Better Libations | Healthy Drink Reviews

Alright now boys and girls of the beverage persuasion, here we go with the last Zico Coconut Water review! And just in time too, I was gifted an entire box of drinks perfect for us, and I need to get on those soon.  What would be better after a long day working outside in the heat than an uber-hydrating glass of coconut water?  Not much, and anything else would distract from this review, so forget about it.  This is just what I needed after an afternoon of significant perspiration, and we already know its benefits, but let us see how the ‘natural’ coconut water stacks up against its flavored comrades.

Coconut water has a very peculiar and pleasant scent to it, at once nutty and fresh.  The taste has a similar quality, with the nutty flavor coming through well with the water in its natural state.  There is something else to flavor I can never quite put my finger on, and for those unfamiliar with coconut water, I’m not sure if I can adequately explain it, you must try it.  The sweetness is very light, and as expected, comes naturally from the water itself.  The aftertaste I can only describe as similar to having just eaten a handful of almonds, it has a similar nut-like quality.  This really makes me miss eating fresh, young coconut at my favorite Thai place, a seasonal delight around these landlocked parts.

Overall, for anyone seeking serious hydration and refreshment, but isn’t too preoccupied with counting calories, this is the perfect way to go.  It’s healthy, all natural, and if you recycle the bottle, not a burden on the environment.  These are by far superior to any average sports drink or ‘health water’, and taste better than most.  Still, if you need to spare the calories, stick with water, you can’t go wrong with H2O.

Score: 4.5 out of 5. A hydration master from nature and better for you, even with the sugar.

– WiseGuise

User reviews: (1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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**Danithius Review Rebuttal!**

I think Zico has a decent coconut water here.  It has the lowest sugar content that I’ve seen in any coconut water so far, so it does win in the health department.  But flavor-wise, it feels like it lacks a certain body that I’ve found in others.  While snooping around online for coconut waters, I found some Zico customer reviews that were lamenting a recent formula change.  I wish I could have tried some of their previous formula to judge for myself!  But nitpicking aside, it is still a great hydrating refresher, so I’d probably give it a 4.0

4-Star Reviews, Zico Coconut Water all natural, coconut water, drink reviews

Perfect for chillin' on the couch

Hello libationers! I’ve been absent for a while, mostly due to my own laziness, but partially due to aiding my girlfriend in her ceaseless endeavor to save every homeless dog in the tri-county area.  Any-who, I’m going to be finishing off this string of Zico reviews, first with a tasty-sounding combination of pomegranate, berry and coconut water.  I’ve been enjoying the last few flavors, but feel slightly guilty not adding my opinion, so enjoy my detailed reviews.

Senses: After finding my way through the maze of packaging that would have impressed Daedalus (look it up, kids), I got to inspect the olfactory complexities of this drink.  The distinct pomegranate scent takes the leading position, followed closely by the nutty coconut scent, and a sweet, tangy but vague background of berry.  Off to my expectant tongue.  The taste strikes me as predominantly coconut, then a slight tang of sour and followed by the pomegranate and a hint of something berry-like.  There is a slight, lingering sweetness, which is surprising with the 12 g of sugar in the 14 oz bottle.  The overall flavor leaves me wanting more pomberry and less coconut.

Sensible: There is a total of 60 calories in the 14 oz bottle, all of them coming from the naturally occurring sugar in the coconut water.  There are five electrolytes inside, including more potassium than a whole banana.  I’m writing this review after a hard day working in the ninety-degree Utah summer, and I feel quite refreshed and hydrated after finishing this.  Reading up on their product, Zico claims that coconut water is the only natural substance that can be used as an emergency intravenous fluid, and from what I’ve gleaned from the Internet, it’s true.

Overall, although it is still a tasty and unique flavored coconut water, this is probably my least favorite flavor from Zico.  I feel it lacked somewhat in the flavor category, and could have easily handled more pomegranate flavor.  That being said, I am biased due to my love of pomegranate juice, and I still enjoyed this beverage.  I will personally continue to support Zico by using their coconut water line as a great recovery drink, and for general re-hydration purposes.  The only other issue I can take with this drink is the excessive packaging, which prohibits a more immediate refreshment, and isn’t particularly environmentally friendly.

