Agua Con

Product Type:Water: Enhanced; Container: 16oz Plastic
BevNET Review: The Guava (or “Guayava”) variety of Agua Con is probably the best formulated and most marketable flavor of the lineup. This really is a matter of a superior flavor combination, with the guava masking the stevia and minimizing the acidic finish that we found in some of the other flavors. However, it’s still not sweet at all, which begs the question: why use stevia if you’re not going to give your product sweetness? It’s certainly going to alienate and/or confuse some segment of the potential consumer base for a product like this. In our opinion, it would be more logical if this product had no sweetener at all, although it feels a bit too similar to Hint. And that’s exactly how we feel when it comes to the packaging. Both the bottle and label feel way too similar, which certainly won’t help Agua Con establish its own identity. Otherwise, we’re just not sure what the are trying to do, with a tagline of “similar taste, just healthier” that makes a reference to something that is unclear. Finally, the aesthetics of the label look amateurish and lack appeal compared with competing products. Overall, there’s a decent concept here, but it needs to be thought out more and executed better.Reviewed on: 10/22/2012

Product Type:Water: Enhanced; Container: 16oz Plastic
BevNET Review: AguaCon’s Lima y Limon (aka lemon and lime) is a lemon and lime flavored essence water that is very lightly sweetened with stevia. Despite the addition of stevia, there isn’t really much in the way of sweetness to this product, making it have minimal differentiation compared with the unsweetened essence waters like Hint's and Ayala’s. While there’s some decent lemon and lime flavor to the body of the drink, it unravels a bit when you hit the finish, which has a note of stevia and the added acid. Visually, we’re somewhat confused by this product. Based on the Spanish naming, we’re assuming that it’s pronounced agua-”cone” (Spanish for “water with”). However, we think that your average consumer will call it agua “con”, which is a seemingly random name for a product like this. Otherwise, the label feels very simple and plain, with type treatments and formatting that could be created by anyone with a basic word processor. Forgetting that image and branding are important on a product like this seems like a big mistake. Ultimately, we’re left feeling as though this is a value brand -- a dangerous place for a startup to play, especially in the water category. Overall, it’s a decent start, but improvements to the flavor and branding are needed. Reviewed on: 10/22/2012

Product Type:Water: Enhanced; Container: 16oz Plastic
BevNET Review: Being completely honest, the thought of translating a flavor that’s typically dairy based into a flavored water seemed like a bit of a stretch (especially since they tease your senses with the image of an aguas frescas jar filled with some nice looking horchata). In any event, their interpretation of classic horchata has resulted in a flavored water that has cinnamon, nutmeg, and rice flavor. Plus, this is really the only flavor of Agua Con where the sweetness is detectable at all. That’s a good thing, because without sweetness, we don’t think this product would work at all. Still, Horchata seems like a pretty niche flavor for a brand of this type, so we’re not overly confident that this can be a very successful flavor for the brand. Visually, we have the same feeling about this flavor as the others: it needs work. The bottle and label have a very simple and amateurish look, with a basic typeface on a label that’s mostly white. Even the treatment of the logo, which is, again, just a basic typeface with standard spacing, feels like something that was thrown together quickly. Overall, we think that they really need to punch of the branding, but the flavor itself is somewhat enjoyable despite being pretty niche focused.Reviewed on: 10/22/2012