Home > Categories > Beverages > Fruit Juices > Benjer Apple & Feijoa Juice review
From its tussock-clad hills to its crystal clear rivers, our home in Central Otago has always been a place of inspiration for us. The natural ingredients we use and the passion we pour into our craft pay homage to this and result in the authentic, full-flavoured juice you see before you today.
We take the most flavoursome, sun-ripened fruits from local mountain orchards and bottle them the old fashioned way so you can enjoy the intense natural flavours of the region all year round. This is a juice like no other. In fact, we like to think of our drinks as "juiced fruit", rather than fruit juice. What's more, we seal in all the goodness and flavour, but leave out all the additives - you won't find any preservatives here.
Product reviews...
I generally like feijoa juice and feijoa drinks, but my husband is mad for them. So when I got this one to review, I knew I would be sharing it. I opened the bottle one evening as a non-alcoholic starter to our quiet time together. I split 1/3 of the bottle to my glass and 1/3 to his glass. I figured I would be able to use the last 1/3 of the bottle for something else.
My glass of Apple & Feijoa Juice was really flavouful. The taste of the feijoa was really very present, and it was authentically sour and tart. I could sort of taste the apple, but it wasn't a stand out flavour in the mix. It kinda sat in the background, basking in the magic of the feijoa. The texture of the drink is smooth, but lots of grittiness from the pulp of the feijoa. You get that when you eat them though, and it wasn't an issue for me.
My husband downed his juice really quickly. Not in a hurry to get it over way, but in a "what is this nectar of the gods" way. The look on his face was classic. "That was very tasty!" he declared and asked if there was more. Because there was, and I'm an honest wife...he drank the rest of the bottle and I didn't get a chance to experiment. He said that it was like drinking a smoothie. He really liked the consistency and texture. He loved the flavour, because he really likes big flavours and lots of sour!
I think of the two I tried, I really rated the nectarine over this one. That's simply that nectarines are my all time favourite fruit. But the feijoa, my husband could not get enough of. I had to guard my own glass! The flavour was stand out, brilliant. The portions, were fine for the price. That's what I would expect to pay at a cafe if we were getting a bottle with a sandwich or something. We would get this one again for sure.
I really love the look of this bottle, it's very inviting and was practically begging me to try it. The name of the flavour was the icing on the cake. I love feijoas so it's just natural that I was drawn to this drink. This is the second drink in this range that I've tried and I really enjoyed the first one so I had high expectations from this one.
I've always thought a glass bottle with a screw on lid is a good, classy design for a fruit drink, or actually any drink really, and this is no exception. I like to be able to start a drink and not feel pressured to finish it before I finish my meal and want to leave. I like to be able to take my drink with me and finish it later when I'm thirsty again and this bottle allows me to do that.
After shaking the bottle to get rid of the fruit sediment at the bottom I opened the lid and could definitely smell the distinct feijoa smell and it tasted just like feijoas too with a very small hint of apple but the feijoa is definitely the main flavour. I did find that the drink was quite gritty, with what was obviously real feijoa fruit added, it had the same texture as eating a feijoa which I guess would be quite hard to get rid of and honestly it didn't bother me that much, certainly not enough to stop me searching for and buying this drink again.
Overall, it was a nice refreshing "juiced fruit" drink with the bonus of having no added sugar. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for this drink while I'm out.
I have seen Benjer drinks in the shops before but I haven't tried them before but I am now kicking myself for not trying them sooner! If the Apple and feijoa juice is anything to go by I need to try the rest of the range asap! I love the fact that the range leaves out the additives and preservatives and just locks in all the good stuff. I'm so glad I got to review the juice and I can't wait to try the rest.
As soon as the bottle arrived I threw it in the freezer to get it nice and cold (I didn't want to wait too long to taste it). Once it was cold opening it up the first thing that hit me was the smell, the smell of feijoa just hit you straight away. Like most drinks that are mixed with apple I was expecting a really strong apple taste and just a hint of feijoa. I'm pleased to say it wasn't the case and the feijoa shone through, in fact it was hard to find the apple flavour. Thins was perfect for me because I love feijoas, they are something I eat heaps of when they are in season.
