Tropicana Trop50 Orange Juice Beverage Review

Yesterday I needed to pick up a few items from the grocery store, and orange juice was on my list. While some people really love oj and have to have it every morning, I must admit that I'm not that person. I only buy it regularly because I drink it with my vitamins. I don't really care for the taste of it.

So I was just going to buy my usual carton of Tropicana the kind with lots of pulp, but then a shiny rounded bottle of something called Trop50 by Tropicana caught my eye. At first I was going to pass it by but then I noticed that it had 50% less sugar and calories than orange juice. I don't care too much about counting calories, but I do try to limit my sugar intake. So I decided to buy a bottle, even though I didn't read the fine print.

Price of
Trop50 Orange Juice Beverage

I bought the kind with Some Pulp because sadly Trop50 doesn't come with lots of pulp. I paid $3.59 for a 59 oz bottle.

Ingredients in
Trop50 Orange Juice Beverage

If I would've read the fine print under the huge type that said 50% less sugar and calories, I would've noticed that Tropicana considers this an "orange juice beverage with vitamins," not plain orange juice.

And then I would've read the list of ingredients in the store and learned that it contains filtered water, not from concentrate pasteurized orange juice, modified food starch, citric acid, malic acid, natural flavors and Reb A, a Pur Via brand. It also contains the added vitamins postassium citrate, vitamin C, beta carotene, and vitamins E, B3, b1, B2, and B6. But I didn't do that because the shiny bottle had me mesmerized.

Nutrition Facts for
Trop50 Orange Juice Beverage

This product contains 42% juice. An 8 oz serving contains 50 calories, 10mg of sodium, 450mg of potassium, 13g of carbs, 10g of sugars, and less than 1g of protein. It contains 10% DV of vitamins A, E, and thiamin, 120% DV of vitamin C, 4% DV of riboflavin and niacin, and 6% DV of magnesium, vitamin B6 and folic acid.\

Taste of
Trop50 Orange Juice Beverage

When I bought the Trop50 I honestly assumed that the most of the sugar had been extracted from regular orange juice and it would just taste sourer. But when I got home and drank a glass, I was so disappointed. It tasted much thinner, like watered down orange juice only it was way sweeter because of the Pure Via. It has a slick taste and it basically reminds me of an orange drink, when the only reason I even bought it was because I thought it would be less sweet.

I do buy stevia on my own because I think it's healthier than sugar and pure Via is made from extracts from the stevia plant. But stevia is much sweeter than table sugar, so when I use it in my food I only use the tiniest amount, but it seems like they poured so much into the Trop50. It's much too sweet especially at breakfast.

In the End...

If I would've known that Tropicana basically took out most of the juice in regular orange juice, including the flavor, thickness, and natural vitamins and minerals only to replace it with water, starch, Pure Via, and then more vitamins and minerals I would've never bought this crap. I think it's a total waste of time, when you can get a better taste and healthier product from the real thing.

Now that I know I will never buy this "juice beverage" ever again. I would rather take the extra calories, natural sugars and flavor from real orange juice over Trop50 any day. I give it 2.5 out of 5 stars.