Better Libations | Healthy Drink Reviews

The first of my share of the Purity.Organic drinks is also a ‘functional’ drink, and lower in sugar than the others.  The function of this drink is balance, according to the front of the bottle.  This one is infused with Maca, a plant grown in South America at high altitudes, where little else grows.  It is supposedly high in antioxidants, and has other bueno health effects as does cranberry.  The combination with lime makes this particular beverage very appealing, at least to me.

With a crack of the seal, I get strong indicators of cranberry and lime, a good sign for a beverage that is mostly water and white grape juice.  With one sip, I know I’m going to like this.  The tart of the cranberry leads in and followed closely by a bit of sour from the lime, then finishes with the natural sweetness of the cane juice and fruit juices.  The sweetness is light, only 28 g per 16 oz bottle.

I’m quite impressed with this, my first experience with Purity.Organic.  The flavors are well balanced and the sweetness doesn’t take over and cover them up.  I can definitely see myself consuming this rapidly during or after a good workout, run, hike or bout of video-game play, all exhausting activities.  I wish I had seen these before, but I’m not surprised since the closest place I can find that carries them is a restaurant I rarely go to.  Look for them yourself if you are interested.

Score: 5 out of 5. Sweet-sour-tart functional drink from the heavens–or wherever Purity.Organic is located.

– WiseGuise

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5-Star Reviews, Purity.Organics all natural, organic

New plastic bottle!

Until now, I never really drank the SoBe Lean line of diet beverages, with their notorious use of Ace-K and Sucralose as sweeteners.  I found this in a local Maverik store and picked it up, excited to see that it has been switched to the erythritol/Reb A sweetener blend now used in all the LifeWater beverages.  After getting this home, I sat down at the computer and began to search fro information on this new packaging and sweetener change, and was dismayed to find a complete lack of any such information.  In fact, the only thing I found was a page on CostCo’s website where you can purchase it in bulk and a Pepsi website listed caffeine content in their drinks.  I called their customer service line, got the computer, and was eventually redirected to their website, which has no information on this product.  Thanks, guys.

Having given up on finding anything helpful about this product, I decided to just let my nose and tongue tell me everything I needed to know about it instead.  Cracking the seal, I am reminded of an iced tea, and don’t really detect any honey.  A look at the bottle and I can see why; it’s the last ingredient, and the amount in the bottle apparently so minuscule that it added no calories to the tea.  The flavor is not at all honey-like, although I can sense the presence of the stevia.  The tea flavor doesn’t really last long either, it is the third to last ingredient.  The flavor overall is sweet and temporary.  It is far better than the Swiss Premium Tea I regretfully experienced, but nowhere near the excellence that is HonestTea’s honey green tea.

I found this flavor surprisingly uninteresting and lacking for SoBe, who have become one of our favorite (despite their subsidiary status) drink companies out there.  The ‘honey’ and ‘green tea’ were difficult to enjoy amidst all the sweetness, and were some of the last ingredients in the bottle, not quite what I would like to see in a tea.  I was unimpressed with this beverage, but I might still be caught drinking it on a hot day in a pinch.

Score: 3 out of 5. No detectable honey and not much tea in this honey green tea and lots of  sweetness for a zero calorie drink.

– WiseGuise

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3-Star Reviews, SoBe Lean all natural, green tea, Stevia

This soda company has been around for quite a long time, it was founded back in 1980 in New Mexico.  In 2000, Hansen Beverage Company picked it up, moving the operation to California.  In all that time, I have never tried it, despite being available just about everywhere in the U.S.  The can design is still highly reminiscent of the company’s roots, complete with an airborne raptor in the logo.

Enough with the history lesson, on to the test.  Pulling back the tab, it reminds me of just about any other citrus soda, that olfactory tang of citric acid is very apparent.  It tastes okay, citrus-y and sweet, but only vaguely of grapefruit.  The aftertaste leaves the underlying dryness usually left by a grapefruit, so there is that.  The sweetness lingers on even longer.  This is due to the 38 g of sugar in the 12 oz can, on par with Coca-Cola.  Also, very carbonated.

Many of their other sodas have fewer calories than this, The Daily Plate lists them.  Despite the high sugar, they proudly proclaim that their natural sodas are “made without artificial flavors, colors, preservatives, caffeine, sodium, GMOs or high fructose corn syrup.”  There are also only four ingredients in the can, carbonated water, sugar, citric acid and natural grapefruit flavor. Excellent.  Do you need to use so much sugar, though?

I appreciate a company striving to remain all natural, using as few ingredients as possible, and having such a large, varied line, but in this particular drink my expectations overshot a little bit.  The flavor didn’t quite cut it for me, and the sugar content is much higher than we like to see in a soda.  Overall it was nothing special, but I still want to try their other drinks.

Score: 2 out of 5. Too sugary and the flavor falls short, more fizz than grapefruit.

– WiseGuise

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2-Star Reviews, Blue Sky all natural

I haven’t reviewed an iced tea in a while, and this one was politely donated by my girlfriend and purchased from the local Good Earth health grocer, and couldn’t say no.  This is not my first Steaz, I have sampled their tea before, but never managed to sit down and review one.  In a world of sub-par teas, it’s nice to find a company that focuses on theirs and strives to make them flavorful and conscientious.

