I don't know if anyone remembers the juice brand Florida Gold. They used to advertise their product as "100% Valencia"… and man, it was some good juice! Definitely my favorite. But for some reason, it disappeared off the shelves. The only other times I got to experience really good orange juice was whenever my family would drive to Florida on vacations. When you hit that Florida Welcome Center, they gave you free juice… and it was great!

Which brings up to Tropicana Pure Valencia, a pretty tasty orange juice. The official press release provides a little corporate spin on the product:

CHICAGO, March 19 /PRNewswire/ — At last, there is a 100 percent pure juice with such luscious flavor, bold color and delicious taste that it is an orange juice like no other. Tropicana Products, Inc., a division of PepsiCo, Inc. PEP, today unveiled Tropicana Pure Valencia 100 percent orange juice, a national first from the juice leader. The juice will appear in grocery stores nationwide beginning this month.

Tropicana Pure Valencia is the most premium juice Tropicana has ever offered. Crafted from the top 3 percent of Tropicana's Florida orange harvest, Tropicana Pure Valencia contains only the juice from select Valencia oranges.

Valencia oranges are known for their deep, rich color; exceptional juiciness; and succulent taste. Unlike other oranges, Valencia oranges spend more than a year ripening on the tree, making them one of the sweetest. Fewer than 15 percent of Tropicana's 400 groves qualify as potential sources for Valencia oranges for Tropicana's Pure Valencia. From these, only the perfectly medium-sized oranges with the right taste profile are gently squeezed for Tropicana Pure Valencia.

… Tropicana Pure Valencia is complemented by a line of four other premium, 100 percent pure juice flavors made from luscious fruits. The four flavors include: Raspberry Acai, Pomegranate Blueberry, Indian River Grapefruit and Peach Papaya Mango.

So basically, it's an expensive juice. How pricey? The 54-ounce hourglass shaped clear bottle that we got for free typically runs about $5. So while it's good juice, you are going to pay for it.

And on to the flavor experience… the scent of this drink definitely brought an element of "fresh squeezed" to mind. It set itself apart right away with that. Then when you actually drink it… wow, that's some good juice. Nice smooth flavor, not bitter, not artificial. My only gripe was that there was some bits of "orange parts" in the drink, even though we had a no pulp version. But maybe that's what premium means. But if I'm going to pay that kind of money for juice, I'd like it to not have stuff floating around in it.

Adding to the "specialness" of this drink was a little booklet that was strapped to the cap of the bottle. Boy, does it go over the top in talking about how wonderful these oranges are! For your reading enjoyment, here's the text from that booklet:

This Changes Juice

Introducing Tropicana Pure Valencia.
A taste like you've never experienced.
An orange juice like no other.

A Truly Special Juice
The reason is as clear as a sunswept sky: Because this juice is 100% Valencia, and the Valencia is a special orange.

Why?

Valencias spend more than a year ripening on the tree, developing a deep, rich color, exceptional juiciness, and an especially succulent taste. Nature truly turns sunlight into sweetness.

Seeking Perfection
Our Valencias go through a rigorous selection process before they're picked. Only the perfect medium sized oranges with the right taste profile make the cut.

Ultimately, only the top 3% of our entire harvest is chosen for Tropicana Pure Valencia.

Handled With Care
Then we squeeze, but that's different as well. We squeeze slowly, taking great care and concern with each step. And we embrace the smallest details to ensure only the very best juice.

Tropicana Pure Valencia is our most luscious juice ever. A taste so spectacular, it'll change the way you think about juice.

To Full Savor Tropicana Pure Valencia:

1. Close your eyes and breathe in the incredible aroma.
2. Now open your eyes and take in the deep, intense color.
3. Swirl the juice in your glass to observe the full body.
4. Finally, take a sip. Let every taste bud be entertained by the luscious experience of succulent fruit

I must admit, that copywriter was on his game. Who would have thought that something you drink with your bowl of Cheerios in the morning could be a life-changing experience!

Grape was something I've been trying to find for some time now. I had previously reviewed the other flavors in the Tropicana Twister Soda line (Tropicana Twister Soda Citrus, Tropicana Twister Soda Orange, and Tropicana Twister Soda Strawberry).

Pepsi officially markets the Tropicana Twister Soda lineup as something that "gives you the powerful fruit flavored taste you're looking for. Tastes so intense, you'll sprain your flavor muscle!" Based on my previous experience with these flavors, that's a bunch of bunk. The flavors aren't strong. In fact, they pretty much fly under the radar, especially Tropicana Twister Soda Orange. The Strawberry flavor is extremely fake tasting, while the Citrus line extension has nothing to offer against Coke's Fanta Citrus. This is quite sad given that these drinks contain real fruit juice (albeit, just 1%).

I'm happy to report that Tropicana Twister Soda Grape breaks this trend of mediocrity! The grape flavor left a nice "bite" in the back of my throat and did not have the artificial taste that I previously found in Fanta Grape. It was quenching and respectable. That's not to say that this drink couldn't be improved quite a bit. Rather, I think it just rose above my rather low expectations given that it was part of the lame Tropicana Twister Soda lineup. I'm not sure it's "The Intensely Grape Grape" as Pepsi wants to claim, but it is superior to Coke's current grape offering.