Score: 4 out of 5. A superb re-hydration beverage that only lacks a little flavor.

– WiseGuise

User Reviews (1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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**Danithius Review Rebuttal!**

Took the words right out of my mouth.  Decent flavor, but I think it could be polished up with another trip to the flavor lab.  I want more of a true pomegranate punch with a twist of fresh berry.  I also give this a four.

4-Star Reviews, Zico Coconut Water coconut water, drink reviews, no added sugar

Howdy, enlightened libation seekers!  Today I’m fresh off a session of Kenpo and ready for my next Zico contender: Tao Mango.  (The logical next step in the tropical fruit spectrum, of course!)  I’m thirsty and covered in sweat, so let’s skip the pleasantries and get right to it.

Aroma: Mango tang!  I love it when drinks nail the nuances of fruit flavors, and it smells like Tao Mango is right on track.  It smells of that citrus-y tropical bite you get when cutting into a real mango.   

Taste: Coco-mango!  The flavor turned out to be a lot lighter and smoother than the scent led me to believe.  I believe the coconut water has something of a muting, smoothing effect on other flavors that results in something totally new. Evidently when mango and coconut water are combined, you get a bonus banana-like flavor that also springs up to say hi.  I am surprised that the distinct mango tang that I smelled turned out to be mostly absent in the taste, though.

Health Factor: 12 g of sugar in the whole 14 ounce bottle.  Tons of potassium and other vitamins and minerals.  All-natural.  No fat.  Need I say more? 

Overall:  As you may have noticed from previous nitpickings, I’m something of a purist when it comes to drink flavorings.  I dearly appreciate companies that can get spot on flavor profiles.  This flavor is a worthy nod to mango, but at the same time I can tell that it is indeed a flavoring – something that was concocted by a research lab somewhere.  It feels a bit hollow, like it’s missing that distinct bite of a real mango.  It’s still tasty and quite refreshing, don’t get me wrong.  The flavorings in this are all natural.  But the thing is, for a perfect 5 star drink I really want to be WOWed by the flavor profile.  (See: Zico Chocolate)

Rating: 4.0 out of 5

-Danithius-

User Ratings: (1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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4-Star Reviews, Zico Coconut Water coconut water, drink reviews, no added sugar, reviews

My workout program continues, and so does my quest to find tasty, effective hydration.  Today I’m fresh off a Yoga session and ready to give Zico’s Lima Citron flavor a shot.

Hmmm, lime and coconut huh?  (Must… not… quote… Harry Nilsson coconut song)

Aroma: I take a whiff from the bottle, and the first thing that jumps to my head is a lime otter pop.  (Or whatever the preferred tube-shaped frozen refreshment is in your area).  I can detect a limey tang set against a mildly sweet background of coconut water.  In the past I have noticed that coconut water really doesn’t smell much like “coconut” at all – it’s more of a sweet-yet-muted slightly tropical scent.   

Taste: Light sweetness, light tang, and an ever-so-slight sense of creaminess combine to form a surprisingly refreshing, full beverage.  It goes down supremely easy, and it has that addicting quality that I’ve found in other coconut waters.  I think it’s because of the light, mild, yet intriguing flavor.  It doesn’t leave much of an aftertaste, so as soon as you swallow one mouthful you want to go right back in for more.

The lime flavoring that Zico uses here is well-balanced with the rest of the drink, so I can’t take much issue with it.  But it does lack that trademark fresh citrus bite that a real slice of lime would have.  Now I’m wishing that I hadn’t finished off the whole bottle!  Just for fun, I’d like to mix up my own mad concoction of Zico and real lime to see how much of a kick this drink can handle.

Health Factor: Like its siblings, Lima Citron has very low sugar – it clocks in at 12 grams for the entire 14 ounce bottle.  (And that’s not added sugar, either, that’s straight from the coconut water.)  Let’s put that in perspective for you:  You could drink three 14-ounce bottles of Zico and you’d still be three grams shy of the sugar content in just one 12-ounce can of Coke.  And unline Coke, you’ll also find plenty of potassium and other vitamins and minerals in your coconut water.  Is that enough reason for you?

