Pete's Natural - Currant Crush product reviews

I have, for a very long time, stayed away from drinks which list 'lightly carbonated water' as the first and thus main ingredient of the drink, the reason being that those drinks I always find to be weak in flavour and so I always feel that I have wasted any money that was spent on the drink (even if I personally didn't pay for it). That wasn't the case with this drink at all and I ended up drinking this far quicker than I ever thought that I would, after all I imagined that it would be slowly sipped in before being passed onto one of my children to finish.

I'm still getting used to the white vinegar tang that I can taste in this drink range but didn't feel that it affected the taste of the drink as a whole and I think I'm finally getting used to the slight tang of it. I love seeing that this is fully NZ made with NZ fruit but also fair trade sugar which is great to see. This works out to be $3.50 for one single bottle, one can assume that out and about in a cafe that this would go up to about $4.00, at least, but I would be happy to buy this when dining out in leiu of Coke or another soft drink.

This went down and it went down well, I didn't share it, got through it too quickly and would certainly drink it and recommend it.

Blackcurrants bring back fond memories of childhood, that is why I had to try this drink. I guess a lot of people have similar memories (although I not only enjoyed Ribena type drinks, we also grew our own blackcurrants). The smell, oh the smell!!

My husband thought that it was a bit bland, rather like soda water with colouring. I, on the other hand, really enjoyed it. I found it was a nice light drink and I think that it would be a good option for me to take to an event where I was going to have several drinks in one night. It isn't as sickly sweet as most fizzy drinks and therefore I think I could cope with a few over the course of an evening. The fact that the Pete's drink is lightly carbonated is rather nice as it didn't make me all gassy after drinking it.

After tasting the drink straight from the bottle, I had to come up with an idea of how to use the drink in a different way. I thought that it would be apt to bring back another memory from childhood - ice-cream sodas. Luckily I had just enough vanilla ice-cream to put into a glass and then slowly poured some of the Pete's drink in. I tasted the fluff that it had created and it was rather like marshmallow. I drank some of the ice-cream soda and found that it had created a lovely drink that didn't taste too sweet. In fact it was REALLY nice.

I compared this drink to some other fizzy drink I had in the cupboard. Pete's Natural Blackcurrant had much less sugar, less energy and none of the colours and numbers that appeared in the other drink. Looking at the ingredients at the back of the Pete's bottle, I could recognise all the items in there and therefore could replicate it in my own kitchen if I had access to the ingredients. I think this is a sign of a good product. Real food and drink has to win hands down.

I had a look online to see what the website was like. I was able to see where this drink is sold and what markets, events etc it would be available at in the upcoming months. I liked the personal touch of the story about how the drinks came about. A bit of humour makes customers feel like they important and have a link to the person who has created the drink for them. I also liked the fact that the nutritional information for each version of the drinks is available online, it means that people who like to know about what they are eating and drinking can find out really easily.

I really liked my first experience of Pete's range of drinks. I am positive that I will be having more of it. It will be a perfect summer drink (if I haven't got into it before then).

I remember my wife getting one of these drinks to review a little while back and I rather liked it, so when I got this one to review I was rather excited.

Reading the ingredients on the back of the bottle I have to say that I really liked what I saw, everything is natural and as fresh as you can get something that has been stored in a bottle on the store floor. The design is nice and simple and it is so easy to see what you are getting. I gave the bottle a gentle shake and then popped it open. Even just slightly carbonated, I had a momentary freak out when it fizzed up to the top of the bottle but all was well, I'll just be more gentle next time.

Splitting this between my wife and I, and a tiny bit for my youngest daughter, we used small plastic cups and this bottle filled up two with a little bit left over for my daughter. I really liked the taste, it wasn't too sweet, a good amount of flavour without being overpowering and didn't take long to get finished at all. My only problem with this drink it the price (if you can only buy it in a pack of four), it works out to be about $2.50 per bottle so as a one bottle, now and then, it works out well.

