Madrina's

Product Type:Other; Container: 15 oz Can
BevNET Review: Horchata is a classic Latin drink that is made from ground rice, almonds, nuts or seeds. In the case of Madrinas Horchata, they’ve used rice flour and a host of other more industrialized ingredients. The flavor is decent, but definitely not the best ready to drink horchata that we’ve ever had. There’s a fair amount of rice flavor and milkiness to the drink (there’s no dairy in it), while the sweetness of the drink quickly overpowers your palate (there are 26g of sugar per serving). What’s missing from the equation is the spice that you find in fresh-made horchata. We taste a tiny bit in the finish, but having more of it would make this drink taste more pleasing. Packaging and branding look very sterile and generic, which makes the product look like a store brand. Giving it a look that’s fun or more authentic would certainly help. As it stands, this product looks more like a diet energy drink (many of which come in this same can and use white backgrounds) than a horchata beverage. Overall, the flavor is decent, but making the product seem more authentic in both formulation and packaging would help this product. Reviewed on: 9/22/2011

Product Type:Coffee Drinks; Container: 15 oz Can
BevNET Review: Like so many ready to drink coffee drinks out there, Madrinas’ Cafe con Leche is probably better compared to chocolate milk than it is coffee in the sense that it’s so milk heavy. It’s very sweet and rich, with a very standard tasting coffee flavor. There are so many other products out there that have the same flavor -- so why would anyone choose this product? That’s something that the marketer really needs to give some thought to. For us, it’s certainly not going to be because of the branding, which feels stark and easy to miss. It screams “value price,” with perhaps the only meaningful point of differentiation being the Spanish text on the front of the can. However, we don’t think that’s enough to build this product (at least as it stands today) into a real brand. And considering that Starbucks still has 90%-plus of the RTD coffee category, we think it’s going to take a completely different approach than this to be successful. Reviewed on: 9/22/2011