After my last experience with a mint flavored tea, I was hesitant to try this, but my worry was needless.  Scent-wise, the mint isn’t overpowering, and the tea is tangible.  Flavor-wise, it’s tangy and pleasantly minty, finishing with a soft tea flavor and a perfect dryness.  This is what Lipton iced tea should taste like, (minus the mint) with less than half the ingredients and 6 g less sugar.  Iced teas have been pushed out into the market as something that should be syrupy-sweet and lemon-sour, with hardly any recognizable tea flavor and a generic taste.  This doesn’t have to be, and this tea shows it.

This entire line of iced teas are all natural, organic  and fair trade, and at least with this particular tea, only 20 g of sugar in the 16 oz can.  Light on sugars and organic like Honestea, environmentally conscious and next-door sexy like Hayden Panettiere.  Okay, that last one is only opinion, and I’m probably going to get in trouble for it.  If you like iced teas, these are definitely worth a try.

Score: 4.5 out of 5. Pleasant and minty and definitely not generically flavored.

– WiseGuise

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4-Star Reviews, Steaz all natural, green tea, organic

I'm green with. . .protein

Every once in a while I get an urge to try a protein drink, despite their notoriously gritty texture and ugly mouthfeel, mostly because I go to the gym and need the most protein without the added calories of fat and carbohydrates.  These experiments usually end with a grimace and a vow never to drink another one, but I inevitably forget and see something new.  That brings you today’s post, Mix 1 Key Lime ‘enhanced protein shake’!

Now, it isn’t fair to characterize all protein drinks as a horrible experience, that has just been my sum of experiences.  The idea behind it isn’t to enjoy a smooth, delicious beverage, it’s to pack a ton of protein into your body so you can blow out every major muscle group you have doing power cleans and bench pressing while groaning like a geriatric.  Protein builds and maintains muscle, and eating too much doesn’t necessarily harm you, your body uses what it needs and disposes of the rest.

It smells exactly how I expected it to, like a lime flavored protein shake. The taste is better than I anticipated, smooth and not as thick as I suspected it to be.  The sweetness is very light, and the lime is bold and sour, almost to the point of tasting artificial.  The ingredient list denies this, listing only juice concentrate (lime, apple) and citric acid.  This goes down surprisingly well, smooth and not a single bit of grit.  Overall this was much better than I hoped it would be, leaving only a milky feeling in my mouth due to the whey protein isolate, a milk by-product.  A large amount of vitamins and minerals was added, 23 total, with 15 g of protein and plenty of antioxidants.  Calories come in at 200 for the 11 oz bottle, but only 22 g of sugars.

Drinking this has changed my mind quite a bit on what a protein drink can be like; it doesn’t have to be a harrowing journey into an abyss of gag-inducing textures from gritty, tasteless mixes than slide down your throat like a stagnant oily slurry.  They can actually taste good.

Score: 4.5 out of 5. A tasty, smooth entry into a world of thick, gritty protein shakes.

– WiseGuise

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4-Star Reviews, Mix1 all natural, independent company

Simple designs are not always boring

I came by this simple looking can at my local Sunflower Market, and I liked the design and possibility of trying a new flavor from this established company, and though their reviews here have not yet broken past a 3, I’m more than willing to give a company another chance.  Also, I was thirsty and this was on sale.  Everyone wins!

Sparkling water doesn’t usually agree with me, and this isn’t quite an exception, but close.  The fizziness doesn’t totally turn me off, and I hear some people like that sort of thing.  The scents are understated but tangible, the cranberry doesn’t walk over the grapefruit or vice versa.  The taste is about the same, tame and fairly equal, although the grapefruit wins out for the aftertaste.  The fruitiness is light, as is the sweetness, 24 g of cane sugar in this 10.5 oz can (far below our benchmark can-of-Coke).  Aftertaste is pleasant and sweet, no dry-mouth or cotton-tongue.

Hansen’s seems to still be doing business independently, with several different lines of drinks and several new products like this one. I also noticed that they are quite open about their financial information and any inter-company agreements, so kudos on the transparency.  As for the beverage, I found the taste to be quite enjoyable, cranberry and grapefruit mix surprisingly well.  The carbonation was a little too intense for me, although others may enjoy it far more, I’m not a sparkling water kind of guy.

Score: 4 out of 5. A natural, fizzy sparkling water with the right amount of taste and sugar.

– WiseGuise

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4-Star Reviews, Hansen's all natural, independent company

Yes, finally, the last oogave review that I’ve been putting off for a week.   Christmas shopping has been wreaking havoc on my posting, among other things.  Let’s get down to it, shall we?  Yes, we shall.  I ended up with the other citrus offering from oogave, Mandarin-Key Lime.  This simple soda has only four ingredients, as long as you count ‘natural flavors’ as a single ingredient.

