New Aquafina flavored drinks oversweetened, underflavored

Sometimes the food panel just doesn’t like what’s on the menu at our monthly meetings. But they plug their noses and take their medicine anyway.

Aquafina’s new Flavor Splash was one of those products. Most tasters thought the drink, especially the raspberry flavor, tasted a bit like cough syrup. Everyone knew it was artificially sweetened before the product was revealed. The panel gave it just one and a half stars for taste.

“Overpoweringly sweetened,” said Laura Hollman. “Underflavored for the amount of sweetness. Unbalanced. Medicinal aftertaste.”

Andy Hoye didn’t recognize the flavor of raspberries. “Heavy dose of Splenda and a flavor not found in nature. Pretty weird.”

The drinks threw most tasters for a loop from the first sip. They look like ordinary tap water. They’re not carbonated, but they taste sweet. People who want the benefits of water without giving up the sweetness of soda might like the new Flavor Splash drinks.

The panelists liked the Citrus Blend flavor far better than Raspberry, but not enough to give it more than two and a half stars. (That’s between fair and poor on our five-star scale.)

“Pretty nice mild flavor,” said Matt Quesnell. “You can’t taste the sweetener quite as much in this one. I like it. It’s nice and refreshing.”

Skip Hubbard was not impressed. “Reminds me of severely watered down Kool-Aid. Really, what’s the point,” he said.

Aquafina Flavor Splash, Raspberry

Price: $3.99 for 6 (16.9-ounce) bottles

Nutrition per 8-ounce serving: no calories, no fat, no protein, no carbohydrate, no cholesterol, no dietary fiber, 65 milligrams sodium.

Taste: • 1/2

Value: • •

Comments: “Fake sweetener never tastes good.” – Skip Hubbard

“Tastes too much like artificial sweetener, because you get kind of a chemical aftertaste.” – Matt Quesnell

“Very strong artificial taste and aftertaste.” – Nancy Robinson

Aquafina Flavor Splash, Citrus Blend

Price: $3.99 for 6 (16.9-ounce) bottles

Nutrition per 8-ounce serving: no calories, no fat, no protein, no carbohydrate, no cholesterol, no dietary fiber, 65 milligrams sodium

Taste: • • 1/2

Value: • •

Comments: “Not bad, weird aftertaste, but with artificial flavoring and sweeteners, that seems unavoidable.” – Laura Hollman

“Doesn’t appeal to me. Might just as well put a little sugar in tap water and squeeze some fruit into it.” – Larry Inman

“Better than the raspberry, but still hard to justify paying for lightly flavored water with lots and lots of additives.” – Andy Hoye