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 – for a refreshing twist on putting the lime in de coconut… (dammit, I was so close)

-Danithius-

User Ratings: (No Ratings Yet)
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4-Star Reviews, Zico Coconut Water

Honest Ade in its natural element - bright friggin' desert sunshine

Hey there, Libation-loving boys and girls!  Today I’m taking advantage of the season by imbibing this new drink from Honest Ade: zero calorie lemonade!  A perfect entry for mid-July.  But don’t think that being a timely flavor is enough to get a free pass from me – regular readers will know that I’ve had many a bone to pick with bottled lemonades in the past.  In particular, anything with a “plastic lemon” concentrate-y flavor will lose big points with me.

Honest’s flavors have always been solid in the past, but this one might be a tall order.  On top of the plastic lemon problem, they only use stevia to sweeten things up.  I admire this from a health standpoint, but lemonade is a drink that traditionally requires massive amounts of sweet real sugar in order to counter the tart lemon.  I dearly want them to pull this off, but my common sense tells me not to get my hopes up…

Enough deliberation, let’s see what they’ve delivered!

Aroma: The lemon juice concentrate and extracts make for a light, pleasing lemon-fresh scent.  It does have a slight concentrate-y dullness to it, though.  It smells like a lemon, but like all bottled lemonades I’ve tried, it lacks that burst of citrus freshness that you smell right when you cut into the real thing.  (First lemonade to pull that off will get a gold star from me.)

Taste: This one’s a poser.  The stevia provides a balanced sense of sweetness that is equal to the tart, astringent lemon taste.  But if you’re familiar with stevia-sweetened drinks, you know that the sense of sweetness comes out more in the aftertaste, a second or two after it hits your tongue.  Which means that you have to take the leap of faith through tart lemon-town before you can discover sweet relief.  This becomes less pronounced as you keep drinking, though, because the sweet stevia taste lingers longer than normal sugar.  Unless you’re one of those who really babies your beverages, the sweetness will still be hanging around from the last drink by the time you go back for more.

So what of the plastic lemon dilemma?  While the taste is very light, the juice in this is indeed from concentrate, and I can taste it.  It’s definitely not as bad as some, but it’s still there.

Overall, the core lemon flavor is pleasing and the light sweetness is enough to refresh, but the concentrate tinge and astringent dryness knock off a couple points.

Health Factor: Honest Tea earns some extra points from me just for the sheer audacity of producing a stevia-sweetened lemonade.  You know they’re serious about their beverage-healthification quest when they attempt to storm the sugary bastion of the lemonade market!  (I know there are at least a couple of “light” or “diet” lemonade options  out there from the big boys, but I surely wouldn’t touch any of them with a ten foot pole.)  Kudos, Honest. 

Overall Rating: 4.0 out of 5 – for an audaciously healthy lemonade.

-Danithius-

User Ratings: (3 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)
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I'm ready for my closeup...

4-Star Reviews, Honest Tea

Why hello there, Libationers!  Today I’m happy to announce that we have just received a new shipment of Zevia flavors.  And it looks like the flavor engineers over there have been working overtime!  In the coming days, look for Zevia Grape, Decaf Cola, Grapefruit Citrus, and more to grace our pages.   Welp, let’s get crackin!

Aroma: This entry is rather light on the aroma side, but if I inhale deeply I can sense a pleasant vanilla-cream note.

Taste:  The second this liquid hits my tongue, I am washed over by a sweet-yet-gentle vanilla-caramel flavor.  It’s surprisingly sweet for a Zevia beverage, in fact.  But that works just fine for this flavor – the smooth-sweet taste brings back memories of old fashioned cream sodas at the pharmacy.  (OK, I’m not that old.  But it’s what I imagine the memory would be like…)

I notice something on the back end of this flavor, though – about 7 seconds after I take a sip, there is a lingering sourish note, like I just ate a grape skin.  I know stevia/erythritol-sweetened drinks have a sense of sweetness that differs somewhat from regular sugar, but this isn’t it.  It’s the first time I’ve encountered this taste with Zevia’s drinks, so I think it has to do with this specific flavor.  It’s not altogether unpleasant, but it just seems a little out of place for a vanilla-cream soda.

