Top ten things to look for when buying a fresh fruit juice pack

Only of late was I enticed into taking the quencher fresh fruit juice and guess what! Times have changed and so has the drink. Probably because they have since mastered the art of making fresh juices and not adding to many chemicals of preservatin ( on a lighter note) Anyway, they are almost hitting a mark of being among my favorite drinks. What do I look for in a packed fresh fruit juice? 1: Expiry date: If the pack says expiry after one year, be very careful, this has preservatives added if not too much sugar. Sugar actually acts as a preservative anyway.Out of all the brands, picana is the only drink that somehow will indicate spoillage upon opening it up and keeping it at room temperature! 2: Sugar level something that you can quickly taste using the organoleptic ( toungue) test. If too much that it causes irritation then it is a suspect drink 3: Right flavor: Flavor can be anything, but the right flavor is something, if its indicated tropical mix, one should be able to figure out through tasting, the various fruit flavors that the juice carries as per pack pictures and/ or the list of the fruits that the pack claims to have 4: Aroma: Fruits are supposed to have a great aroma, sweet smelling, perhaps due to the level of sugar contained in each, if it emits a foul smells or an aroma that is suspect and does not really tell you which fruit it is, then do not even attempt to be a repeat customer 5: Taste : Should be appealing, taste and flavor are two totally different things, flavor relating more to the type of fruit flavour that the juice has been made of while taste is how the juice will feel on the toungue either bitter, sweet, flat only to mention but a few 6: Package: Give the right colors, appealing to the eye and I will be your customers...out of all the packs, Del Monte is well presented followed by pick n peel, it makes you get excited even before you taste the inner contents. Something catchy for the eye! 7: Consistency: Let me taste the same sugar levels in the juice for the rest of it marketable life but alert me when you increase or lower it, just like milk, you can chose low fat, skimmed, unskimmed. Most companies will only make the juice sweeter by adding too much sugar, its not always the sweetness that sells the brand, ask the makers of Yatta Grape juice, which by the way, is an excellent substitute for some of the bad wines we have in the markets 8:Handling: This I will mostly refer to the part where one opens up the pack ready to drink. As much as most companies have moved from the tearing of the pack to the fitting cap, the inner aluminum foil is always a mess with some products. They stick them on too tight such that you may need a sharp object or fork to pierce the pack for the contents to be emptied. On the other hand, others are well fixed can be pulled out but hey, watch out the content may spill on you as they have not given the allowance of the fluid and its pack! Anyway, the cap must easy to open and foil easy to tear/ peal off. Lets not have the Dasani water bottle stunt where at times, you cant even open the bottle 9: Drinkability: This is mostly linked to the above as sometimes you may be forced to buy the pack and since its without a straw you have to drink it straight from the pack! The mouth of the pack should allow you to empty the contents easily into your mouth. Just a question, why is thay only small packs have straws? They should know that some of us are field people eh? 10: Price: Its always the last thing on my mind when I want quality products but its always that cheap is expensive. I love twist and splash not just because they are well priced but they have been constistent in terms of flavor and taste...though the packaging could do with a bit of upgrading. Masafi on the other hand, is excellent, that drink can cure your flu when you take it, an indication of high levels of Vitamin C which are great for those with flu and common colds but is higly priced. I would take it once in while, given a choice, I would buy it every other day!! Try out the New Daima range of fresh fruit juices...have an interesting taste too...and I love the way they have maintained the brand logo on all of their product, water, milk and now juice!

Freshly served....

Today am just going to list where you can get great Fresh juices: 1) Galito's : Though sometimes it can be nuisance due to the young lads filling these eating out joints, it has one of the best tropical/ cocktail fruit punch, when around one, make sure you grab one for yourself 2) Once upon a time, there was this restaurant called Farm House off Moi Avenue, on a slip road, next to Meridian Hotel. This nice homely restaurant not only serves great food but above all, the cocktail is awesome!!!!! Try it out 3) Out of all the restaurants I have eaten out in Nairobi, not even the five star ones beet Bobo's along Banda Street ( off Kimathi Street) Their fresh juices are well made, thick and have a natural great fruit scent...Its a Turkish restaurant that serves Turkish food of course- Durum being my favorite, and despite its lack of space to accomodate a lot of people, the ambience is super, great music, excellent customer service....this I would recommend, again and again. 4)When in Nanyuki, pop into the Nanyuki sports club they serve a fruit punch ( club cocktail of sprite and fruits) Worth trying out :-) Do you know any other places I could try out and give you feedback on? Let me know.

Tongue confusion.....

Well, I went on to try out the minute maid brand and quencher brand of Juices...

Minute Maid

A product of Coca Cola...When it first started out, I was excited to quickly make a purchase. Considering I have taken their brand of sodas, I quickly had made a decision that this would be the best fresh fruit juice ever!

I have only tried out 2 flavour orange and something close to the black current flavour. Honestly, either they did not get the ratio of flavour, sugar and chemicals used right. The black current has a sharp/ bitter taste which makes it quite uncomfortable for those with sensitive toungues to drink. For those that like the grape juice from Kwal Agencies, you will surely enjoy it every bit, all the way... I like my sugar and flavour balanced well, if you do....this is one juice I would advice that you save your coins by not investing in.

Quencher brand of Juices...

Tropical fruit flavour and Mango flavour.If offered the two juices with a blindfold on, one cannot tell the difference between the two. On looking at them...they look different one bearing the deep nice rich carrot orange color while the other just the mango orange color. It is important to note that their flavours are great....for a new market entrant and is worth sampling...only look out for the taste of citric acid which I would advice most companies producing fruit juices to avoid using as it makes it gives the juices a different flavor all together....

Next....Afia and Pick and Peel....same company different pricing? Let wait and read....