Mangajo - Pomegranate & Green Tea (@NLi10) - Water Juice & Tea all together!

I've already talked about this one before - but it was 9 years ago it turns out!  This doesn't feel like something that could have been around that long - so what did they do right that I just didn't spot?

First of all the health halo on this one is HUGE - Pom & Green tea and no added sugar?  So what is actually inside.

As my past-self's abject disappointment showed - this is water. 11% of the drink is fruit juice (only 2% of which is Pomegranate) and there is 9g of green tea powder per litre.  While that's not much thats possibly enough to give you a boost.

All it really claims to be is hydrating, which is pretty easy.  And it achieves that - see how empty the bottle is?  These juicy waters were all the rage for a time, and still seem to crop up - and this is at least a natural one.

So then - if you fancy a flavoured water, and only want a little one (250ml) and don't mind paying a premium for less chemicals then it's a decent product.  I did enjoy the drink.  And I guess it's low calorie too. 

It's just hard to recommend as a first choice when there are real water, juice and tea usually available right next to these.

Oasis Aqua Shock - Spicy Raspberry (WH Smiths) By @Cinabar

I bought this Oasis Aqua Shock Spicy Raspberry drink to share but decided to only buy one bottle and not two. For me the idea of a drink that “shocks” doesn’t actually sound like something I want to drink. I was thinking “refresh” is a much more sensible option. Anyway I bought one bottle to share between two and to taste test rather than to thirst quench. I approached the drink with caution too, I don’t mind a dash of chilli in a cooking sauce, but in a drink it just sounded weird.
This Oasis Aqua Shock Spicy Raspberry is a still and clear drink, and I poured some into two glasses. Then I starred at it for a while trying to decide whether I actually fancied taking a sip, eventually I built up the courage for the sake of the blog. What happened next was a complete anticlimax, this Oasis Aqua Shock Spicy Raspberry is not shocking or spicy, it is a drink of flavoured berry water and if you really really concentrate you might just pick up on a tiniest dash of something warm, but realistically you probably wouldn’t notice anything but the light raspberry flavour.
I had another sip and realised I liked the drink and I would buy it again as it would be quite refreshing on a hot day. It is easy to drink and raspberry taste is very pleasant. The problem is that it doesn’t deliver the promised chilli buzz, so people like me who don’t get excited about a drink with a shocking kick won’t buy it. If you did want a spicy blast this Oasis Aqua Shock Spicy Raspberry will just disappoint.

Just Water? Just Water! (@NLi10)

Facing an hour long bus journey in the hot sun I decided I’d need a little refreshment, so went for a bottle of water from Holland & Barrett.  They had a staggering array.

Buying bottled water still feels wrong, so I went for the one on special offer, that also promised to be the most environmentally sustainable.

This is just water, which is also reassuring because some people put artificial sweeteners, flavours or minerals in which is annoying when all you want to do is not pass out on the bus.  I'd rather have a bottle of my own tap water to be honest (it just comes out of these things the previous owners left behind - and it doesn't taste of anything!)

So - it's bottled spring water in a container that is made from recyclable sustainable substances - 82% in fact and it's technically recyclable!

Why technically? Well our local council doesn't take these so it's off to landfill - which is sad.  

tetra-packs are an odd one - they are initially better but a can or bottle that can be recycled might be better - truth be told all the stats I had on the energy needed to transport and recycle these things are horribly out of date.  This has a space for your name though so in theory you can trump recycling - reducing and reusing are the best things of all.

So I can take this fairly square paper bottle with a foil inner out on many future bus trips and save money and the planet at the same time.

Flying Tiger - Shark Flavoured Water (@NLi10)

Pretty packaging is important.  I spotted these fun window bottles in Flying Tiger - and as I fancied a drink and needed to do a review I figured I'd pick one up.

On the shelf they mostly look like normal bottles unless you line yourself up right.

But you get to see the shark tank if you do!

I mean it's not all that exciting really, but its a little extra.  I chose the Peach Tea variety to review, but then left the second half of the bottle in the changing rooms in John Lewis's (I assume - sorry!) so the only pic of that is the tiny one on the poster.

They are really all just flavoured water varieties so not really that exciting, but for a pound it's refreshing enough and got me through the busy Saturday shop.

Guinness Clear - FizzFreeFeb (by @NLi10)

So - after the slight failure of Fizz Free Feb to capture my imagination (as it's really aimed at school age children) it was interesting to see one of the bigger alcohol companies getting in on the act.

I spotted and retweeted this on Friday

I mean their glass is a lot newer than mine, and they have the fancy new branding too but it's close.

And it tastes pretty good too!

I mean this was also my original solution to the problem of stopping drinking so it's worth me talking about it more.  

