Eslena

by ESLENA

Review: Elsena Infused Still Water

Posted: Jan 18, 2019 at 12:51 PM (Last Updated: Jan 18, 2019 at 1:37 PM)

Covers Products: Lemon Ginger Water, Lime Lavender Water, Raspberry Mint Water

Eslena is a line of USDA Organic certified still flavored waters that are unsweetened and contain under 10 calories per bottle. The products are flavored with real ingredients, including fruit puree or juice and a touch of sea salt.

Available in three flavors, including Raspberry Mint, Lime Lavender, and Lemon Ginger, Elsena aims to offer products that are a step above mainstream flavored waters, which are typically zero calorie and rely exclusively on flavorings.

Though all three of the products are quite enjoyable, our favorite is Lemon Ginger. Offering mellow notes of lemon, ginger and salt, this flavor  achieves a balance that we didn’t quite find in the other two. Still, we think Raspberry Mint, which has the darkest colored liquid and looks almost like a juice, has a nice raspberry flavor to it, although we wish the mint were a tad more. However,  Lime Lavender simply has too much lime flavor for our palate.

On the outside, Eslena is packaged in a 10 oz. clear glass bottle and features a clear label. Given that this is not a standard package for a flavored water, it definitely takes a little extra effort to figure out what Eslena is. Part of this has to do with the arrangement of the label, which has the Elsena logo running vertically while the words “infused still water” are isolated at the top of the label above the flavor name. The calorie count is missing from the front of the label, which we think needs to be out front to make clear that this product really is just a flavored water.

Beyond that, we’re not so sure about the use of a 10 oz glass bottle. It’s both small from a competitive perspective and it doesn’t really feel like something that fits with the water set; moving to PET or a slightly larger size bottle are two options..

Finally, we think that they need to do a better job of communicating the benefits of “ancient sea salt.” The product’s nutrition label doesn’t show much in the way of nutritional benefits, but the back panel has a lot of space dedicated to the mineral and electrolyte content. And there’s only a small call out on the front of the label. If this product is truly efficacious and has some functional benefit, it’s not clear from the label what that is.

Overall, Eslena is a nice tasting premium flavored water with a clean list of ingredients. However, the opportunity for this type of product feels somewhat limited, mainly because of their choice of packaging.


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