Vitafresh Fruit Drink - Apple and Blackcurrant product reviews

Okay, first and foremost...this review is going to be written disregarding todays crazy PC world of healthy eating: do not eat fat!, you must be sugar free! lets all go Paleo! No offence to all those who want a healthier lifestyle, but I think when it comes to reviewing something, the focus should not be on all these healthy things forced at us every 5 seconds.

Yes it is noted that this has less sugar, in fact it is 98% sugar free. That's great! I mean 98% sugar free has to be awesome right? Well my first thought was, hmmmm does that mean its going to be tart and no-one is going to like it, and it will just go to waste? Nope, its fine! It has a natural sweetness, and everyone enjoyed it, especially miss 9. She is a little addicted to blackcurrant juice lol I think she possibly consumed 3/4s of this bottle, and the other 1/4 was shared among the rest of us. Its yummy to be fair.

The price is fantastic. Ok, it is more expensive than buying the old fashion powder and adding your own water BUT (sorry to say it) this is 98% sugar free, and no artificial colours or preservatives. You don't get that guarantee with the powdered stuff. Also you do not have that risk of the kids snaffling packets of powdered juice from the cupboard and hiding in their closet or the tree-house eating it! nope, no risk of that at all. phew.

I do have one complaint unfortunately. The no handles is an issue. Miss 9 was unable to pour her own glass. As a parent teaching my children to be self manageable, it is a little frustrating that I needed to pour for her. She knew not to attempt it, because the lack of handles, and her littleness did mean a possible accident spill waiting to happen. There are indents in the bottle for where the handles would normally be though. But functionality and ease of use, these are a fail.

All in all though, it is yummy, (it is 98% sugar free), it is a fantastic price! Definitely added to our grocery list. Two thumbs up.

Juice is only a 'sometimes treat' in our house, but reading how little sugar there is in a serve, we were pleasantly surprised! Although us adults thought it was too watery for our tastes, our Miss 4 loved it (although we did add water to dilute it even more). We would happily allow her to drink this on occasions over other drinks. She commented that it was the yummiest 'pink berry juice' she's tried which is a huge compliment!

The bottle is huge and will last us ages (although it says use within 5 days of opening so will be freezing a lot I think!) but I do not like the lack of a proper handle! The indents to indicate a holding side just do not work for 1 hand and I find I have to use 2 hands to pour anyway (which makes it difficult if holding a glass or the baby).

Overall we were pleasantly surprised that it wasn't just another 'fake juice' drink where you are left with a horrible after taste, or could feel the sugar through your entire mouth after drinking it. Yes it was very diluted for us, but for Miss 4 who only ever gets watered down juice anyway, she loved it! I would happily serve this at birthday parties and show the bottle to parents to show that the sugar count is actually very low!

Apple and Blackcurrant juice is always on miss 3's order when we happen to go to McDonald's for lunch or dinner as she just loves it and will very quickly scull back the whole small bottle of it in minutes. At the supermarket over the weekend Miss 3 kept saying "I want purple juice" which isn't something she will often ask for, after agreeing that juice would be her 'treat' we went to the drink isle to choose something for her. Looking on the shelves everything was high in sugar and either orange based or apple based and not purple, other than the Apple and Blackcurrant drink from Vitafresh. Though I wasn't really wanting to buy such a big bottle I decided to get it after all due to the healthiness of it and also as I knew she had liked the Tropical flavour we had reviewed recently.

I have to say that I quite liked the taste of this drink myself, and even more so than I did the tropical flavour. Miss 3 loved it though it could only be drank out of a drink bottle like McDonald's apparently. The taste of both apple and blackcurrant were apparent and I did like that it tasted of what it was meant to as you can often be left guessing with such juices. The fact it contains Stevia rather than sugar is great as it means you don't have to feel bad about giving your child a sugar loaded drink.

Since the bottle says to consume within 5 days of opening I opted to freeze some of the juice for at a later time knowing that there is no way we would consume this large amount in a short 5 days. The packaging is attractive and you can tell it is targeted towards children. Another great, product by Vitafresh and even better still a whole new healthy choice available to give to children. This would be great to serve up at a child's birthday party.

My kids drink so much, usually between 2-4 litres or cordial per day I thought this would be a good alternative. All my kids love Ribena as a treat so I thought this would be a healthier option and it is also quite affordable. The older two commented that it was watery and weren't to fussed on it but Mr 4 was a huge fan, commented it tasted like the juice you can get at McDonalds. I tried it and it was more diluted than I would of expected for a kids drink.

