It's been a really long time since I've been to Whole Foods, in fact, I actually bought these and photographed them while ago, I just never got around to typing up the review.
(So don't let that 2014 expiration date scare you.) I drank these back in November and wrote down some notes, now I'm finally getting off my lazy butt and typing it all up. This is going to be PHOTO HEAVY, so you've been warned.
Although I'm usually not a fan of floral and botanical beverages, I just could resist the packaging. These Belvoir drinks are absolutely gorgeous!
The bottles are made of glass, and they are covered with matte paper labels with various floral patterns. I'm always a sucker for matte textures, I just love how they feel in-hand, and I think the matte labels against the shiny glass makes for a really nice contrast.
(It also gives it a slightly old time-y feel.) For the organic Elderflower Presse, the label is white with sketchy yellow elderflowers scattered in the corner, while the Rose Lemonade version has a pink label with elderflowers and a rose. The faux handwritten typeface makes this seem elegant, yet playful, and the scattered flowers add a little bit of whimsy, but the label itself is very simple and clean. All of these elements, combined with the imperfectly cut edges, make this feel like something from Lewis Carroll's
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
If you look closer, you can see that the adhesive covered back of the nutritional label is actually printed with the same doodle-y flowers! That way, when you look towards the back of the bottle, you see a slightly magnified field of flowers! How pretty is that? I love that little attention to detail and presentation. This isn't the first brand to ever do something like that as far as packaging goes, but I feel like it's application here really adds something to the presentation of the product.
The flower print peeks through the nutritional label so there are some faint hints of flowers there as well.
(I don't think it was intentional, I think the flowers just happen to show through the other side of the label, but I like it!)
These glass bottles are so whimsical and floral, they look like something you'd see at a
Lolita tea party.
(Lolita as in the fashion, not the novel.) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice%27s_Adventures_in_Wonderland. Visually, I love everything about them, but I'm a little nervous about how they would taste. Floral flavors aren't very popular in America, and the few I have tried have tasted very grandma-y. I have my fingers crossed that these will taste as great as they look, but I'm leery.
I started with the Elderflower lemonade.
The cap was a beautiful spring green color and it twisted off easily, the liquid inside was slightly carbonated, and it smells...a little perfume-y. I'm a bit scared. I can smell a bit of sweetened lemon in here, but there's this floral aroma that isn't all that bad, it's just different.
(Obviously the aroma was the elderflower.)
I poured it into a glass worthy of such a fancy beverage, and took a sip. The clear liquid tastes sweet, it's lightly carbonated, it has a mild lemon flavoring, and there's the subtle floral flavoring of elderflower, but it's not overwhelmingly floral. This isn't like drinking a bar of soap, or licking a grandma, but it's not quite normal lemonade either. If you're afraid of floral flavors, this honestly isn't that strong, it might be a good gateway beverage to trying more floral beverages and sweets in the future, and it's pretty refreshing. I don't thinking I would ever choose to drink this over normal lemonade, unless I was dressed up fancy at some event, but it is easily one of the best floral lemonades I've ever tried.
Okay, we're off to a great start, time to try the rose version.
(Floral flavors times 2!)
The rose version has a slight pink tint to the liquid, and it smells very similar to the normal elderflower version, there's just a hint of rose petals mixed in. It's a bit more floral than the other, which makes sense because now we have two different flower-based flavors in one lemonade, but I'm excited to see if this is as enjoyable as the original.
I took a sip, and this one tasted a lot more flower-y, but it was still drinkable. To some, this might be a little too much like
Rose Milk Lotion, which is something my grandmother used when I was a kid, but it's not that bad. Maybe I've built up my floral flavor tolerance, but I can drink this easily. It has the same flavoring as the elderflower version, it's sweet and slightly carbonated with a hint of flowers and lemon, while mixing in the delicate, and almost velvety, flavor of rose petals.
Neither drink are something I would choose over normal lemonade if given the chance, but as far as floral and botanical drinks go, these are pretty darn good. Out of the two, I definitely prefer the original Elderflower version, and I highly recommend it for those of you wanting to try something different without being too afraid of it tasting like a bouquet of flowers or a lotion, plus the packaging is gorgeous! If you are already a fan of floral flavors, these might not be as intense as what you're used to, but I think they are still enjoyable products.
If any of you give this brand a try, let me know what you think! Just looking at them makes me want to host an Alice in Wonderland theme party.
I love the Rose Lemonade, but for me, it tastes just like lychee. Not just like lychee juice, but like biting into a fresh fruit. They're kind of expensive, but so tasty, I buy them whenever I see them!
ReplyDeleteI could see that! It's been a while since I've had fresh lychee, but from what I remember that sounds pretty accurate as far as flavoring. These are a little pricey, but they're so pretty...I can't help myself! I'm a sucker for pretty packaging.
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