Health Factor:  As regular readers will know, we only review drinks that are naturally sweetened (or sometimes not sweetened at all).  That’s why Zevia made such a splash on our blog.  After the FDA’s O.K. on stevia-sweetened products, Zevia made it possible for us to review drinks from the “diet” soda category, which had previously been dominated exclusively by artificial sweeteners.  Stevia-sweetened drinks have a sweet taste that can satisfy your cravings, zero calories, and are 100% natural – as far as we can see, the best of all worlds!

Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5 – for a delicious, naturally calorie-free cream soda that will totally satisfy your sweet tooth.

-Danithius-

User Ratings: (4 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
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4-Star Reviews, Zevia

Now this is something completely new to me, but has been around for a few years, and maybe has just barely made its way into out little burgh in the mountain valleys of Utah.  A company called Rising Beverage Co. has released this Activate “performance beverage.”  This is the first completely unique bottle design we’ve seen in a while, so I’ll get into that first. The cap of this bottle has a pouch of vitamins in it that you are supposed to ‘release’ prior to drinking to ensure their freshness, which I’m not entirely sure is just a gimmick or actually plausible.  The design of the bottle itself is colorful and clean, and the square bottle is usually easier to keep a hold of in extreme drinking situations.

Okay, so now that I’ve sipped the design elements, it’s time to try the contents.  I’ll have to stop typing for a moment release the vitamins . . . the powdered vitamins dropped and after a vigorous shake the bottle went from mostly clear to yellow.  Awesome.  With a whiff I am convinced that the flavor is actually going to be lemon-lime, the tartness is almost palpable.  The taste isn’t as extreme as the scent, but still gives your taste buds a good smack.  A distinct sourness gives way to the sweetness of Stevia, which enhances the citrus flavor nicely.  A crisp water taste is the background to this, which fades into a minute sweet-sour aftertaste.

The calorie count is only 5 per bottle, with zero sugar thanks to the Stevia.  Vitamin counts are 100% for B6, B12, Niacin and Riboflavin, my personal favorite.  50mg of caffeine (derived naturally) is added for a kick, and with that you have Activate Energy.  Even if the fresh vitamin trick is a gimmick, it’s a good one, and I’m impressed.  The flavor and taste are about right for this type of drink, which should compete well with the likes of SoBe Lifewater and its bastard cousin vitaminwater.  No contest with Gatorade, this is far superior, but only lacks electrolytes (a gimmick so blatant it was made fun of in the movie Idiocracy).  I can bet you might see me drinking this one again, maybe on my next trip to the gym.

Score: 4.5 out of 5. A sugar-free sports type drink that may make its way into the healthy beverage pantheon.

– WiseGuise

User Reviews: (2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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4-Star Reviews, Activate, Stevia drink reviews, energy drink, independent company, Stevia

Hi there, fellow seekers of the illusive low-sugar liquids!  Today I have another entry from GuS, the (somewhat pretentiously named) soda company that specializes in lower-sugar “dry” versions of popular soda flavors.  And since ginger ale is usually fairly dry all by itself, I don’t know what to expect from this stuff!  But I’m all for sugar-lowering as long as they can still deliver a primo flavor.  Let’s see how this stuff measures up.

Aroma: Spicy ginger pops right up to tickle your nostrils, just like a good ginger ale should.  There is also a light background of a honey-sweet scent.

Taste: This stuff takes your tongue on a flavor roller coaster, with both its requisite highs and lows.  It starts off nice and sweet/spicy, just like you’d expect from a good ginger ale.  But that first sweet punch fades quickly to a rather thin seltzer flavor that leaves your tongue feeling a bit betrayed.  But don’t give up on it yet, because there’s a warm lingering ginger spiciness that comes out to keep you company till well after you’ve swallowed.  All in all, I’m not a huge fan of the seltzer flavor, but both the beginning and the finish are solid.

Health Factor: Like the label suggests, this stuff does come with a big reduction in sugar content over traditional sodas.  In fact, this stuff has a fairly slim 22 grams in its entire 12 ounce bottle, which cuts the traditional can of Coke’s sugar content almost in half.  And along with the scant cane sugar, you’ll also find some ginger root extract and natural flavors.

Overall Rating: 4.0 out of 5 – significantly reduced sugar scores the big points, with a nice spicy ginger flavor to back it up.  One point is knocked off for a seltzer-y flavor, which I am not a fan of.