I love Blackcurrant everything - juice, sweets, jam, you name it - so I was very excited to try this product. I love that it contains no chemicals, additives or preservatives - a really big selling point when it comes to making healthy choices for my family.

It's the second product that I have tried from the Pete's Natural range and what can I say - it was delicious! Very flavoursome, not too sweet and lightly carbonated which suits my tastes perfectly since I don't like really fizzy drinks. My partner even thought it tasted nice and he's not a big fan of blackcurrant.

I decided to experiment with this product and I just couldn't get the thought of jelly out of my head. Turns out I'm glad that I went with my instincts on this one because the jelly was a huge hit. It got my partners seal of approval and my son keeps asking me when we can make it again - definitely a win.

The glass bottle makes it feel a bit special and the labelling is clean and simple. I particularly love the addition of the caution label that reads: Beware: Extraordinary amounts of vitamin C are lurking in this bottle - that's good to know, especially at this time of year when all sorts of nasty winter bugs are going around.

This was the second of the drinks I tried I love black currant drinks and they always remind me of when I was younger and my Nan would buy me blackcurrant cordial when I was sick and I needed the Vitamin C. I think it is nice having something that lets you relive your childhood and this certainly did just that.

I do like a sparkling ribena from time to time and half expected this to be a bit like that but it was quite a bit different. For a start the sparkling ribena seems to be a lot more concentrated so it has a more syrupy texture, and it is also a lot sweeter. This had a lot more mild and light flavour and texture and with just the light carbonation it made it very easy to drink. I would of liked a bit more sweetness but I think the milder taste shows it is made from natural products with no added extras which I love.

I decide to mix this with my vodka with a slice of lime and some ice. We have had a couple of hot days and it was the perfect refreshing alcoholic drink to unwind with in the evening. I would certainly use this as a mixer again as it makes it a much lighter drink than if you were to add orange juice or coke. I was again quite sad when the bottle was empty as I could of happily had another it was so easy to drink and made my drink look a lot prettier too.

I'm not sure where these are stocked yet but would love to see them start coming into the supermarkets as I would happily buy them to have in the fridge over summer all in all a fabulous drink which is healthy enough for the whole family.

Okay, first of all, this drink is currently my favourite, second of all, pun is fully intended! The drink had a good amount of flavour, but it wasn't as sweet as most most fizzy drinks! I am glad that this drink is made with natural ingredients, because it means that it is better for the body, and doesn't have any of the unnatural additives that drinks like Coke and Sprite have.

The flavour was mild, not as sweet and pronounced as most drinks, but the taste was still pleasant, and there still was a good fizz. I think that if you were to buy a bottle of this stuff, I think you would find conclusive proof that this stuff is natural, because you will notice a pile of sediment at the bottom of the bottle. As the label states, this is because the creators decided not to use any chemicals or additives in order to keep this stuff natural and healthy, so the ingredients separate out while in storage.

The price of these drinks is awesome, I calculated the price for each bottle, and $3.50 is not at all a bad price! If I ever found these drinks again, I would be very keen to have them, as this Blackcurrant drink felt very healthy, very refreshing, had a slight fizz, and was rather tasty!

The bottle immediately appealed to me with those juicy looking black currents on the label. This Current Crush contains lightly carbonated water, freshly squeezed blackcurrants, lemon juice, fairtrade organic sugar and white vinegar as well as natural flavours. As always I am interested to know what the "natural flavours" are. The label also has a CAUTION sign stating "Blackcurrants ahead! Beware: Extrodinary amounts of vitiman C are lurking in this bottle." I am not sure if the spelling mistakes are intentional in extraordinary and vitamin? I am surprised also that although there is this caution, the vitamin C content is not on the nutritional label. I am of course interested to know the Vit C content after reading the warning!