Who would have thought I'd have to travel to the Atlantic Ocean to experience this!

Now, I haven't been too impressed with the Tropicana Twister Soda line of drinks from Pepsi. They have been pretty underwhelming every time I've experienced them, which has included both the Tropicana Twister Soda Citrus and Tropicana Twister Soda Orange flavors. Basically, the whole attempt at this line feels lackluster and unsupported by Pepsi. It's obvious they need a "fruit flavor" line of drinks to combat Coke's Fanta, but this doesn't feel like a very successful way to go about it. Personally, I think they should have kept the Slice brand more active. (I still miss Orange Slice!)

The Tropicana Twister Soda line debuted with just 3 flavors and 1 diet (Orange, Grape, Strawberry + Diet Orange). This was followed by a 4th flavor, Citrus. The drinks have been hard to find where I live in Chicago, which contributes to my opinion that they aren't exactly selling like gangbusters. Even so, I've only been able to find the Citrus and Orange flavors, and even they have seemingly disappeared from the market.

So I was pretty enthusiastic about experiencing the Strawberry flavor in the Tropicana Twister Soda family. Pepsi markets this drink as the "The Intensely Strawberry Strawberry". Like the other drinks in the line, they claim an inclusion of 1% fruit juice. Not exactly a ton, but it's something. In the case of strawberry, interestingly the ingredients note that the real juice is actually grape juice from concentrate.

There aren't a lot of strawberry-flavored drinks on the market these days, so it's hard to know what this flavor is really supposed to taste like. My experience with Fanta Strawberry was quite negative. It tasted quite fake. I must say the same is true for Tropicana Twister Soda Strawberry. It was not a pleasurable experience. The sweetener was not very authentic, at least what I perceive to be what a strawberry beverage should taste like (then again, it does use high fructose corn syrup, so there is very little room to actually improve the taste).

Overall, the strawberry version of Tropicana Twister Soda lives up to the expectations of the rest of this lineup from Pepsi… and that's not a good thing.

It's another installment in the questionable Tropicana Twister Soda line of drinks from Pepsi, including the previously reviewed Tropicana Twister Soda Citrus. The Orange flavor came first, which is sort of obvious given the "Tropicana" name. It was somewhat intended to fill the void left by the phase-out of Orange Slice. (Mountain Dew LiveWire doesn't really count as a pure orange drink, I guess.)

The packaging has somewhat of a goofy logo, though I must admit that I really liked the contrasting orange/blue color scheme. It was somewhat… festive. The drink itself was nothing to write home about, surely not better than Orange Crush or Orange Slice… and nowhere near as good as the ethnic Fanta Pomarańczowa. It was better than Fanta Orange, however… then again, a dead rat tastes better than that vile drink.

The big claim to fame on the packaging was that Tropicana Twister Soda Orange contained 1% juice. Whoop Dee Do! It still tasted like McDonald's orange drink (much like Vault did.) The aftertaste was pretty lame as well. Overall, not an impressive orange drink by any account.

The launch of this brand appears to be intended to fill the need left by the retired Slice brand formally promoted by Pepsi, and later phased out when Sierra Mist replaced Slice as the primary lemon-lime offered by the company (orange was popular as well). Coke has relaunched their Fanta line to fill this role. Interestingly, the Slice brand has been making somewhat of a comeback. It's being used to market Splenda-sweetened "Slice ONE" exclusively at Wal-Mart, in orange, grape, and berry flavors.

Tropicana Twister Soda was launched with 4 flavors: Orange, Diet Orange, Grape, and Strawberry. For the most part, it's been hard to find, poorly promoted, and pretty much a dud. I should add that the packaging really stinks. Some industry observers wondered if Pepsi was going to kill this brand and bring back Slice. But wouldn't you know it, recently they launched a new flavor… Citrus!

I've only seen the new flavor in can format, when I've been able to find it. It looks like the introduction of this flavor was to target Fanta Citrus (formerly Citra) or other "zingy" citrus products, such as Squirt and 50/50. Upon opening the can, it actually smelled a little like the grapefruit-induced scent of Squirt. The color was very similar as well, sort of a hazy clear yellowing tone. Plus, it has 1% real juice!

The taste was nothing exceptional, however. It wasn't bad. It just wasn't something that was unique. It tasted somewhat like a store brand type of beverage. No real zing or zest that you'd expect from a citrus-flavored drink. It seemed to be designed for citrus drinkers with no taste buds. Fanta Lemonic topped it easily.

Overall, I just have to scratch my head with the Tropicana Twister Soda brand. I understand that Pepsi is trying to leverage their Tropicana brand, but somehow I don't quite make the connection. In my mind, Tropicana is OJ, not soda. I think there is an expectation there when you put the juice-oriented brand name on a product… and that expectation is not met with the final result.