Essentially when I stopped drinking I just moved on to the sweet fizzy drinks.  And by the end of the night if you are 'keeping up' with all of the rounds and such you end up drinking 2 litres of pop.  I mean that's not a problem weight wise (I'm very underweight for various reasons - mostly medical) but that sheer amount of sugar and caffeine messes with you quite a lot.  Sugar hang-overs are a real thing!

So - I gradually just accepted less drinks and switched to the premium social drinks of Fever Tree and of course Fentimans.  People would offer me diet drinks - but I'd counter with the fact that I may as well drink water.  And then one day - I did.  I don't object to buying the bottled water from the pub (it probably costs them more to buy in than the spray colas do), afterall you are paying for the service and the seat too!  The reaction from the work drinking group particularly was a little odd.  It was almost freaky how it made people react - this must be how real vegans feel!

I think that a fashionably branded water could work well, but frankly even I'd never thought of just branding the glass.

Yup - Guinness Clear is tap water in a nice glass.  Frankly I'm going to try ordering some of this in a few places and see what happens - most bars do have the official glasses (ours was from a gift set before you ask...).  Hopefully it'll start a few conversations and make it a little easier to buy water and non-sugar non-diet drinks in pubs.

And if you want to charge me £1 for the pleasure for some chilled, or ice & lemon tap water then I'm all for it!

OSHEE Vitamin Water - Dragonfruit // Citrus (Asda) by @NLi10 #Lewandowski

Today we are continuing the mini theme of water + reviews.  These are the swift response to the sugar tax, water with a flavour and a little sweetness is cheaper to sell now!  Here we have a Polish version with a famous (apparently) footballer on them - lets see what he's up to.

Robert Lewandowski is the brand ambassador for this water.  How difficult is his job? That depends on how nice this stuff is.

Here we can see he's telling me to stop thinking about writing the review and to actually get on with it.  Sound advice - if not a little generic.  Dragonfruit doesn't usually show up in things like this and is probably the reason it went from a maybe review to a pick-up.

There's barely any in here though and it just tastes of red juice.  Nice with it though, it has that vitamin aftertaste and is quite refreshing.  If it was free because I was the brand ambassador then I think I'd get through enough of it to make it worthwhile.  Wish it wasn't dreaming of dragon fruit and they'd actually put a decent amount in.

Next up is orange/lemon - which to me sounds like they put citric acid in and called it a day.

This one says the limitations are only in my head.  I think he's calling me thick! Maybe the limitations to what flavour you can write on the front is limited only by your imagination.

This drink isn't even blue! It's the colour of citric acid.  This tastes of cheap pop (the Mick Foley kind), and is nice enough but the red flavour was better.

I do feel refreshed and rejuvenated though so Robert has clearly inspired me in some way.  Next time we'll have a look at the snacks from this range too!

DUM DUM B.C.A.A. water in a silly shaped bottle (Home Bargains) by @NLi10

Continuing through the varieties of interesting water that have come out since the UK's 'sugar tax' was introduced I happened to spot this in our lovely discount chain Home Bargains.  Ordinarily the waters and such are more in the 39p range but this was a full 99p - what could make it worth that?

Well for one it's an odd shape.  I think you are supposed to carry it with you while running and you could even use it as a really ineffectual weight while working out (the harder you train, the lighter it gets).  They've also added some science to the water too.

I chose the BCAA water so I could generate more lean muscle by drinking this clear water with a hint of grapefruit.

To be honest I didn't really pay that much attention to the amino acid stuff this time.  I'm sure they are all in there though, they wouldn't lie to us.

And it tasted pretty good too - it was much nicer than the coke water, and not as special as the rejuvenation water from Holland & Barrett. I was refreshed by this, but I didn't feel massively replenished or like I'd got some much needed trace elements.

And that's where the review would end - except the thin body of the bottle actually made it really comfortable for my poor arthritic hands to hold - and it contained 700ml so for a while it became my water bottle to carry around in the hot weather.

Here it is in my step-nanna's garden.

Unfortunately it was confiscated when going into the wrestling a week later, and I forgot to pick it up as I left the venue.  I definitely had my £1 worth, and while it really isn't wise to use these bottles for too long as they aren't at all designed to be cleaned it was nice that it got to live a little longer.

Even if the shape did mean that sometimes a slightly too energetic drink would result in a face full of water...

Rejuvenation Spanish Orange Water (Holland & Barrett) by @NLi10

Sometimes you just want a simple drink when you are out. I fancied a water and had a few minutes before the bus to a show so I popped into Holland & Barrett.

Paying a pound for a half size bottle of water always wrankles so I looked for other options.

