Suja Classic: Fortitude

Fortitude is one of Suja’s lower sugar offerings added to their Classic line in March 2015. In the case of this product, it has 9g of sugar per 8 oz. (18 per bottle) and 60 calories. It’s a 100 percent juice blend that’s made with a rather lengthy list of ingredients, including apple, cucumber, red cabbage, chard, romaine, green leaf lettuce, lemon, bell pepper, escarole, red leaf lettuce, parsley, and ginger. While it’s definitely somewhat heavy on the greens, they’ve cut it with enough cucumber, apple, and lemon to keep it from being too heavy or strong. As a result, the product is refreshing almost to the point of being gulpable. There’s a touch of ginger at the finish, but we wonder if a little bit more wouldn’t help round things out further. All in all, we really like this flavor, both in terms of pure flavor and its lower sugar profile. From a design perspective, we’ve previously expressed our feelings about the Suja Classic line and we pretty much feel the same. However, with the addition of a several new flavors, we can’t help but wonder if the naming convention and label design should evolve a bit. This flavor, along with Revive, which is being released at the same time, looks too similar to some of the other green juices that are already in the line. Requiring the consumer to remember the names, which don’t correspond to the flavor or ingredients, seems like a bit much to ask in the long haul. However, this particular flavor has an advantage in that it when it sits on the shelf, it separates into red (at the top) and green (at the bottom) colored liquid. But growing pains aside, this product’s formulation seems like a move in the right direction for the brand.