The taste alone is enough to have me going back for more, the fact it has no added nasty bits It's nice to find a juice which isn't just all apple with only a hint of the other flavour.
I have never heard of the Benjer brand before, nor have I ever seen any of their products before, but I was excited to be sent to flavour of their juice to try though. Now, feijoas are not something I rush out to buy. I have tried feijoas flavored products before in the past, but I have not tried feijoa juice before that I can recall. Upon opening I could definitely smell the apple, and I thought I could smell the feijoa but maybe only a hint of it.
My daughter sampled it with me, she really liked it. I initially thought that all you could taste was the apple juice. But this is one of those beverages where you taste the one flavour (apple) while consuming, and the second flavour (feijoa), is the after taste once you have already swallowed. I was not sure that I like it, and so I capped it and popped it in the fridge for later.
Second attempt, this time around the juice was extremely chilled before trying. It was so much better chilled. The ice cold made the flavors all seem to intermingle better and it was oh so much nicer. This is definitely a summer beverage, one that would be perfect for a day at the beach, or a picnic. Unlike the nectarine juice where I felt like the bottle was not big enough, and I needed more, I was satisfied with the bottle size this time around. I would not pay the rrp price for this size bottle though unfortunately, not even to be with. So although it is nice, it is not at the top of my preferred juices list.
To be honest, I can sum up everything you need to know about this drink in one word: "Yum". However, as that doesn't reach 200 words, I'll go into more detail. In all seriousness, I do think that this drink was quite yummy, it had good flavour, and was quite pleasant. I have found that with most fruit drinks, apple works as a very effective base flavour, and in this case, I think it gave the drink a very nice level of sweetness.
The feijoa flavour was the most recognizable, the apple gave the drink an undertone, but the feijoa was the flavour which I instantly tasted. I think that the flavour went well with the apple, there was a nice texture to the drink, it felt smooth and sweet, but it had that characteristic tang to it as well. The drink felt quite natural, it also looked that way as well; I think I have seen and/or tried the type of feijoa juice available in 2 litre bottles in supermarkets, so stuff from Keri and Just Juice, and they felt very different from this.
The juice in here tasted naturally sweet, so the stuff tasted like normal feijoa, instead of the syrup-based stuff from supermarkets. While many juice companies use the term "all natural" as a lie to get more people to buy their products, but I think that in the case of this juice, that label is genuine. The portion of juice was okay, but the stuff is addicting, so I would suggest getting several bottles The price per bottle is good, I think that due to the fact that this drink uses natural ingredients, it deserves this price. Overall, I think that this drink is a big hit, I would highly recommend it.
While I normally hate to compare products within the same range, this ranked right up there with the Nectarine Juice for me... although, if I was forced to pick one that was my utter favourite this would be it because I am a total sucker for a good feijoa-anything. The only reason I can't score this higher is that the "Personal Choice" only goes up to 10, and both juices warrant at least that!
I was impressed at the depth of the feijoa flavour in this drink. I was half-expecting it to be a bit washed out and diluted down by the gorgeous apple juice but thank fully nope, no dilution at all. In some ways, a slight shame as it meant the apple juice was more of a 'filler' than a 'flavour partner'... but that was OK by me. Feijoa SHOULD be the highlight of anything it's in, as far as I am concerned.
This was, again, a drink I found best to drink at room temp, as the aromatics and volatiles that round out the lighter and richer end of the flavour profile are released easily, making it a much more intense sensory experience. This is also one I really wanted to experiment with but my taste buds wouldn't let me. They over-rode my commands and forced my arm to hold the bottle to my mouth... it was sensory bliss drinking this.
Overall, if you enjoy feijoas, you've GOT to try this juice. I *will* be finding more of this...
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