PurAqua Sparkling Water with Real Fruit Juice

We’re big fans of Aldi’s version of popular prebiotic “healthy” soda Poppi. The discount grocer calls their version Summit Popz. However, that’s not the only healthier carbonated beverage on Aldi shelves. I also recently found some flavored sparkling water.

Flavored sparkling water is always hit or miss with me. The flavor, or lack thereof, sometimes throws me off. Some sparkling water holds up better than others. I decided to give some options at Aldi a try.

PurAqua Sparkling Water with Real Fruit Juice is either a Regular Buy or a Seasonal Item. We aren’t sure. If it’s a Regular Buy, it’s in stores year-round, but if it’s seasonal, it’s likely only around for the summer.

They’re sold in boxes of eight (one flavor per box) for $4.99 per pack, or roughly 62 cents per can. There are three flavors: raspberry lime, grapefruit, and lemon.

One of the primary appeals of these drinks is that they’re pretty healthy, and sparkling water has become a bit of a trend with brands like Bubbly and LaCroix.

These Aldi sparkling waters have no sugar or natural flavoring, just carbonated water and pure fruit juice, so the sugar and calorie count is low. Raspberry lime and grapefruit have 10 calories per can, while lemon only has 5. Raspberry lime has 2 grams of total sugars, grapefruit has 1 gram, and lemon has none. None of them have any added sugar, and the raspberry lime even has 1 gram of dietary fiber.

The ingredients are fairly simple for all of them as well, it’s all carbonated water mixed with fruit puree, concentrate, or juice, plain and simple.

Raspberry lime was by far the worst-tasting, and it didn’t taste like we expected it to. It’s both bitter and sour from the two fruits, but lacking any sweetness, so it was hard not to wince at the strong taste. One relative who tried it said it tasted like what he imagined window cleaner might taste like.

Grapefruit ranked in the middle for everyone who tried it, but it’s definitely a matter of taste. It tastes as advertised. It tastes like the juice from a grapefruit before adding any sweetener, which is basically what the drink is. So if you’re someone who enjoys eating plain grapefruit or drinking unsweetened grapefruit juice, you might actually like this one. Some of us thought this was okay, but no one was terribly fond of it.

Lemon was the best, but without any sweetener, be aware it is on the sour / bitter side.

Maybe some different fruit combinations would improve these drinks. I love trying new healthy beverages, but these are definitely not our favorites.

The Verdict:

Puraqua Sparkling Water with Real Fruit Juice was very interesting to try. If you’re someone who likes to add a little something to your water, they might be up your alley. I personally found some the flavors to be too intense. Lemon and grapefruit were the best, but we’d suggest staying away from raspberry lime. Overall, these were good to try, but they’re not something we’d buy again.