As the older two weren't that keen I made it into ice-blocks and also used it to make slushies which they much preferred. It could also replace coconut water or similar in home made juices or mixed with lemonade or soda water to get a sweeter taste. I would purchase this if it was in smaller bottles as Mr 4 is the only one really that fussed on it otherwise it is probably not something that we would buy again because of the dilution.

The bottle was to large to fit in the door of the fridge so had to lay it down. I was impressed that it didn't leak like many juices do.

My youngest daughter and I love berry drinks, she especially always chooses apple and blackcurrant drinks when we go out for a meal or shopping with me at the supermarket, so it was an easy choice to ask to review the latest offering in the juice market; Vitafresh Apple & Blackcurrant in a large 2.7 litre bottle. I was intrigued to try this juice as I had only ever seen the powdered sachet drinks made by Vitafresh, and in my experience most sachet drinks are so sickly sweet that I always have to make them one sachet to 1.5 litres of water instead of the recommended one sachet to 1 litre, just to make them palatable.

With that in mind, I noticed the label promoted the juice as being 98% sugar free so that made me immediately interested. I made sure it was nice and chilled and poured myself and my daughter a glass each, I let her taste first and she said 'mmmm', so I thought that sounds positive. My first taste was very pleasant indeed, no overpowering sugar hit and enough flavour of blackcurrant to really make you think the flavour was blackcurrant and not some other obscure berry that you really can't put your finger on. I couldn't really taste the apple, but that was not a concern to me.

I think the juice is a great product for the whole family, especially children as firstly, it's not fizzy and secondly it is not full of added sugar, you could serve it at family BBQs and for the kids to have after school or Saturday sport.

My family always has sachet cordial in the house, although I seldom drink it my husband and the children go through 2 litres a day easily. I thought they would love to try Vitafresh's new ready to drink range for kids and selected Apple and Blackcurrant as it always a favourite flavour with them. I liked that it was all natural and only had good stuff in it.

At $3.99 for 2.7 litres it is more expensive than the sachet drinks but works out cheaper than milk so still an affordable option. I found the bottle was a bit big for my liking. It was too tall to fit in the fridge easily. My daughters (6 and 7.5 years) found it was too heavy when full to pour easily. A 1.5 - 2 litre would have been easier for us to manage.

We have tried it a variety of ways. Firstly it was drunk straight. Everyone agreed it wasn't sweet enough for them. My husband and I could also taste the stevia. Tonight we had it half and half with lemonade. this was more popular with everyone as it was a bit sweeter. I have also make them into iceblocks which I quite enjoyed as it was refreshing and not the sickly sweetness that you usually get from the first few sucks on a homemade iceblock.

I think the problem is that we are so used to all the sugar in our drinks that just isn't sweet enough. This is a sad reflection on society as I'm sure my family won't be the only one with this problem. Those that have a low sugar diet will probably find this a refreshing drink.

As a kid, I was always being given Ribena. It became the benchmark against which I still measure "blackcurrant" drinks today, despite it's fall from grace a while ago due to misleading claims. Still, that taste - sweet, tart and tangy - is a sense-memory I doubt I will ever shake. So, having faced many a disappointing contender for Top Spot on that scoreboard, I braced myself for another almost-was... and took a sip.

Weaker than I expected, a little more diluted than I would have preferred personally, but all the blackcurrant flavours were there. I couldn't taste any apple, to be honest, so I am assuming that like many such drinks it is there as a bulking agent more than a key flavour partner. Still, it worked. The lack of bulk sugars is clearly evident, but that did nothing to remove any of the enjoyment of drinking it to be honest, for me at least. I know my teenaged son wouldn't care for it much, but I was quite comfortable offering it to my 7yr old, who can be a bit picky about things.

His comments were fairly positive on most fronts - he liked the look of it and said if he saw it on a shelf he would think it looked like something he would want to drink. He thought the lack of sugar wasn't a big issue and it still tasted OK, but he also admitted that he didn't like the 'dry' aftertaste that is typical of high-tannin fruit drinks like grape, blackcurrant and iced-teas. He would drink it again if there were no other options, as it was better than plain water, but it wasn't one he would fight for.

Overall, I am impressed. While it will not be a huge hit with those with powerful sweet-tooth urgings, it will be a far healthier option to give your kids and if they go for it, it's worth getting it. I suspect a few thousand litres will need to be written off in in-store taste-testings to really encourage the punters, but from my perspective, this is a drink even I, as an adult with a sweet-tooth, would be happy to drink on a regular basis! I plan to buy more, and experiment with it in ice-blocks and jellies for the kids.