Rubicon Mango Exotic Juice Drink

Before this afternoon, Rubicon was a name unknown to me. Trawling round Sainsbury's, searching for something to cook for dinner tonight, I, as usual, wandered over to the "Reduced" section of the supermarket. The blue and orange of the packaging stodd out immediately. Mango juice? Could be interesting - and it's on special offer, so if I don't like it, it doesn't matter!

I wandered over to the till to pay for my purchases, and stumbled home, arms overflowing, as normal, with dozens of carrier bags.

Thirsty from the trek back, I decided to try it on my return. Pulling the carton from the carrier bag, I first looked more closely at the packaging. The carton is a standard Tetra-Brik fruit juice carton, and I'm very grateful to the manufacturers for sealing the carton with a tab, as hunting around for a pair of scissors to snip the corner off and then trying to pour it without spilling it would have been too much effort! The front of the carton is appealing, with the "Rubicon" logo in big white letters, and "Mango" written underneath in orange writing. The carton itself is blue, with an orange "lake" with mangoes floating in it at the bottom - all in all, very appealing packaging. However, when I turned to the side to read the ingredients, I was disappointed to find that the drink contained only 23% mango juice, its main constituent being water. This should not have surprised me, as the words "mango juice drink" are clearly visible on the carton, but it did! The good news is that the drink contains added Vitamin C, meaning that each 200ml serving of the drink provides all 100% of your recommended daily allowance. With 54 calories per 100ml, it isn't amazingly healthy, but then again, it isn't excessively unhealthy either - the fat content is low, and, as previously mentioned, the vitamin C content is a bonus.

Enough about the packaging, I need a drink! On opening the carton you can smell the mangoes immediately. The smell is not at all synthetic, and is very appealing. The drink itself is of an expected orange colour, and looks very appealing.....

.....so I lifted the glass to my mouth and took a cautious sip. What was I expecting? Well, previous experience with other supposed "exotic fruit juices" has told me that if you want exotic fruit in England, it'll taste very synthetic and you won't want to buy it again. However, on drinking this product I was pleasantly surprised. It did, indeed, have an authentic mango taste - sweet, but not overpoweringly so, and not as weak as most other exotic fruit juices. The consistency is fairly thick, if you shake the carton properly, so you get a very full-bodied taste.

Since starting to write this op I've had nearly a whole one litre carton, which has to be a good sign! I will definitely be going back for more of this - I bought it at a reduced price of 65p, but the normal cost for a one litre carton in Sainsburys is £1.09, a price which I consider to be more than acceptable considering the quality of the product. Once opened, as with most fruit drinks, it has to be consumed within three days, but I can assure you that this will not be a problem!

More about the Rubicon range.....the drinks are made from fruit grown in India, and sold in one litre and 250ml cartons, as well as 300ml glass bottles. Rubicon are, apparently, the number one producer of authentic single fruit exotic juice drinks in the UK, and are available in five flavours, these being Mango, Passionfruit, Guava, Guanabana and Lychee. Coconut water, from the Philippines, is also produced and sold in 250ml cartons. These products, are, apparently, available in most shops, but if your supermarket does not stock them, I suggest trying an Indian supermarket or grocers, as they will no doubt have this range in stock.

Something new to try, something refreshingly different...something which, for me, hasn't lasted long at all! May have to go and buy some more later this afternoon....