouldn't like it, and I didn't. But then I tried it a few more times and it started to grow on me. It's kinda like liquid marmite (sound tempting, yet?). Definitely more complex and a whole lot more bitter than your average cola, but they do love it in Italy.

I've had it before at Jimmy's maybe about 6 months ago though so this isn't the first time they've stocked it, although they probably don't keep a large stock.

Haven't tried the Beverly soft drink, Donna, so I can't compare but you should definitely give it a try and see what you think (and where's your avatar? Come on, get with it girl!)

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1 year, 9 months ago
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Donna Chen, says:

Situation corrected.

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1 year, 9 months ago
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Teresa Gubbins, says:

nice avatar, donna. and michael, THANKS for pointing out that my "new product" isn't so new. ya want me to change the headline to "OLD product wednesday"? or how about "product that michael had <em>six months ago</em>". yeah that'll work.

i'm kidding of course. hey, if the product is new to me, it's NEW. i didn't actually see that much online about it, so i went ahead and pretended it was just introduced yesterday.

and i haven't had the Beverly Hills soda either.

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1 year, 9 months ago
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kirk, says:

TG: I don't want to rain on anyone's parade (not this morning, at least) but San Pellegrino has sold Chinotto for decades ... at least as far back as the 1970s. Chinó does look like a new(er) brand and packaging, though. Maybe the owners at Nestle Waters are eager to extend the brand to a hipper, non-"ethnic" crowd.

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1 year, 9 months ago
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Michael Anderson, says:

No worries, TG, I'm just glad no one's called me out on misspelling "chinotto" in my pseudo-cultural ramblings.

P.S. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's eagerly awaiting the debut of your avatar...

P.P.S. Nice spatulas, Donna!

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1 year, 9 months ago
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Donna Chen, says:

Oops, according to Wiki (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverly_...) ), Beverly the soda is only sold in Italy and available for sampling at the various World of Coca Cola amusement parks in the US (and no, you're not missing much if you haven't been). I had my taste of Beverly in Atlanta, and whoa, what's refreshing to Italians left a lingering bitter, unpleasant taste in this mouth.

Sounds like Chino may not be quite as harsh.