Day 15: March 8, 2015 - Mastiqua (Greek Mastiha Flavoured Sparkling Water) - Mastiqua (Ανθρακούχο Νερό Αρωματισμένο με Μαστίχα)

Prior to Lent, we visited a few of our local Greek supermarkets in Toronto to scope out some new items to incorporate into our Lenten period. We came across a new (to us, at least) drink by the name of Mastiqua.


The name, of course, is a play on the world famous Mastiha. Mastiqua is not a misspelled word. It is the name of a commercial product that we just learned about. It is the new flavour of water and is genuinely refreshing without being sugar-sweetened. It is scented and smells just like the sap of the Mastic tree.

There's a haunting story about how all the Mastic trees were saved from being completely eliminated from the face of the Earth during the Greek War of Independence during the 1820's. Chios, in March of 1822 had an estimated population of 120,000 and had an extremely active merchant class throughout the Mediterranean, Europe and the Middle East. During the massacre of Chios, over three quarters of the population were killed and the rest of the population was sold into slavery throughout the Middle East. Orders to burn all the crops, trees and livestock were given by the Ottoman authorities. However, the women of the harem of the Ottoman court in Constantinople (yes, it was called Constaninople, a name changed to  Istanbul (from "Eis Tin Polin" (to the City)) in the 1920's) passed their time in the harem chewing on the resin of the Mastic tree. Additionally, all of the captive women in the harem were captured Greek and other Christian women who were horrified at the impending destruction of the Mastic trees of Chios (the only place in the world where the mastic resin is secreted), as it would destroy a 2,000 year old economic activity on the island. Their intervention was directly responsibly for the destruction of this valuable tree!


Alright then, what's the product like? What a scent! It has a soft and slightly sweet smell. And, it has a bit of a sparkling element, which makes a delightful twist to drinking water.

We bought two bottles and tried the first one at room temperature. We clearly preferred this beverage ice cold. But, instead of serving it on ice, we put the bottle in the freezer for 40 minutes.  You could see the ice just starting to form in the bottle, and when we opened it, it was the perfect drinking temperature.  It is our opinion that there is not enough carbonation in the bottle for it to explode when frozen.

The website for the company that makes Mastiqua suggests serving this along side a cup of coffee, as a digestive with a meal, or as a base to a cocktail.  We drank it straight as a refreshing break in the day, and it was nice.  There was just enough carbonation without tickling the nose, and there was just enough of the taste of mastiha.  If you see it on a shelf, and want a Greek water, this is one to try!

We did think about trying to recreate this product at home. As the only ingredients are pure water and mastiha, how hard could it be? We examined the company's website and read that the product is produced by passing steam through mastiha resin, followed by carbonating the mastiha-infused water. One day, we might try using finely ground mastiha powder and letting filtered water (to minimize the flavour of chlorinated water) stay in the fridge for a few days, followed by filtering the ground mastiha using a coffee filter before drinking it. Perhaps someone with a Sodastream machine might even try to recreate the carbonation of the MastiQua product by adding carbon dioxide as well!

"The worst of sin is not to acknowledge that you are sinful."

(St. Caesarius of Arles, Commentary on I John, 1:8)

Source of quote: http://orthodox.cn/patristics/300sayings_en.htm