Review: Hansen's Natural Mandarin Lime Soda
Jul 15th, 2008 by Steve
I really liked Hansen's Mandarin Lime Natural Soda. It's probably what Sierra Mist Undercover Orange SHOULD have tasted like… a lemon-lime soda with a hint of orange!
We've reviewed a couple Hansen's products before (Hansen's Natural Green Tea Soda Tangerine, Hansen's Natural Green Tea Soda Pomegranate), but this was our first look at their soda line. It originally used glucose-fructose syrup as the primary sweetener, but now the ingredients proclaim the inclusion of cane sugar.
According to Hansen's website, Mandarin Lime is "our most popular and number one seller made with extracts of the Yucatan Mandarin orange and Colima limes." I don't care what they use, it's pretty tasty. Overall, the beverage is clear, with a clean, unnoticeable scent. In fact, "clean" is a great way to describe the experience. While close to a 7Up/Sprite/Sierra Mist texture, the overall taste isn't burdened down with artificial lemon-lime flavors. The carbonation is bubbly, but subtle.
A full ingredient list is as follows:
Hansen's Natural Mandarin Lime Soda
Pure triple filtered carbonated water, cane sugar, citric acid, natural flavors with extracts of yucatan mandarin and colima lime
Overall, it's a very tasty and gets a BevReview.com thumbs up!
UPDATE (7/25/2008): Our original review of Hansen's Natural Mandarin Lime Soda was focused on the original version, which utilized high fructose corn syrup… even though we noted that the product now is sweetened with cane sugar. Hansen's made the change in sweeteners in April 2008. This has been reflected in their new packaging:
Having tasted both versions, I can honestly say that the new cane sugar version is immensely more "clean" in taste (if that's even possible) than when I originally reviewed the drink. It's a positive move overall!
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I bought a variety pack case of Hansen's Natural Cane Sodas at the local Costco recently. Mandarin-Lime was one of the four flavors included (Cherry Vanilla, Pomegranate, Strawberry-Kiwi being the others). Of the four, Mandarin-Lime is definitely my least favorite, as it strongly reminds me of Orange flavored Alka-Seltzer. Pomegranate is also disappointing, with a weak, unsatisfying flavor. Strawberry-Kiwi is fine, but the Cherry Vanilla is honestly one of the best sodas I've ever tasted. Sparkling, fruity flavor with a nice creme finish. I'd love have the C-V in a case by itself, but am having a hard time finding it packaged like that locally.