The Chinotto soft drink
Next time you are visiting Italy and are ready to order your favorite pizza, ask for a Chinotto instead of the usual Coke. Chinotto is a natural citrus and herbal beverage with a unique taste. It is one of Italy's traditional soft drinks. Thanks to a collaboration with Nestle', you may be able to find the Chinotto San Pellegrino brand in your local Italian food store too. My impression is that this is a beverage that you either love at first taste, or hate it. What do you think of Chinotto?
Labels: food
posted by Paolo and Francesca Tosolini at 12:42 AM
19 Comments:
Oh Chinotto.. I hate it! The first time I tried it, I almost spat it out again.. horrible taste (especially if you expect something like a coke)
But my boyfriend loves it (he's Italian, maybe that explains it ;-)
Chinotto? That is also called Brio, yes? I LOVE Brio!!! And I am not Italian. I have been drinking Brio since I was a teen, back in the '60's. Came to Canada, imported back then, in glass bottles. Now, I can only rarely find Brio by the case and in a tin. I crave the bottled Brio.
Ahhhh....Brio with pizza and Italian wine with spaghetti....can life get any better?
Chinotto tastes like rootbeer (which I hate, but some people love).
Chinotto is the beverage. Brio is a Canadian company that makes it (and sells it only in Canada, I believe. So you get "Brio Chinotto", kinda like "Pepsi Cola"
I didn't care for it much when I first tried it either. It tastes like it has herbs in it. But it really grew on ma and I love it now. You can get it at Pizza Pizza and I always get a few cans when I order from them.
I've never had any other brands of Chinotto, but apparently Brio is pretty good and even Canadian-Italians bring it back to Italy with them because it's developing a cult following over there.
Great!
I love Chinotto, something you don't find easily abroad.
Chinotto reminds me of long summers in Cagliari, my home town, my aunt was giving me bottles of Chinotto...
;-)
From my first sip of Chinotto at Sun Peaks Ski Resort near Kamloops, British Columbia, I absolutely was addicted. The fresh slightly bitter taste is so satisfying. The rest of my family won't touch it - all the more for me.
God! I haven't drunk Chinotto since 1987 probably. But as an Italian, let me tell you that I have never seen anyone drink Chinotto when eating pizza - not even when I was a kid, it was either Coke or Fanta. Sounds odd to me...I like Chinotto but i wouldnt drink it with pizza.
Anyway pizza and 66cl Moretti beer is the winning combo folks.
Where in the US can I get Chinotto? I use to live in Italy and I LOVED it!! HELP me!
Chinotto is one of those things that most have never heard of.Its just a bitter sweet orange,the drink althou adds a few herbs for that extra bite.I live in methuen, MA a town with its own
italian charm and FOOD,realy good food.I get my chinotto at my locol gelato bar,talk about spoiled...hehehehe
My chinotto story is as follows.
First had in Toronto as a kid and hated it the stuff.
Last couple summers I lived there I tried a few Brios at the local Italian corner store and it grew on me. I also felt special as if I was some sort of pop connoisseur.
The distinct taste was embedded with blazing hot humid Toronto summer days on King, Bathurst, etc.
Then I moved out to London England and struggled to find it. I found it in a couple off the beaten track Italian grocery shops or delis, but its rare and unappreciated here.
The odd time I have been to Italy I down it like bottled water and will easily pay the premium price over regular pop for it anywhere I am.
Right now I get it off my local deli in City, London at lunch, where being the only one who asks for the stuff, I have become an honarary Italian with the boys behind the counter!
I have always loved Chinotto from the first time i tried it. It just doesn't seem to be as syrupy as cola. Anyway a lot of the major grocery stores in larger Canadian city's are carrying it. For example Zehrs, Superstore, Loblaws. It can be found in the pop isle but is only sold in 1L plastic bottles. Happy Hunting and enjoy! I know I do!
I love Chinotto...I find Brio to be a little milder than the San Pellegrino variety that is just starting to appear at Loeb stores. No Frills carries a 6-pack of glass-bottled chinotto but I don't recognise its brand name. And of course, Fortino's grocery stores in Toronto carry it by the case...last time I bought some it was $10.99 for a case of 24.
My family has always had a case of Brio in the cantina (cellar)--am I revealing how Italian I am? I prefer it to Coca Cola or Pepsi because it's not too sweet. It's also SUPER as a mixer with amaretto.
I agree that it's a love-it-or-leave-it drink. My university housemates all hated it, my friends hate it, and my boyfriend makes fun of me for drinking it. My family and I all love it and get overly excited when we see it sold in non-Italian stores.
I've had both Brio and San Pellegrino chinottos. I like both. Brio is a little bit milder tasting, but the containers sold are typical American soft drink size. You can also get it in 1-liter plastic bottles. On the other hand, the only San Pellegrino chinotto I've had comes in a bottle half the size of Brio and is a tiny bit stronger tasting. Unfortunately, I've never seen Brio in the US, only in Canada.
you can find San Pelligrino Chinotto an other fine Italian goods at www.ditalia.com.
Hi.. Let me tell you My own story. Back in the 60's when i was a kid, in Habana, Cuba. I used to go to a local chinese grocery store, where the chinese owners will prepare their own soft drinks and icecream.They made Chinotto, although that was not its name, i don't know what they call it. And only when a emigrated to Canada i tasted it again in the brand Brio. After searching for the origin of the drink, I find that the chinotto tree is of chinese origin, brought to Italy, so it may be that the italians brought it to make the drink as the chinese did. As they did with the pasta and the gunpowder,silk,ink,cannon,etc.
OMG CHINOTTO IS DA BOMB!!!! its basically an aquired taste i think... maybe its just cause im italian... but i love the stuff. im so happy san pellegrino makes it now!!! AHH!!! its realy a great drink... kinda a cross between coke and an herbal rootbeer.
Chinotto is the drink of choice on hot summer days. Here in Melborune Austrlia I can buy Chinotto (4 different brands both local and imported) at the local chain supermarket. But then again Cafe/Italian culture is just a part of life here.
I love love love Chinotto. I like the soda called Sanbitter to though, so maybe its just me.
Chinotto is excellent! I live in London and find it occasionally in some Italian shops - I first tried it when living in Italy as a kid. San Pellegrino Chinotto - buonissimo!!
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