-Danithius-

User Ratings: (1 votes, average: 3.00 out of 5)
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4-Star Reviews, GuS

Whilst browsing my local healthy-food mart I found a flavor of hint–one of our Best of 2008 winners–that I haven’t tried before, and felt like I needed a bit of a mental refreshment as well as libationary.  While doing my obligatory research I noticed that about a year ago hint began a ‘Mom’s Against Sugar Water’ campaign which I fully support, and now they are offering free ground shipping in the U.S. for cases of their products!  I should totally get a case of the cucumber flavor.

Honestly, the scent reminds me of an Otter Pop, but which chemically engineered flavor I’m not sure.  The tangerine is evident, but I’m having difficulty picking out the pomegranate.  With my first taste, the light, almost ethereal flavors whisper to my taste buds and travel into my olfactory center, drawing out sweet memories of these tangy fruits.  The water is clean and crisp, and the tenuous flavors never become a burden on your tongue.  A light sweetness seems to brush the back of my tongue, despite the lack of sugar.  The tangerine seems to take a stronger presence than the pomegranate, but it’s still there.

As always, you can chug a hint for its cool, fresh water, but I suggest sipping it to get the full effect of the subtle flavor combinations.  No calories, no preservatives, no unnatural chemicals of any sort, how can you not enjoy this beverage?  Not my favorite of the line, but still on of my favorite drinks all around.

Score: 4.5 out of 5. A refreshingly light, fruit-citrus combination with nothing it shouldn’t have.

– WiseGuise

User Reviews: (No Ratings Yet)
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4-Star Reviews, hint essence water

Bask in the tropicality!

Hey there liquid-lovers!  I’m excited to share another contribution from the fine folk at Purity.Organic: a little number called Mango Wonder.  It’s fresh from the box and ready to go, so let’s not waste any time!

Smell: OK, I get a nice citrus lemonade scent the instant the cap comes off.  But what’s that?  There’s definitely something else lurking in the scent – a hint of the tropics?  I want to say hints of orange or pineapple are popping up, too, but according to the ingredients list it’s purely lemon and mango goodness.  Intriguing.

Taste: Now that’s a lemonade.  In the past I have expressed my displeasure at the plasticine “from concentrate” flavor that abounds in most commercial lemonades, but I think it’s safe to say that Purity has cracked the code for delivering fresh citrus flavors in bottled form.  It’s tangy, it’s sweet, it’s citrus, it’s good.  And how about the mango?  Oh yeah, it’s there.  The mango has its own distinct tang that works well together with the lemon’s.  But it also adds a distinct body to the juice, filling out and giving depth to the flavor in places where the tangy/astringent lemon can’t reach.  Nice.  Very nice.

Health Factor: Mango Wonder gets a lot of its sweet tang from 17% fruit juice that is present in the bottle, and the rest of the sugar comes from organic evaporated cane juice.  Now I realize that it is the nature of a lemonade-esque drink to require a lot of sugar.  Lemon is very tart, and it requires a good amount of sweet to balance out the intense sour.  So just be aware when cracking this open – it contains 28g of sugar per 8 oz of fluid, which is a couple grams more than the average 8 oz serving of Coke.  That is my only issue with this drink, and that’s what keeps it from a 5.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 – Excellent flavor with a hefty portion of sugar.  Pour it over ice and sip it with a friend.  (Preferably on the porch of a Southern mansion on a hot Summer day).

-Danithius-

*****  Review Rebuttal!  *****

Danithius dropped a bottle of this into my hands the last time he stopped by my domicile, demanding my feedback.  I considered bringing it to fisticuffs for his nerve, until I saw what it was.  We have gained an adoration for the pleasant flavors concocted by purity.organic, so I squealed with delight and hid it in the back of the fridge.  I found it again today, and took it to work with me.  I smell the mango right off, and the lemon creeps up behind it like a sour stalker.  The taste is fantastic, sweet and mango-y evolving quickly into a delightfully sour lemonade still hinted with the flavor of the Mangifera.  This is definitely one of the better fruit juice combinations I’ve had in recent memory.  The sugar is pretty high, but necessary to combat the tartness of the lemon and mango, I’m assuming.

Agreed, 4.5 out of 5.

– WiseGuise

User Ratings: (1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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4-Star Reviews, Purity.Organics