Totally Tropical? (Lilt)

Member Name: bollinger28

Product:	Lilt
Date:	07/05/06 (2070 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Refreshingly fizzy fruit drink

Disadvantages: Artificial sweeteners

Lilt is billed as a fizzy fruit crush with the taste of the tropics. It's one of my favourite summer drinks. Coca Cola is just too fattening and Diet Coke tastes like chemical waste. Oasis are OK but there's no fizz in them, so they're just a bit....boring. That leaves Dr Pepper (wierd) or Fanta (too sweet)....so it has to be Lilt. It's a really refreshing drink if it's hot and I'm thirsty whilst out and about.

~ LIMBERING UP ~
Lilt is the second biggest selling fizzy fruit drink in the UK (Fanta being No.1), and generates a massive £46 million in the UK sales. Lilt was introduced to us in the late 1970's by that huge conglomerate Coca Cola. The Coca Cola Company expanded its range in the UK in 1999 by purchasing all the soft drinks brands in Schweppes Cadbury stable, and then added them to their existing range of beverages. Nowadays, the Coca Cola Schweppes range is massive and includes most of the most popular brand soft drinks for sale in the UK such as Coca Cola, Oasis, Fanta, Dr Pepper, Five Alive, Sprite, Powerade, Kia-Ora, Malvern Water and the 2004 disaster that was Dasani (the £7m launch of "pure" bottled water that was found to contain traces of bromate).

~ COST & AVAILABILITY ~
It's a popular brand and you'll find it for sale in most high street shops and supermarkets:-
~ 2 litre bottle = £1.35
~ 500ml bottle = 0.85p to 0.95p
~ 330ml can = From 0.38p (for a six pack) to 0.45p/0.50p for individual can
~ 100ml can = 0.25p

~ LOOKING MIGHTY FINE ~
Cans are white and the bottles are green, both with labeling in sunshine themed colours. Lots of yellows, orange and greens to convey the fruity tones of the product within. There's also a hint of palm leaves and a yellow sun to indicate the tropical nature of the drink.

~ THE ALL IMPORTANT TASTE TEST ~
Lilt is described as a pineapple and grapefruit fruit crush. It's a fizzy drink that is best served chilled or with ice cubes. Let's crack one open and give it a try. It makes a satisfactory hissing noise as I undo the cap. Always reassuring to know that your fizzy drink has some life in it and isn't flat and lifeless.

Pouring it into a glass and Lilt is a very pale straw coloured liquid with tiny white bubbles around the edges. It's nothing remarkable to look at, in fact it appears somewhat cloudy.

Putting your nose into the glass and it does smell very fruity. The predominant aroma is that of pineapple but there is a sourish undertone to it, which will be the grapefruit making a fleeting appearance.

The first sip and the overwhelming taste is of pineapple. It's quite sweet and cloying at first but it's tempered by the sour tones of the grapefruit kicking in. Without the grapefruit in this drink it would be far too sweet and sickly; the grapefruit tones it down from being an over sweet beverage and adds an interesting undertone to it. The pineapple makes it taste slightly tropical and the grapefruit element offers a nice tang to the drink.

~ THE CRUSHING BLOW ~
What I don't like about Lilt is the judicious use of artificial sweeteners, colourings and E numbers in the drink. The ingredients are mainly carbonated water and fruit juices but with an added list of three different E number flavourings plus colourings. The product also contains sweeteners in the form of Aspartame and Saccharin. Aspartame and Saccharin have both been tested and found to be safe, but I still like to keep my intake to a minimum. Excessive Sodium Saccharin consumption has been linked to bladder cancer in males and Aspartame is considered by some sources to be a cause of all sorts of things from rashes to behavioural problems.

~ FEELING HOT, HOT, HOT ~
There are several variations of flavour under the Lilt banner, but as I have not seen any of these in the shops I am not in a position to comment on their taste, but I am assured by the Coca Cola Schweppes website that they are available:-

* Lilt Pineapple & Grapefruit Z *
The Z in the title stands for "zero added sugar" and has been introduced by Coca Cola Schweppes fairly recently in response to the consumer demand for great tasting drinks but without the calories. So I guess it's a "Lite" drink made to sound trendy by sticking a Z on the end. "Lite" is just so yesterday don't you know! You may be pleased to learn that Coca Cola Schweppes have also Zedded (made up word) some of their other brands:- Fanta, Dr Pepper and Sprite.

* Lilt Mango & Mandarin *
Sounds lovely - anyone seen it or tried it ?

* Lilt Banana & Peach Flavour *
Introduced in 2003 - not yet made it to the outer reaches of the southern of England - at least not in any of the shops I've been to recently.

~ PACKING A (RUM) PUNCH ~
And if you're allergic to soft drinks (and half pints) like my partner is, here are some cocktail recipes using alcohol and Lilt:-

~~ Tropical Life Saver ~~
¾oz Midori melon liqueur
¾oz Malibu
Squeeze of lemon juice
Pour into a tall glass and top up with Lilt and ice cubes

~~ Sun Burst ~~
½oz Vodka
Dash of Triple Sec
Pour into a tall glass, top up with Lilt and ice cubes and add a dash of
Triple Sec for added pizzazz.

~ SUNSET ~
Now I must say it's a refreshing drink but, really, it's never going to transport you to a beach in the Caribbean and make you want to limbo dance naked across the sand. Sorry to the Lilt Ladiez and the Lilt Man, swigging from a bottle of Lilt is not going to magically teleport me to the Caribbean no matter how much you try and convince me with your colourful and gaudy advertising campaigns. It's nice...but it's about as tropical as Margate on a wet windy weekend in November. At the end of the day, it's just a refreshing fruity drink. You can try it, and you may well like it, but you won't hear any bongos or steel drums in the background.

~ THE SCIENCE BIT ~
Nutritional Information per 100ml:
Energy: 85kJ/20kcal (About at about 50 calories per medium sized glass)
Protein: Nil
Carbohydrates: 4.6g
Fat: Nil

~ FURTHER INFORMATION ~
Coca Cola Company
Uxbridge
UB8 1EZ

Tel: 0800-227711
Website: www.coca-cola.co.uk or www.coca-cola.com

Summary: Refreshing fizzy drink with a taste of pineapple and grapefruit