The freshly opened bottle tickles my nose with a citrus-y mandarin feather, but I’m having a hard time detecting the lime.  With a swig, I get that first rush of sweet from the agave, then an orange tang, followed by a hint of lime.  None of the flavors really overwhelm the others except for the sweetness; at least you can say that oogave knows how to play it mellow with the flavors, if you’re into that sort of thing.

I think that Esteban could really play around with the flavors a lot more, make them familiar but interesting.  The sweetness always seems to take control of my taste-buds before the real flavors get a chance to take them for a ride.  I really wanted to like this soda more, but the sugars are the only thing my tongue has any memory of now that I’ve finished the bottle.  Although, I do feel fuller.

Score: 3 out of 5. The understated flavors disappear under the agave sweetness.

– WiseGuise

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3-Star Reviews, oogave all natural, independent company, oogave, organic

Ito En, as a Japanese beverage company, is one of the leading manufacturers of tea, although this beverage is manufactured in China, brought in through Hawaii, and distributed through their North America office in New York.  Quite a journey for a small bottle of tea.  the FDA says it’s cool, so I’ll give this one a chance to prove it’s tea goodness, China is known for their tea.

I popped open their supposed environmentally-responsible bottle and gave it the old scent test.  I get the overwhelming image of a fresh cut pear wrapped in tea leaves, sweet and aromatic.  Good so far.  A swig later, and my tongue is reveling in the delightful pear-y taste, giving way to a surprisingly strong tea flavor for a white tea; and with surprising sweetness for only 30 g of the sweet stuff in the whole 16 oz bottle.  The finish is a little dry with a lingering sweet-pear flavor.

Fruit teas are hard to nail down properly, often the fruit overwhelms the tea, or is left far too understated to avoid this cover-up.  This tea has struck a good balance, a good pear flavor with a nice strong tea to follow, although the sweetness is beginning to feel like a little too much, they might want to take a cue from Honest Tea and tone it down a bit.  Ito En surely knows how to make a good fruit tea, although too sweet, it still has its merits.

Score: 4.5 out of 5. Excellent balance for a fruit tea, just a tad too sweet.

– WiseGuise

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4-Star Reviews, Ito En, Tasty Japanese Drinks all natural, drink reviews, white tea

Viagra in a bottle?

Another Function flavor I have been meaning to review, and after two failed attempts (drank it without a notepad or camera) I have finally brought you my wisdom and advice.

As is normal for drinks not rife with chemicals and sugar, the scent is rather weak, but definitely speaks of its tropical origins.  The taste is more arousing, a passionate assault on my taste-buds with its twin cannons of passion-fruit and guava.  There’s only a bare hint of the astringent  nature of the supplements and extracts added for its supposed sexual health claims.  It leaves me with no dry-mouth or unpleasant aftertaste.  Yummy.

I see no way to easily or diplomatically lay down any evidence as to its claims, due to the sensitive nature of such information and the personal familiarity of some of our readership, so I will leave it up to the speculation of our readers; also I highly suggest experimentation on all your parts.  Ahem.

I felt a bit of a boost after my lunch, which is usually capped by some drowsy reading in the break-room and a sluggish afternoon.  Sugar content is moderate, 33 g in the 16.8 oz bottle, and the taste is excellent, by far one of my favorites to come out of the labs at Function.

Score: 5 out of 5. A flavorful harbinger of potency, also a first 5 for Function.

– WiseGuise

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5-Star Reviews, Function all natural, drink reviews

Sounds odd, but don't judge it yet.

I like finding the odd and random drinks that appear out there, ones that few have tried and I have never seen before.  But, I hesitate to review them, because of the above stated facts.  They are hard to find and not widely consumed; and often, not very good.  But sometimes you find a diamond in a field of coals.  This aloe drink may be one of those.

I remember using aloe as a home-remedy for small injuries and sunburns, my grandmother had a large plant on the back porch you could go break a piece off of and smear the smelly, slimy substance on your wound, which soon felt miraculously better.  Aloe is well known for its beneficial effects on the skin and for the stomach, as well as possibly aiding the immune system.

After curiously reading the contents, I shook it as directed then popped open the can.  A smell that brought to mind something likened to burnt grapes with a hint of aloe escaped the can.  Heedless of any foreboding I took a swig right out of it, and found my mouth  full of sweet, grape-y chunks of aloe, a lot of them.  It tasted much more of grape flesh than aloe, which can have a bitter taste.  There is a bit of a tang from the citric acid and Vitamin C (ascorbic acid).  Chewing the aloe chunks, which have an almost jello-like texture, releases more sweetness.

The grape taste is rather strong, and the sugar isn’t subtle either, with 23 g in the 8 oz can, still a bit less than Coke.  A couple extra g of carbs appear due to the aloe vera.  Texture people may not like the soft chunks of aloe, others may love it.  Nothing artificial, extra Vitamin C, and made in Korea.  I really enjoy trying new things like this, and encourage others to do the same.  Other bloggers have found these aloe drinks interesting as well.

Score: 3.5 out of 5. Uber sweet and uber grape, but a different kind of drink.

– WiseGuise

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3-Star Reviews, J1 all natural, drink reviews