Robinsons Orange Flavour

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The bunting went up this week and we temporarily donned conical party hats to commemorate the 100th bottle of SodaStream fizzed in SodaStream Review HQ.

Excitement over, it was time for me to roll my sleeves up and get on with the important business of trying another new flavour. I figured that after a recent run of Robinson’s flavours it was sensible to complete the series by trying to create SodaStream out of the most ubiquitous of squash flavours: Orange squash.

As a kid, orange squash could go either way. It was either the flavour you were disappointed to get: commonplace, tepid and diluted to within an inch of its life. Or it could be the best thing in the world: poured from pewter jugs on a makeshift table, ice-cold and joyously sweet after you had flogged your young lungs out dashing round your mate’s garden or competing masterfully in the egg-and-spoon race.

These days I enjoy a drop of orange water now and again. I guess I lean more often towards the slight sour note of the lemon, but every once in a while I pick up some orange and I’m always struck by the tang, the brilliant after taste that only the orange can manage.

I’m struck by this now, sipping on my fizz-enhanced orange squash. Nice citrus aroma, the tingle on the tongue of orange. Sugar syrup, so beautiful, so sweet… and water refreshment. Yup, it’s orange squash alright, but what’s that burn? The rush of carbonation, the slight bite on the back of the throat. Definitely onto a winner here.

SodaStream’s official orange flavour is great. The Robinson’s black market equivalent is different, but pretty good in its own right. It doesn’t have the nuclear levels of sweetness of the official version, but it makes up for it in terms of refreshment potential and value for money. I wouldn’t say it is necessarily better than standard orange squash, but it definitely has an identity, it’s a new drink, not just squash with fizz and it is every bit as good.

I made the decision to strongly dose my review version, pouring away some of my fizzed water before topping up to the brim with syrup and I think that was right. Fizzed water, just like iced water, naturally requires more sweetness and I think you could end up with a pretty insipid drink if you went wrong. Obey Newton’s rules of soda and you should stay on the right track.

So what have we learned today. To recap: orange is good, summer is good, dilution leads to refreshment, but can lead to insipid flavour, and Robinson’s in general are doing a good job. Squash doesn’t need to be known as the poor man of the drinks world, it has gained a strong new ally in the form of SodaStream.

Rating: 4 out of 5

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Number of bottles fizzed 272

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