Kool-Aid Burstin' Waters Tropical Rain

Not to be confused with Capri Sun's Roarin' Waters (also made by Kraft Foods Group) this is Kool-Aid's take at flavored waters for children.

They're most similar to Kool-Aid Bursts, which have the same packaging, but are 100 calories per bottle versus 35 for the Burstin' Waters. It just means that Bursts have more sugar and no sucralose because, otherwise, the ingredient list is about identical.

We can get into a history of Kool-Aid when we start mixing the powders at some point in the future. For now, let's just get to the tasting.

Presentation/Appearance - 3/10 Tropical Rain has no color. The drink comes in 100ml plastic bottles with the twist off tops. The bottle is made of low density polyethylene (LDPE, code 4) which makes the bottle soft enough to squeeze. Unfortunately, the bottle is not readily recyclable in most communities. This seems to be wasteful. But I don't know the cost differences for other types of plastics, such as polyethylene terephthalate (PETE, code 1) which is far more common but might not lend itself to an easy twist off cap.

Nose/Aroma - 4/10 Okay, I am getting hints (power of suggestion) of rain in the nose. But it could also be the scent of Barbie perfume or another inexpensive eau de toilette.

Taste/Flavor - 5/10 Maybe this speaks well for sucralose, but it does takes like sugar water, though with no distinct flavor. Tropical Rain smacks of a flavor caused by a mistake in the natural and artificial flavor recipes, or a botched shipment from the flavor company, or some other failure of food design. "Hey, what does this taste like to you?" "Ah, nothing, really." "What was it supposed to be?" "Tropical punch, but there's no pineapple." "There's nothing. Wait. Maybe there's...ah...papaya?" "Yeah, let's sell papaya flavored water to kids."

Finish/Satisfaction - 4/10 It serves its purpose as a purveyor of sweet flavor, but it doesn't do much else. 100ml of any fluid would never satisfy me when I was a kid. We drank our soda pop from 16 oz glass bottles that were scratched and chipped from being returned and reused. We drank our water, unfiltered, straight from the garden hose. These types of drinks would have been met with indifference by me and my friends, not even deserving of our scorn.

Overall - 4.45/10 Shortly after I mention that all the drinks seem to be above average, we get to sample the unfortunately named "Burstin' Waters" mediocrity. This is not even as good as the score. Calling it average sullies the good name of the commonplace. Why do this to your kids? Why put it in packaging that isn't readily recycled? This bottle cost about $0.17. Seventeen cents. A six pack for $1.00. You can bet that the target market for this are kids that have even less of a need to consume a drink such as this. There is no redeeming nutritional value.

I'm unhappy with this drink, despite the Mr. Kool-Aid guy having a blast on the label.

How do we stop this stuff from being sold? The customer service number on the package is 800-367-9225. I'll be posting the call and the feedback over on this blog's sister site: Solicited Feedback.