My initial review of the 2026 Winter Edition: Pistachio & Berries
I grabbed both the full sugar and the sugar-free cans since Iāve heard wildly mixed opinions on how the two compare. Normally I just buy sugar-free since in my opinion, they usually taste mostly the same aside from the sucralose (barring Cherry Sakura, which had a big difference between SF and Full sugar), but people have been saying the actual flavor profile is different between the two on this one, so I went with the 12oz full sugar first.
Some people on this sub have said it tastes like a Capri Sun, and from the sniff test it smelled just like one.
Taste-wise, itās good. It tastes a lot like a berry Capri Sun up front, with a little bit of a synthetic note that kind of reminds me of how a lip product or cosmetic smells, but not necessarily in a bad way. Come to think of it, that waxy aftertaste is almost candle-like. Not entirely unpleasant, I guess.
What stood out to me the most is how sour it is. Most fruit-flavored drinks (and a lot of Red Bulls lately) seem afraid to embrace actual sourness, so I really like how citric acid-forward this one is.
My only real complaint is that I'm a little disappointed it isn't more distinct. Iām getting mostly berry. I do taste the pistachio, but itās super subtle. It's not that distinctly pistachio, I could almost mistake it for almond flavoring. It's wild how different people's palates are. The other day, I saw someone saying he got no berry at all. āI like the weird flavors, so I was really hoping the pistachio would be much stronger instead of just tasting like another solid berry drink (probably an unpopular opinion, I know). As it lingers, the aftertaste does lean more into the pistachio in a nice and subtle way. I've heard the pistachio comes forward more as the can warms up and the berry takes a backseat, but I'm still sipping on it cold as I type this, so I'll see how it fares as it approaches room temp.
Overall it's pretty good, I just wish it committed harder to the unique element. Iām going to try the sugar-free one tomorrow to see how the flavor differs and will report back. Curious to know what everyone else thinks since it's widely available in the US.
I just want my beloved Curuba-Elderflower (and Cherry Sakura) to come back. Shouting into the void, I know :/