Tuesday, October 25, 2016

A Watery Waste: Tropicana Watermelon Drink Underwhelms.


The Good: Does not taste bad, Awesome if one can get it for free (but what isn't?!)
The Bad: Strongly watery taste, Could be a lot more nutritious, Expensive for what it is, Indistinct flavor
The Basics: Tropicana Watermelon Drink is little more than flavored water and is not worth picking up.


My local grocery store is pretty awesome. Every week, on Wednesday, it has a digital coupon for a freebie, which is pretty cool. Last week, I was psyched because a Tropicana beverage was the week's free item and when I went to the store to get it, I was blown away that the free item was a full 59 oz. carafe of "juice." I put juice in quotes there because shortly after I picked up the beverage, I noticed that it was not quite what I thought it was. The beverage is Tropicana Watermelon Drink and the fact that it cannot even call itself juice was somewhat troubling to me when I observed that.

Sadly, the Tropicana Watermelon Drink starts with a wishy-washy name and follows-through with a decidedly underwhelming beverage. The Watermelon Drink is not bad, it simply is not much of anything.

Basics

Tropicana Watermelon Drink is a refrigerated juice (it's closer to a juice than anything else!) put out by Tropicana. The clear plastic carafe is instantly reminiscent of orange juice. Tropicana Natural is a new product for Tropicana and locally, it was a part of a line where I could only find the Watermelon Drink and Lemonade. The watermelon drink is a light pale pink juice which is more translucent than opaque and reminds one of fresh pink grapefruit juice in its appearance. The 59 fl. oz. plastic carafe has about seven servings in it. This is a very light juice and has no leg, though it does appear to have minuscule fruit chunks - like pulp in a citrus beverage - in it.

Ease Of Preparation

Tropicana Watermelon Drink is very easy to prepare, as it is a fresh juice drink. Simply unscrew the lid from the top of the container (the first time one does this, they must remove the plastic/foil safety seal from inside) and pour the contents into a glass. It doesn’t get much easier than drinking juice like this!

Taste

Pouring the Tropicana Watermelon Drink reveals a light fruit juice that has a strong, distinct aroma that we have come to associate with watermelons. The sweet scent that wafts out of the beverage is not the scent of actual watermelons - they have a fairly mild aroma, as most melons do - but rather the powerfully-concentrated scent that is what humans have been conditioned to accept as watermelons. It is not a bad scent at all, but it is not the true scent of actual watermelons.

Tasting the drink, which is best cold, the Tropicana Watermelon Drink the consumer is given a burst of sweetness that is vaguely fruity. The flavor is watery and reminiscent of watermelon, with a surprisingly sour kick to it. The fruit flavor is more analogous to slightly-turned apple juice than it is to authentic watermelon flavor.

The Tropicana Watermelon Drink has a strong, sweet, aftertaste to it that lingers in the mouth for about ten minutes after one finishes consuming it.

Nutrition

Tropicana Watermelon Drink is barely more than water on the nutrition front. One serving of Tropicana Watermelon Drink is 8 fluid ounces has 90 calories, none of which are from fat. In fact, this drink is fat free (which makes some sense) as well as cholesterol free and protein free. What baffled me, though, was that Tropicana Watermelon Drink has no vitamins, calcium or iron and the only mineral it has is a trace amount (10 mg) of sodium. There are 23 grams of carbs in the drink. This is not an incredibly healthy beverage.

What it does live up to is its claim to be all natural. With the primary ingredients being filtered water, sugar and watermelon juice concentrate, there is nothing bad in this drink.

Storage/Clean-up

Tropicana Watermelon Drink is ridiculously easy to store and clean up. Kept unopened in the refrigerator, it will last a few weeks. We got ours last week and it has an expiration date of November 30, 2016. Because it is all natural with no apparent preservatives, it does expire quicker than some juices on the market.

Cleaning up Nestle Tropicana Watermelon Drink is easy, though it is likely to stain lighter fabrics and one ought to consult one's fabric guide for cleaning if that happens. In general, it is a light fluid and can be cleaned up easily with a washcloth.

Overall

Tropicana Watermelon Drink might satisfy those who pay for premium flavored waters, but for those used to juices, it is a tough drink to get at all excited about.

For other drinks, please visit my reviews of:
Dole Sensation Natural Guava Juice
Maine Root Ginger Brew
Bolthouse Farms Green Goodness

2/10

For other food and drink reviews, please be sure to check out my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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