Orangina and Rivella

Orangina and Rivella

I would say that 90% of the time I just drink water. Yeah, pretty boring huh? I actually LIKE the taste of water. However every now and then my sweet tooth gets activated and I need something sweet like a soft drink or fruit juice.

I do not like normal soft drinks (soda) and haven't since I was about 16 so I never drink them but I LOVE Orangina and Rivella! They are so different to Coca Cola, Sprite or Fanta. For one thing, they both have a lot less gas and they also seem less artificial/chemical and sweet. To me it's like they are halfway between soft drink and fruit juice.

According to Schweppes, Orangina is a French carbonated fruit drink first created in 1936. It is the largest selling carbonated fruit drink in France. It is well-known for its funny shaped bottle, the 'real fruit pulp' content, containing no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives and funky advertising. It tastes halfway between Fanta and orange juice. There isn't a lot of pulp but enough to give it some 'texture' and extra flavour kick. I buy it here in 2L bottles.

The ingredients are:

       •  Carbonated water,
       •  High fructose corn syrup and/or sugar,
       •  Orange juice concentrate,
       •  Pure orange pulp,
       •  Tangerine juice concentrate
       •  Natural orange flavours.
It has no artificial coloring or flavoring, no caffeine, and is marked kosher. 

Here's a video (in French) all about the history of the company and the drink. Towards the end, the actor Jamel Debbouze (featured in Amélie) is shown appearing in a tv commercial. Also there is a risqué ad featuring computer-generated humanised animals.



and one of the tv commercials featuring a laughing hyena:




Rivella is a carbonated drink from Switzerland first created in 1952. I can't quite put my finger on what flavour it is. It is sweet and fruity but also different to anything I've ever drunk before. There are three varieties but I've only ever had the original (Red).

Ingredients - The exact recipe for Rivella Red is a well kept secret, these are the known listed ingredients:

• Water
• Whey (35 %)
(lactose, lactic acid and minerals)
• Sugar (76g of refined sugar and 14g from whey per liter)
• Herbs
• Fruitextract
• Carbonation
• Acidifier (L(+)-Lactic Acid)

Given the list of ingredients, to me it tastes like something halfway between carbonated fruit juice (with maybe a hint of strawberry flavour) and the Japanese fermented milk drink Calpis/Calpico (ingredients: Lactose, Glucose, Sugar, Skim milk powder, Lactic acid (with a lactic acid cultver), natural and artificial flavours).

In any case, all three drinks have unique flavours and I love them all! Every time I go to Switzerland I try to get me some Rivella.

Here is a Dutch tv commercial for Rivella: