Moscow Food Co-op Food ReviewLemon-Lime Soda
by Vicki Reich, from the October 2004 Newsletter
We have quite a selection of natural sodas in the store and when a friend asked me which was the best lemon-lime soda, I was stumped. Of course, I immediately thought that lemon-lime or lemon or lime or grapefruit (maybe I should just say citrus) soda should be the next in line for a Word of Mouth taste test.
Although not universal, citrus is a flavor in most of the brands of soda we carry. It was interesting that what kind of citrus was not as important to the flavor of the soda as what kind of sweetener. Here’s what the Hog Heaven Handspinners had to say about the eight sodas we tested in the order they were tested.
Hansen’s Key Lime Soda ($0.49) is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup and has no real juice, only natural flavors and we could all tell. It is very sweet with very little citrus taste. In fact, Sarah thought it tasted like flat ginger ale. Danielle thought it was refreshing, but then again, she thought all of the sodas we tested were refreshing.
Knudsen Jamaican Lemonade Spritzer ($0.85) is sweetened with white grape juice and has real lemon juice in it. It has a fruity smell and taste. Testers called it juice-like and grapefruity. It is not too sweet and has a cloudy appearance that hints at the juice in it. It was one of our favorites.
Crystal Geyser Pink Lemonade Juice Squeeze ($0.89) is sweetened with grape juice and has real lemon juice and elderberry juice (I think to give it its pink color). It is one of the more carbonated of the sodas we tried. It’s not too sweet but has a slight medicinal taste that might be due to the added B vitamins it contains.
Santa Cruz Organic Lemonade ($0.75) is sweetened with organic evaporated cane juice and contains real lemon juice and lemon juice concentrate. It smells and tastes like lemonade. One tester thought it tasted like lemon juice concentrate in seltzer. It is sweet but not too sweet and was another of our favorites.
Izze Sparkling Lemon ($1.15) is sweetened with grape and apple juice concentrate and has lemon juice concentrate in it. It has a great spicy, citrusy smell. It is crisp but not too carbonated with a thick mouth feel that I owe to the addition of gums in the ingredients. It’s not too sweet and definitely has the best graphics on their label. They are also the only company that gives part of their profits to non-profit organizations.
Blue Sky Lemon Lime Soda ($0.49) is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup and has no lemon juice, only natural flavors. Like the Hansen’s soda, it is very sweet without much flavor and reminded us again of flat ginger ale.
Fizzy Lizzy Grapefruit ($1.45) is sweetened with white grape juice concentrate but this is the third ingredient after carbonated water and ruby red grapefruit concentrate. It is the least sweet of all the sodas we tried. It tasted like grapefruit juice with seltzer and we all thought it was the healthiest tasting of the lot. Everyone, not just Danielle, thought it was refreshing. It was my favorite, but I’m not a big fan of soda and drink lots of seltzer.
The Switch Lemonade ($1.25) is sweetened with white grape juice concentrate and is flavored with lemon juice concentrate. It is the right sweetness with a nice mellow flavor that isn’t that lemony. It was also a favorite of the group.
Aside from a long line for the bathroom and a few quiet burps from the back of the room, we all enjoyed the evening. We all agreed it was worth the extra money to get a soda sweetened with something other than high fructose corn syrup. We were once again amazed at the wide range of flavors you could get from something as simple as citrus soda. And Danielle ended the night quite refreshed.
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