Not free of taste, but a bit too sweet! (Britvic 7 Up Free)

Member Name: marymoose

Product:	Britvic 7 Up Free
Date:	15/04/09 (306 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A nice change, low calories...

Disadvantages: Very sweet, unhealthiness of fizzy drinks

---Intro---

Back at work after Easter, and back to the grind writing dooyoo reviews...

Last week I was getting the train from Carlisle down to Ipswich, so was in for a long journey. Normally I buy wine on Virgin trains, but I had a cunning plan - if I bought drinks beforehand then I'd save money. Along with the mini bottles of wine and substantial salad (I'm done with Virgin sandwiches) I thought I'd get some soft drinks as well.

Diet Coke is certainly my drink of choice as I don't like the full fat (not that I drink it all the time of course), but it didn't seem to be on special offer. However, what caught my eye was an 8 pack (it was a 6 pack with two free) of 7Up Free for £2 (so, 25p per can - says on each can that the RRP is 45p). So, a couple of cans for the journey, and the rest in the fridge for when I got back to work.


---The Can---

The can is 330ml, predominantly silver, with the 7Up logo on it with "Free" underneath. There's a cartoon picture of a boy holding a pen which is ticking all the various things the drink is free from. But is it free from taste? That's the question!


---It tastes so much better out of the fridge---

Think my title there says all I really need to say. On my train trip I didn't have a fridge with me. While it tasted ok, the real taste test comes when the can is straight from the fridge, as it should be! On a side note, Easter eggs taste better straight from the fridge too.


---It tastes so much better out of the can---

Personally I think that all fizzy drinks taste better out of the can. Diet Coke is just not the same out of a bottle...but I digress, this is about 7Up Free.

As a result though I can't see what the drink looks like - lemonade at a guess!


---The Drinking Experience---

The initial taste is really sweet and lemony. It is fizzy (duh!) but not overpoweringly so. Being 7Up it is lemon and lime, which gives it a bit of a different flavour from standard lemonade. However, it's also different from Sprite (possibly less limey?) although I'm not sure how without doing a taste test!

Really it is a bit too sweet, and gets a bit too much towards the end of the can. I recall trying Sprite Light (or whatever it's called), and I think I preferred that. Something about Sprite that reminds me of holidays as a child. However, it is refreshing and thirst quenching.

Like any fizzy drink it has the potential to make you burp....


---Compared to normal 7Up---

I can't do a taste test since I haven't got a can of normal 7Up. However, with all full fat/sugar drinks I don't like that feeling of my teeth literally rotting away. And it's nice knowing I'm not having unnecessary calories when all I want is a drink other than water.

I would say that this tastes relatively similar in the same way that diet lemonade is like normal lemonade.



---What's in it---

Each can contains 6 calories (more than Diet Coke, but it's not going to make you fat), NO sugar, NO fat, and a trace of salt. It is also preservative free, colouring free, and caffeine free. This doesn't of course mean that it's free of everything potentially harmful.

Obviously the main ingredient is carbonated water, followed by citric acid, natural flavourings (hmmmm, I wonder what they are) malic acid, acidity regulator (I suppose you need this after the acid), sweeteners, pectin, and contains a source of phenylalanine (which does serious damage to some people).


---Final remarks---

Fizzy drinks don't pretend to be healthy. Obviously it's better to have a glass of water. However, sometimes it's nice to have a can, and sometimes for me it is nice to have a change from Diet Coke. I'm not going to get into arguments about sweeteners and the dangers of them, I can't say I have any opinions really. But I should say I don't drink a great deal of fizzy drinks, I mainly drink water and squash.

I think I'd buy this again if it was on offer, but certainly wouldn't go out of my way for it!

7Up Free is made by Britvic soft drinks and more information can be found here -
www.7up.co.uk

Summary: Will probably buy again if on offer...