Review: Jarritos Mexican Sodas
Review: Jarritos Mexican Sodas
If you spend as much time in taquerias as I do, you know Jarritos, the colorful sodas that come only in bottles, courtesy of our friends south of the border. Jarritos, like most Mexican sodas, are sweetened with natural sugar. They’re generally lightly carbonated, and they contain no caffeine. Flavors are predominantly a mix of natural and artificial.
The collection is a bit of a hodgepodge, design wise: Some bottles are clear and feature old-school labels. Some have a more modern, cartoony design. Even the bottle size varies: Most Jarritos come in 12.5 oz. bottles, but not all. In general, expect to get about 160 to 200 calories per bottle of the stuff.
We tried all 11 flavors in the current Jarritos lineup (that’s about 500 grams of sugar, folks) and weigh in with our opinion on each one.
Jarritos. Mexico. Culture. Get to know us.
Jarritos Pineapple (Pina) – Sounds a bit nasty, but it’s surprisingly good. The pineapple flavor — and especially the color — are hardly authentic, but they both work. It’s neon yellow in color, but on the muted side in the flavor department. Citrusy, with a vaguely tropical bent. More like dried pineapple, or pineapple-flavored candy. Not bad. B+
Jarritos Mandarin (Mandarina) – Orange soda, through and through, but not as sweet as your traditional Orange Crush, etc. A bit more carbonated than most of the Jarritos line. I’m not a huge orange soda fan, but this isn’t bad at all for the category. B
Jarritos Lima-Limon – As you can guess by the name, this is a lemon-lime flavor. Heavier on the lime than the lemon, but a little too sweet compared to, say, 7-Up. Gets cloying over time. B
Jarritos Guava (Guayaba) – Rather startling at first (the pink color may not help here), but it grows on you. Ultimately it presents itself a bit like cotton candy, quite sweet but with a certain something (guava, I suppose) that makes it a bit out of the ordinary. The uniqueness is refreshing. A-
Jarritos Strawberry (Freya) – Cloying, but the strawberry does come across in the finish at least. More for kids than grown-ups. C+
Jarritos Fruit Punch (Tutifruti) – Much like the strawberry, extremely sweet, but with a more clearly cherry character. Imagine fizzy maraschino cherry juice. C
Jarritos Lime (Limon) – Sweeter than than the lemon-lime, and actually less limey. More candy-like, with flavors that are pleasant, but not really authentic in any way. B
Jarritos Mango – Yeah, it’s mango, but again the flavors are heightened with more of a dried mango character than fresh. Overwhelmingly sweet to the point where the fruit is almost drowned away. Fortunately, the flavor that is there is good, with no artificial aftertaste. B+
Jarritos Jamaica – OK, now we’re getting into some weird flavors. Jamaica is similar to the somewhat uncommon agua fresca of the same name, flavored with hibiscus flowers. Deep red, the tone is more akin to heavily sweetened tea than flowers, although some floral notes seep in, although it’s not overdone. Still, I expect this is a bit of an acquired taste. B-
Jarritos Tamarind (Tamarindo) – The plus: This one’s flavored 100% naturally. The minus: With tamarinds. Sure this is another based-on-an-agua fresca concoction, and it’s always a delicious chutney, but I was nonetheless wary at first of tamarind-flavored soda. Turns out I had no need to be. This is actually one of the better installments in the Jarritos universe. The sweetness is kept in check, the tamarind flavor is mild and piquant — and authentic. It totally grows on you, faster than you’d think. I suddenly want another. A-
Jarritos Toronja (Grapefruit) – For some reason, this bottle is 13.5 oz. instead of the usual 12.5 oz. Naturally flavored, too.Very mild, but on the sweet side. It’s a nice little twist on lemon-lime drinks, offering fresh citrus character with just a touch of grapefruit sourness. I wish it was a bit fizzier, though. A-
about $2 a bottle / jarritos.com [BUY IT NOW FROM AMAZON]
Jarritos Tamarind (Tamarindo)
$2
The Mandarin soda is delicious. Stores do not carry it regularly in this area though. It is hard to find.
I’m having a nice, cool, refreshing mandarin soda right now.
Agree with Geraldine. Mandarin flavor is delicious!
$2 a bottle?! What state is that in?
.59 cents on sale at Kroger in DFW (TX) for 12.5 oz.
Probably one that doesn’t share borders with Mexico…
Gordon food service (or GFS) is a store that carries it in cases (24 bottles for $16).
they have the flavors of:
Lime, Tamarind, Sangria Senorial, Mandarin, Pineapple, Sidral Munet, Mango, Fruit Punch, or Mineragua.
Since I can only pick one flavor and it’s a lot of bottles, I came here to find out which tastes the best.
I was eating at a amazing 5 star Mexican place. I asked for a pineapple drink. The waiter said we do not have. I checked the drink frig and that is where i met the drink.
Just a correction: limon means lemon, not lime. Lima is lime. So the Limon soda is lemon flavored.
Limon may mean “lemon,” but the Jarritos bottle actually reads “Lime (Limon).” The correction needs to go Jarritos!
You really don’t get it. In Europe and Mexico, they have the right idea to sweeten with cane sugar. My late husband was in the sift drink biz and created a drink called Gini in France. It is basically natural lemon with carbonation and tastes wonderful. You should critique the lousy soft drinks with high fructose corn syrup and stopp attacking great Mexican soft drinks.
Looks like you really don’t get it. He was reviewing the Jarritos line of soft drinks.
What is wrong with you, that you feel the need to attack him over a review? He wasn’t attacking great Mexican soft drinks, he was reviewing them.
Wow.