So labels aside onto the contents. I really liked the taste of this drink. I love blackcurrants and my immediate reaction to this was that it tastes like Ribena with bubbles but better. You can definitely taste the blackcurrant and the lemon and I didn't find this overly sweet.

I would consider buying these again if I saw them on special or in a cafe as it is a refreshing summer drink.

This flavour was probably my second favourite of the range. I found it quite sweet and to be honest, I am not a huge berry fan really. Still, for a berry-based drink it was quite pleasant, certainly refreshing, and something I could easily see a lot of people enjoying.

I had a few sips of this, enough to discover that I wasn't likely to finish the bottle myself, so I passed it over to my wife to finish off. She was a lot more impressed than I was because she is very much a berry fan. Her impressions were that it was quite like a subtle version of ribena - sweet but not overly so and a softer, less tangy flavour.

After talking with her and bouncing some ideas around, I could see that it would be a lovely mixer for a summer cocktail, maybe with something a little tart like Cointreau, some ice, a little apple juice and a squeeze of lemon, then blended into a smooth slush, then sipped slowly through a straw. I may just have to try that when Summer is in full swing.

Overall, a really nice drink for those that like berries. Not my kettle of fish personally, but it's easy to see it has great potential and appeal to many others.

I love current drinks its one of my favs so I was super excited to give this a go being natural and all. Opening it up gave the nice little fizz sound and the really strong yummy smell of currents flowing out of the bottle. It has a lovely red colour to it aswell. I do like that the label tells you what the drink it without having to read it, the kids guessed berries as my daughter saw blueberries on the label

Once tasting it I felt something was missing but remembered reading on the label might have to give it a tip upside down as it settles at the bottom so the lid went back on and tipped it up to mix it together. On the second tasting it didn't really change my opinion much. I have found it is a weak flavour and really not for me, the husband said it was weak but he drink it, sadly I wont drink it.

On the other hand the kids have enjoyed it a lot, my daughter drunk it so fast and then said mummy its so yum and my son is happy dipping his popcorn into it and enjoying it as a drink aswell. I would be happy to buy these for my kids for family BBQ's instead of fizzy drinks as this has less sugar in it and they love it.

I love black currant drinks since I was given the occasional Ribena drink as a child. The currant crush from Pete's Natural really appealed to me. The colour is very bright and out of the three varieties we were given to review it was the one that my kids demanded I opened first. Since I wanted to use most of it for cooking we only had a couple of sips each but it was a big hit with Miss 3.5 and Miss 5. I found it had a very subtle flavour but it worked well at soothing my tickly throat.

I decided to use the currant crush in cupcakes. Last week a colleague had made us cupcakes using only cake mix and fizzy drink and they tasted great and were incredibly moist so I had to try making them myself. It was the simplest cake I had ever made with only two ingredients and was very popular with the whole family. They were incredibly moist even after a couple of days. I suspect they would go mouldy before they went stale but I doubt I'll ever have a chance to find out. The drink gave the cupcakes a bluey-purplish colour. My husband thought I had mad blueberry muffins. The batter in the muffin cases expanded as they were waiting to go into the oven thanks to the fizz.

I would be happy to share a currant crush with my girls again knowing that they were drinking an all natural treat.

I am a fan of Black Currant. My usual juice choice is Apple and Black Currant, so I was pretty sure I would enjoy this drink. I thought for sure it would be my favourite. But I have to say, this was not top of my list in the range.

Cracking the bottle open, the smell of currants was overpowering. It was a delicious smell. After a few swigs, I found this drink a bit too sweet for me. What was a good thing about the lemonade, was not so good about this drink.

I decided to experiment a little bit with this drink. I had heard of lemonade scones. So I decided to mix my scone mix with chopped up dates and then replaced the liquid with this Currant Crush. This made my scone batter a berry pretty blue (see what I did there?)

The scones cooked beautifully. I served these with butter straight from the oven. My toddler loved her scone and ate quite a bit of it. I found mine a little too sweet. I probably should have skipped the dates on that one!