 

Here we have Rejuvenation. At £2.50 it was a little more than I wanted to pay, but after the abject dissapointment of Coke’s new tea water I figured I’d see if this was endemic of all bottled waters with a twist. Was this one worth twice what the tea cost?

 

Yeah - the science  blurb is shakey - I don’t Think  they realise we teach this in schools, but the idea is at least a sound one. Consume amino acids, and replace what you used doing stuff. 

And yeah - this is mostly water, but so are we so we shouldn’t hold that against it. I think putting sweeteners into everything is a terrible idea, but the juice means this actually tastes pretty good. The rejuvenation is real and not caffeine related, and I vastly preferred it to the bad ‘on-tap’ cola that the venue had. 

Was it worth twice as much as just plain water when I didn’t really do much exercise? Not really sure it was, but I enjoyed the flavour and did wake up a lot so I’d be happy to keep trying luxury and interesting waters in the interests of blogging of course.

Fuzetea Peach or Mango (Co-op) by @NLi10

Heading out for the day in the Lake District for the Great North Swim we picked up a couple of nice cold bottles to see us through the day - choosing the currently heavily advertised and discounted to a pound a bottle Fuzetea.

I like ice tea, so thought this would be a fairly safe bet.

  

Looks like red drink, tastes like slightly sweet water. I mean there is a hint of peach, and maybe a hint of tea, but it’s mostly sweetener and water.

5% peach, and 0.12% tea. It’s not exactly revolutionary - just sweet water. 

 

Let’s see if the Mango version is more exciting.

More realistic colour. Same invisible taste. 

Turns out it’s made by a Coca Cola, which explains its sudden appearance on all of the adverts. It also explains why it’s basically tapwater with a squirt of concentrate in it.

If you want to drink those barely flavoured water drinks that already exist then this is a fairly uninteresting addition to the range. If you want to pay £1.50 for a 400 ml bottle of artificially sweetened water be my guest. I think I’ll stick to the teas with more tea in them, or a 5 times as large bottle of plain water for the same price.

Bottle water - Fit, Smart, Ice & Sweat (@NLi10)

Bottled water is everywhere at the moment - it's summer and it's fashionable to be healthy.  The soft drinks companies aren't complaining, they've been trying to use this way of essentially printing money for years.  Tap water is almost free on the scale of 500ml bottles, and if you don't have to over package, transport and do much to the 'recipe' and can get away with selling it at a decent price then you are on to a winner.  Well, as long as you don't care about the impact on the environment that not just filling a reusable container from the tap represents!

This week's 'meal deal' drinks from Tesco looked like this.  I won't be reviewing the smoothie this time - that's a whole different ball game!



First up we have the sparkling Ice which is interesting because it's the only one that has a flavour AND is the only one that adds Vitamin D into the mix (which is good because most people in the UK are deficient during the winter months).



In fact there are a decent few vitamins in here - not at earth shaking values mind - and the flavour is strong enough to feel worth the money.  I liked the lightly carbonated touch too.  I'd happily drink this in a pub without feeling like i should have gone for the full juice, or the plain water.  A nice surprise.



This is another new one - and an odd one at that.  It's essentially water and salts - sorry- electrolytes.  This seems to be the new Isotonic which is a buzz word that cropped up a lot.  Without all the sugars I'm not sure that claim would be valid, so electrolyte replacement it is!



Tastes like water that someone dipped a paintbrush in, but doesn't have too much of an aftertaste.  I bet if you aren't already replete in all these chemicals (especially after a workout) that you might crave this after a few tries, but it does nothing for me really.

Next up we have the Glaceau Smart Water which gets advertised quite a bit - mainly because it's made by Coke.  After their terrible failure to launch and sustain a bottled water brand in the UK this is a nice angle, both adults and children want to be smart - so how do they do it?



Well - they distil the water to take everything out (so it's not just tap water this time) and then put a few of the salts back in (enough to stop your organs from failing by drinking distilled water, but not so much as it shows up on the nutrients or calories on the bottle like the Lucozade one above).  This tastes like the water it is.

Of course we have the looming spectre of Pocari Sweat, but I've talked about that enough previously - at only 22 cal per 100ml it's not really an energy drink, but it does kind of exclude itself from this race.



It's never really worth the money you pay for it, but sometimes bottled water is a necessity.  Which brand you choose is really up to how much you want to spend on perceived benefit (the Lucozade and smart were about 60p due to special offers and multipacks - the Sparkling Ice was £1 but in the meal deal and Pocari Sweat imports at £5 for the big bottle).

I'll just pay for whatever is the cheapest per ml, unless I'm in the bar in which case I'll have the little designer glass bottles to wind up the beer drinkers - after all, I'm paying for the service and the seat not the drink in that case.