1 review for Trader Joe’s Hibiscus Cranberry Blend Juice Reviews
Rated 3 out of 5
Juicy Juice –
From Exploring Trader Joe’s 2014
“The first ingredient (after the water used for reconstituting the concentrates), and therefore the largest constitute by weight or volume, is apple juice. The second is white grape juice. You only get to “hibiscus concentrate” in the third ingredient, and even then the label explains that it is made up of “hibiscus concentrate [a weirdly self-referential disclosure], apple juice concentrate, plum juice concentrate, white and red grape juice concentrates, citric acid, pomegranate juice concentrate, hibiscus extract, natural flavor.” How much of anything that actually comes from a hibiscus plant is in this concoction? There’s no way to know with any precision, but it doesn’t sound like much.
As far as flavor, it tastes like a mostly unidentifiable blend of fruit juices, with cranberry being the only thing I can pick out specifically. But it’s completely lacking the nice tartness that cranberry juice, or even good cranberry blends, ought to have. I don’t see sugar or high-fructose corn syrup on the list of ingredients, but after tasting the stuff, it would not have surprised me to find it there–because it tastes not just sweetened, but overly sweetened. It’s arguably closer to Kool-Aid than to real juice, in terms of flavors.
This is another example of “I shoulda looked at the label in the store.” I might have still purchased it out of curiosity, but I would have been better prepared for a disappointing mishmash of flavors–which is perhaps the best description of this blend.”
Juicy Juice –
From Exploring Trader Joe’s 2014
“The first ingredient (after the water used for reconstituting the concentrates), and therefore the largest constitute by weight or volume, is apple juice. The second is white grape juice. You only get to “hibiscus concentrate” in the third ingredient, and even then the label explains that it is made up of “hibiscus concentrate [a weirdly self-referential disclosure], apple juice concentrate, plum juice concentrate, white and red grape juice concentrates, citric acid, pomegranate juice concentrate, hibiscus extract, natural flavor.” How much of anything that actually comes from a hibiscus plant is in this concoction? There’s no way to know with any precision, but it doesn’t sound like much.
As far as flavor, it tastes like a mostly unidentifiable blend of fruit juices, with cranberry being the only thing I can pick out specifically. But it’s completely lacking the nice tartness that cranberry juice, or even good cranberry blends, ought to have. I don’t see sugar or high-fructose corn syrup on the list of ingredients, but after tasting the stuff, it would not have surprised me to find it there–because it tastes not just sweetened, but overly sweetened. It’s arguably closer to Kool-Aid than to real juice, in terms of flavors.
This is another example of “I shoulda looked at the label in the store.” I might have still purchased it out of curiosity, but I would have been better prepared for a disappointing mishmash of flavors–which is perhaps the best description of this blend.”