After my experience with another flavour in the SodaStream ‘Clear’ range, Passion and Mango flavour, I was fully prepared to be underwhelmed by Cranberry & Raspberry Flavour. Drinking a flavoured drink that has no flavour is like driving a car that has no wheels. With one you won’t get very far and the neighbours will laugh at you. With the other you will wish you had saved some money and just drunk some water.
Well ok, those two things are not very alike really, but moving onto more relevant matters, is Cranberry & Raspberry flavour similarly pointless to its passion and mango cousin? The answer to that is ‘yes and no’.
So lets start with the good… Aroma: This drink smells lovely. Hints of a tasty sweetshop. A fruit orchard. Notes of petals cutting through a bedrock of sweet sugary goodness. As the glass tipped and the water ran towards me I had high hopes.
… But unfortunately the drink doesn’t quite live up to it. Fizz yes, a sharp burn of carbon dioxide just as it should be. Somewhere around the tongue a hint of flavour. A ghost of fruit. An imagination of something that might be raspberry, but not quite tangible. Not enough taste to declare itself real and in failing to really taste of something, this drink marks itself down as another failure.
Mango and passion fruit flavour tasted of nothing, but a hint of perfume. Cranberry and Raspberry is better. The flavour such as it could be is a good one. It has the basis of something that tastes nice, but I was left wanting a lot more of it. This drink has potential and perhaps in failing to meet that potential it is a bigger missed opportunity than its truly unpleasant cousin.
Well, you can look at things that way, but personally I think it’s better to try and fail than to not try at all. There is refreshment here and there is something of value to be found. I think if I squint my eyes and concentrate on refreshment I can almost get through this bottle. Anyway, I plan a new strategy that will cane the bottle at some speed. I figure if I double dose the flavour I may get to a potency worth drinking. Never mind the e-numbers and the potential to drink more sugar than one person can take. A great fizzy drink is a wonder to behold and in the pursuit of greatness, sacrifices must sometimes be made.
It’s fantastic to read reviews on Flavoured Bottled Water. Thanks for these great insight into this brand.