Like most Americans, I stopped drinking apple juice after fourth grade, when slurping from a cardboard box abruptly lost its appeal (that is, until I discovered box wine 10 years later). From then on, apple juice played a smaller and smaller role in my life. It failed to follow me into adulthood, and therefore remains a liquid nostalgia trip, forever associated with recess and Power Rangers.
Why is this? Why do cranberry and orange juice stick with us after puberty, while apple never makes it past the elementary school checkpoint? Perhaps it’s too sweet for the adult palate, like bubble gum ice cream. Or perhaps it’s ignored because it lacks utilitarian properties. Apple juice won’t detoxify your bloodstream like cranberry, or fight your cold like orange. And it certainly won’t hide the flavor of that stale Smirnoff vodka you found in the back of your kitchen cabinet.
The time is ripe (heh), then, for an apple juice makeover - which is probably what the people at Purity were thinking when they drew up a snappy, modernist label for their all-natural, organic juice brand. Because who says that apples are lamer than oranges? Maybe this apple aversion habit is all in our heads, and it would do us some good to take a swig of the amber liquid. (According to the BBC, apple juice does have health benefits - it can prevent heart disease!)
Unfortunately, by not diluting their product, Purity has created a super-dense brand of juice. While regular, non-organic juice is often watery, the Purity brand is almost too thick. The first time I took a swig, I honestly felt like I was drinking a liquid piece of apple pie. True, you’re getting a bang for your buck with this product, but I doubt I’d be able to finish a bottle in a single sitting. I didn’t even try – as the thought of doing so kind of made me nauseous.
However, while the texture was a little heavy, the taste was A+. It was still sweet, but not overpoweringly so, and I definitely believe this product is 100% pure juice, without additives. You can tell it’s authentic because a fine layer of apple sediment settles on the floor of the bottle after periods of rest. Yeah, baby. That’s the real deal.
So ladies and gents, if you can handle the heady ride of undiluted apple juice, go for it. By swapping that juice box for a recyclable plastic container, you can placate your inner child without feeling like a baby.
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