no pulp and ‘not from concentrate’; can i buy a dozen? wow, sorry for the cheap humor. that was bad even for me. anywho, today we are talking orange juice. the winter season is coming to an end and that means a series of hot days, then cold days. that means i’m going to get sick. in preparation, i am bulking up on orange juice and anything with vitamin c. on that last trip to tj’s i decided to give their offering a go.
now before we begin let me state that for as long as i can remember i have been a tropicana oj drinker. this does not mean i am biased; i have tried many kinds but i always seem to go back to tropicana. accordingly it has raised the bar for what i consider to be orange juice. for me orange juice means: 100% pure, never from concentrate, it can either be low pulp or no pulp and it must be from florida (unless i am traveling overseas). since it’s oj it lives a double life, much like a super villain. during the day he is a mild mannered day trader and at night he is a coke sniffing party animal. my evil side of oj likes vodka, and lots of it, but more on that later.
my thoughts: the smell? there really is no smell. the taste? quite good. the flavor is soft and not overly sweet. it doesn’t have a strong ‘cooked’ flavor, thanks to not being from concentrate. the sugar level is mostly balanced out by the natural tartness of the orange. there was, at least for me, a slight pinch in the back of my throat, but this i attribute to just being thirsty. overall very pleasant after-taste as well. it’s as i would expect. the trader joe’s stuff is as good as the regular-label product, but at a cheaper price (i think i saved at least $.40 from tropicana even when it’s on sale too).
the darker side: let’s slip into some vodka and have a little chat, shall we? i paired it with the costco-brand kirkland signature vodka. i will review that separately later, but sufficed to say, i am a fan of it on its own. again, the orange juice lives up to expectations. oddly enough, it seems a little less syrupy than most screwdrivers i have had with other brands. the mouth-feel and taste don’t get in the way of one another. i could drink a few of these and maybe not get a sugar headache, maybe.
overall: 8.5/10. other than my slight pinch in the throat, this is a solid contender to replace my standard orange juice purchase. after reviewing the nutritionals side by side i have a feeling this is a re-package by tropicana because the numbers are exactly the same. how can you argue with a product that has one ingredient: pure florida orange juice. that’s right, you can’t. nuff said.
Tropicana uses orange juice from Brazil as well as Florida. As far as I know the only “not from concentrate” orange juice brand that uses oranges only from Florida is Florida’s Natural.