You’re already reading this, so you must know by now there is something extra special about our drinks, so what exactly is it we do differently? Hold on tight for a whirlwind lesson in what we like to call Soda Made Right.
Not From Concentrate. Maybe you’ve read this phrase before, printed on the side of a freshly squeezed fruit juice carton, and you’ve figured “Well, duh, it’s freshly squeezed, after all!”. It’s a pretty good sign that you’re going to have a flavoursome beverage time, but let’s look into exactly why fruit juice concentrates are definitely not our vibe.
Using fruit juice concentrates is a way to take some of the qualities of fresh fruit juice and put them on pause, so the juice can be transported, sometimes even across the globe, to where it is needed in the production of other food and drink. So where does the concentrating come into it? Allow us to enlighten you, thirsty pal, but you’ve got to...pay attention.
The first step of the process is to juice fresh fruit, then filter the juice to remove pulp (shame), followed by a very hot bath in a pasteuriser to preserve it - so far so reasonable.
As the producer decides what fruit to sell and what to turn into concentrate this means less food waste, and we absolutely don’t knock that. This juice is then put into a hot evaporator where water is boiled off and oxygen is removed, after which the concentrate is frozen.
As you can imagine, this is not the juice we are looking for at Square Root, as the natural fruity flavour has taken such a kicking that it is a shadow of its former self.
This concentrate now travels wherever it needs to go, and upon arrival is reconstituted with water, given an extra sugar boost to replace all that lost flavour, and is often fortified with vitamins and extra flavourings, natural or not so natural…. But wait! There’s more!
The products this juice concentrate is used in will be pasteurised again, transported to a bottling factory where it will be bottled and pasteurised AGAIN before it can be sold as The Flavour Formerly Known As Fruit. Fruit juice concentrate is so sweet yet void of fruit flavour it is also regularly used as a substitute for sugar as a way to skip around the sugar tax laws, which is a pretty sneaky move.
So now we know what concentrates are, and why they’re never going to work for our drinks. So many heat treatments mean the final flavour is diminished, so we’ll always buy whole fruit and juice it ourselves at our East London Soda Works, and we get that juice mixed into a tasty fizz and into a bottle the very next day.
Our drinks are gently pasteurised just once, as it’s the perfect way to preserve the naturally gorgeous flavour of top quality fruit, grown by people who really care (see more about our ace producer pals here, here and here), without relying on nasties like artificial preservatives, flavours or colours to keep them tasting great.
Sound like your kind of beverage thing? Sure it does! Take a spin round our online store here to see which flavours take your fancy, and if you're feeling extra clever you can sign up to our monthly mailer for an instant discount on your first order, not to mention all the fizzy pop gossip you never even knew you wanted in your life.
Stay hydrated out there, pop pal!