Taste Comparison of 5 Acai Juices Share
May 31st, 2009 by Dylan Brodderick
After hearing so much about the acai berry juice, most notably on the Oprah show and more rently on the Rachel Ray show, I was super keen to try it out for myself. I was a bit let down on my first try - I finally found a little bottle of juice containing the acai berry at my health food store, and on that hot summer day I split my first juice with my partner. She was less than impressed.
I was disappointed to say the least. How could Oprah and Rachel Ray be raving about this super fruit magic berry without even mentioning the possibility that it might, as my first taste test guinea pig put it ‘taste blecky’? I may have something to do with the fact that I did indeed choose the most inexpensive option available, but at $2.39 for 8oz, it is not what I would consider cheap.
Well, after concluding that not all acai berry juice is the same, I decided to put together my own blind taste test, and immediately started recruiting housemates to act as my official tasters. I couldn’t just let first impressions disqualify a potentially delicious and healthy addition to my reasonably healthy diet. Perhaps even more than that I didn’t want to lose faith in my talk show idols.
So back to the store (as well as 3 others) to see what else they had in stock, and I came home with 5 different options (including the dreaded first variety), all containing slightly different concentrations of acai berry and various other juices. The following is a summary of the 5 varieties, and a summary of my testers reports.
1. Nova Acai made in Brazil. Cost: $2.39 for 250ml/8.4oz. Contains purified water, naturally organic acai puree, organic evaporated cane juice, citric acid. Nutritionally 120 calories per container, 3.6g of fat 1.3 of which are saturated (6% of your rec. daily intake) and 39% of rec. daily intake of Vitamin C.
2. O.N.E Amazon Acai made in Brazil. Cost: $3.99 for 330ml/11oz. (Note: I think I saw this exact brand at another store for $2.99) The ingredients listed are 100% natural acai, 100% natural acerola, organic evaporated cane juice, citric acid, guarana extract, xantham gum, and lecithine de soya. Nutritionally 157 calories per container, 3g of fat 1 of which are saturated (5% of your rec. daily intake) and 167% of rec. daily intake of Vitamin C.
3. mySmoothie Superfruit Acai made in Sweden. Cost: $2.79 for 250ml/8.4oz. Contains: apple juice, crushed banana, 11% acai berry, raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries. Nutritionally 150 calories per container, 2.25g of fat .03 of which are saturated (less than 1 % of your rec. daily intake) and 39% of rec. daily intake of Vitamin C.
4. Happy Planet extreme purple made in Canada. Cost: $2.99 for 325ml/11 oz. The ingredients listed are pure apple juice, banana puree, peach puree, acai berry puree, blackberry puree, orange bioflavanoids, green tea powder extract, ascorbic acid and beta carotene. Nutritionally 130 calories per container, 0g of fat .0 of which are saturated (less than 1 % of your rec. daily intake) and 150% of rec. daily intake of Vitamin C.
5. Arthur?s Acai plus made in Canada. Cost: $3.29 for 325ml/11oz. Contains: berry puree blend (acai, blueberry, blackberry, boysenberry, cherry) apple juice, banana puree, pear juice, lemon juice. Nutritionally 230 calories per container, 4.5g of fat, 1g of which are saturated (5 % of your rec. daily intake) and 40% of rec. daily intake of Vitamin C.
And what did my tasters think of the 5 choices? Well, in fact we were all a bit surprised at how similarly we judged each product. In the end, everyone on the panel agreed that 3 juices came out ahead, while 2 juices were just abysmal. Disappointingly, it was the two Brazil juices that fared the worst - all judges agreed that they were far to bitter to consume on a regular basis, even if it was in the name of health. However, it should be noted that after the testing, one of the ‘bad’ juices was diluted with orange juice, and it was then back in the running as a ‘tasty health juice’.
Of the remaining juices it was agreed that all were tasty and palatable. Two judges thought Happy Planet extreme purple was the best in taste, aroma and texture while mySmoothie superfruit acai got the first place nod from one judge. Interestingly, Arthurs’s Acai plus was ranked 2nd best by all 3 judges.
So on taste alone, Happy Planet Extreme Purple seems to be the winner. It seems as though the Brazilian juice, which has the strongest concentration of acai, is also the least favorite. You’ll have to use your best judgement here, and decide whether you will get an acai juice (blend) that tastes great, or go for a more concentrated version and flavor it yourself.
