People in Dubai can enjoy ancient ice in their drink (Photo: Instagram/ arctic_ice_officiel)
People going to bars and restaurants in Dubai can now enjoy their favourite drink with a piece of ice that is 100,000 years old! Arctic Ice, a company in Greenland, harvests ice that has broken away from the glaciers and ships them to the United Arab Emirates, where this ice is served in exclusive bars. The startup was launched in 2022 and dispatched its first 20 metric tonnes of ice recently. On the company's Instagram handle, a video explains, "This ice that has calved into the ocean from the ice sheet was just supposed to melt in the sea. But then these guys from Arctic Ice came up with this amazing idea to export the ice to Dubai still frozen." Arctic Ice's co-founder Malik V Rasmussen says in the video that this is "the purest ice you will ever taste."
According to the company's website: "Arctic Ice is sourced directly from the natural glaciers in the Arctic, which have been in a frozen state for more than 100,000 years. These parts of the ice sheets have not been in contact with any soils or contaminated by pollutants produced by human activities. This makes Arctic Ice the cleanest H2O on Earth."
What Makes This Ancient Ice So Special?
Using glacial ice in drinks is a common practice in Greenland, and, over the years, several entrepreneurs have unsuccessfully attempted to export it, reported The Guardian. Malik V Rasmussen explains that the ice, which has been compressed over millennia, is completely without bubbles and melts more slowly than regular ice. It is also purer than the frozen mineral water usually used in Dubai's ice cubes.
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Environmental Friendly Or Promoting Global Warming?
The startup is receiving a lot of criticism for harvesting ancient glacier ice and shipping it for consumption. On social media, commentators wrote, "Shouldn't you be worrying about the effects of global warming rather than selling glacier water?" or "What is this dystopia?"
On the other hand, the company argues that its ice is environmentally friendly. They look for the ice which has broken off glaciers and has been in contact with neither the bottom nor the top of the glacier.
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The Greenland entrepreneur believes this idea will also help boost Greenland's economic growth and financial independence. "In Greenland, we make all our money from fish and tourism," said Rasmussen. "For a long time, I have wanted to find something else that we can profit from."