Rubicon Watermelon Juice Drink > Reviews (1)

I have been a bit run down and unwell over the past couple of weeks and I have found my appetite lacking as a result. This has meant that I’ve been feeling a bit dehydrated and so my husband brought in a selection of fruit juices and soft drinks from our local grocery store to encourage me to increase my intake of fluids, hoping it would make me feel a bit better.

Many of the juices that he bought were fruit based, and slightly more ‘natural’ in their content, and I was intrigued to notice a “Watermelon Exotic Juice Drink” amongst the selection. From the well-known manufacturers of fizzy drinks and fruit juices Rubicon, the carton of juice certainly stood out to me amongst the selection as being something quite ‘unique’ as it was a flavoured juice that I had not tried before.

Being packaged in a neat little oblong-shaped carton that contains 288ml of the fruit drink, I thought the 59 pence price offered reasonable value. This price has been printed along the top of the juice box, and it did occur to me that this was a cheaper price than many other brands of juice drinks that are available in our local grocery store, some of which cost in the region of 80p.

The carton has quite an eye-catching look to it, consisting of a sort of peach-coloured background with the image of bright green watermelons printed across it, so there is absolutely no doubt about the flavour of this drink. I did think that the packaging had a slightly ‘dated’ look to it, but there is no denying that it is quite unique in its design. A thin straw had been supplied with the carton of drink which was supplied in an airtight plastic pouch and attached to the side of the carton.

The colour of the drink looks to be a sort of pale peach or pink shade, although I drank my serving through the straw supplied with the carton, so can’t be 100% sure of how ‘deep’ the colour is. The smell of the drink too was somewhat smothered by the use of the straw but I was able to detect it once the carton had been opened a little while, even though it was quite faint to my mind.

Tasting purely of watermelon, I found the Rubicon Exotic Juice Drink offered a very ‘genuine’ taste which reminded me of the huge chunks of fresh watermelon that I always seek out when I am on holiday in a hot climate. The same refreshing quality was evident in the Rubicon Watermelon drink, and I was pleased to note that the taste didn’t taste overly sweet, which is something I had been concerned about before tasting the drink.

Indeed, the carton proudly informs me that the juice has “No preservatives, artificial colourings or sweeteners” so this goes some way to reassuring me that the sweet taste within the drink is purely natural. This was something of a welcome find as I do think natural juices taste all the more pleasant when they have not been ‘tampered’ with to a great extent.

One thing that I did wonder is whether the drink would become slightly sickly. I did find that the carton lasted me for over an hour and a half, with me only needing to take small sips of the juice to find it quenching my thirst adequately.

There is a slightly ‘flowery’ or ‘perfumed’ quality to the taste of watermelon and this too is present in the Rubicon drink. It is not so over-powering to put me off from buying the drink again in the future, but it might well prove to be too much for some tastes. I do find that melon can be something of a ‘marmite’ fruit, with most people I know absolutely detesting it. It goes without saying that if you are NOT a fan of watermelon, then you will not enjoy this drink.

It occurred to me too that the Rubicon Watermelon drink offered something extremely refreshing which would make it an ideal beverage to sip on a warm sunny day. Likewise, I would be interested in adding the juice to a spirit as a sort of ‘mixer’, or perhaps making a sort of fruity ‘punch’ type drink with the Rubicon Watermelon drink mixed in, perhaps alongside some mango juice and a dash of rum to see what the outcome was? It definitely struck me as being a rather ‘grown up’ type of fruit juice and not one that I would have thought was particularly appealing to kids or youngsters. That’s not necessarily a criticism as such, just an observation on my part.

I can see from the carton that the drink is suitable for vegetarians and is “Rich in Vitamin C” which makes it nutritionally beneficial, especially when compared to some of the sugar-filled fizzy drinks that I will often drink! In actual fact the small 288ml carton “Provides 100% of the Vitamin C RDA” which is fairly impressive considering the small sized carton. 100ml of the drink will provide 43 calories.

All in all, I was quite impressed with the Rubicon Watermelon Exotic Juice Drink and thought it was quite a unique and innovative drink to try. I had never seen it before, but it is apparently quite widely available, being sold in grocery stores and larger supermarkets such as Tesco. As at May 2012, the price for the small carton that I had in Tesco is only 59 pence which is the same price we paid. This small carton is a convenient size to allow for giving the juice a trial to establish if it is to your liking. Alternatively, a larger 1litre sized carton is available for only £1.49. (Info courtesy of www.tesco.com).