No concentrating required! (Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice)

Member Name: ~*pink-pilgrim*~

Product:	Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice
Date:	21/11/07 (131 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: pure orange...not from concentrate

Disadvantages: expensive

I tend to drink lots of fizzy pop such as Dr Pepper, Cola and Lilt. It's not good for my health and if anything makes me feel quite tried and weak. I saw Tropicana Multivitamins on offer in my local supermarket and decided to buy it. It was on a BOGOF (Buy One Get One Free) offer so I had nothing to lose by buying it. Since then I have been hooked on the stuff, I feel really good drinking it as it claims to be good for health and weight loss.

TROPICANA
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I am getting quite fed up of seeing adverts suggesting that such juices as Sunny D are good for you. I can't see how fruit juices from concentrate can be 'good for you'. I do like the juices that are 100% fresh fruit juice.

Tropicana is basically like eating an orange or two. It is not made from concentrate and is high in vitamin C.

OTHER PRODUCTS
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Tropicana Pure Premium is the basic 'bog standard' juice containing oranges either with bit or without bits. This review is based on this particular juice. The ingredients are - ummm....orange juice ;-) yes that's right 100% pure freshly squeezed orange juice.

Each glass will contain a full days Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of Vitamin C and a third of your Recommended Daily Allowance of folic acid. A glass is also free of sodium, cholesterol and fat. So is a very healthy product.

The Tropicana multivitamins is probably my favourite. It tastes very tropical and I know that when I am drinking it I am 'being healthy'. The vitamin guidance on the back is quite assuring and I know that I do not need to take supplements as this drink is enough. The drink contains vitamins such as Vitamin C, B1, B2 and B6, Provitamin for skin and eyes and Vitamin E to help protect cells and keep us healthy overall.

The fruit blend products are basically orange missed with pomegranate, tropical fruit, cranberry, raspberry, blueberry or mango. These are fairly nice especially the tropical one.

HEALTH BENEFITS
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Tropicana claim that their products are beneficial to health as all their juices contain the essential vitamins of vitamin C, folate and potassium. Some juices are also mixed with added 'calcium' or 'fibre' to help you get your Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA).

The Multivitamin concoction includes all the vitamins required for healthy skins, eyes and cells all the things to make you look bright eyed and bushy tailed - Vitamin C, B1 (riboflavin), B2 (thiamine) and B6, Provitamin and Vitamin E are essential vitamins and taste lovely in this tropical blend.

PACKAGING
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Tropicana is packaged in a cuboid tetrapak (known as fibre packaging / EVOPAK). The packaging is rather boring and quite plain. The container is white with oranges arranged at the bottom. Above the picture is fancy, bold green writing saying 'Tropicana pure premium 'original' - with 'juicy bits'.

The carton has a handy little orange screw top lid, so there is no need to go fiddling with 'tear here' tabs and no need to struggle with scissors.

If you buy a 250ml or 500ml drink of Tropicana this will come in a bottle. The bottle has an 'orange lid' with juicy bits and a 'green lid' with smooth juice. The bottles are nicely shaped with a groove around the top to hold onto. These are ideal for lunchboxes or a quick drink.

On the front in the bottom right hand corner is a small display showing the nutritional information. This basically says that a 100ml serving will provide 185KJ of energy and contains 43Kcals. There is 9g of carbohydrate (of which are sugar) 0g fat, 0.5g of fibre and 0g of sodium.

On the side of the packaging there is a small explanation about the packaging suggesting that it is environmentally friendly. The cardboard comes from Nordic trees and that unfortunately only 1% of Brits recycled the tetrapaks compared the 30% in other European countries.

DRINKABILITY
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The taste is lovely; it's like eating a fresh orange. The citrus taste is lovely although possibly a little sour. I have noticed however that after drinking this juice my mouth feels very dry and there is a nasty sour after taste. This is soon sorted by a quick drink of water. I have also noticed that this drink is much better when chilled.

I have found that once I start drinking the juice I just cannot stop the juice is beautiful and is very easy to drink. I love to drink it with a few ice cubes although if you really want to jazz it up a dash of gin, vodka or Malibu is lovely.

COST
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A carton of this stuff is quite expensive compared to the supermarket branded juices. I am quite happy to pay the extra £1 for the piece of mind that I am drinking something very healthy and generally just decent. Many supermarkets sell Tropicana on a buy one get one free offer or two cartons for £2.50.

A 1 litre carton will cost about £1.69 and a 2 litre carton will cost about £2.99. You can buy a small 250ml bottle for 99p which is great for a quick energy boost. I noticed for the first time the other day that they also have a 500ml bottle costing £1.45 in Tesco. In comparison to many bottles of cola and fizzy pop this is expensive but worth that extra expense for the great taste and health benefits. I am sure many would suggest that squeezing them myself would save me a lot of money and yes if I could be bothered to do so I would....but I can't ;-)

SUMMARY
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In summary this drink is very healthy. It will keep for up to five days in a fridge once opened so a glass a day with breakfast willset you up very well for the day ahead. There are lots of products to try and I would advise you to trial them all. I can honestly say however that the Tropicana Pure Premium Orange with bits is the nicest. Although the smooth juice is still nice it lacks that texture and feel that you would get with freshly squeezed juice and just seems too 'cheap' for me.

A real exotic taste!

Summary: Freshly squeezed...yum!