Review: Hibiscus Soda

Proper Soda Co.’s Hibiscus Soda is the followup flavor to its flagship Hop Soda. Unlike Hop Soda, which was essentially introducing a flavor that is rarely seen in non-alcoholic beverages, this variety is a bit more familiar. It uses a rather simple formulation of carbonated water, sugar, citric acid, hibiscus extract, grape extract (for coloring) and natural flavors, which gives the product a pretty clean and straightforward flavor. The hibiscus flavor is light and balanced, with a light floral flavor and just the right amount of sweetness (19g of sugar per can). This is a nice change of pace from the typical hibiscus-flavored drink, which is often very heavy on the hibiscus flavor. All in all, it’s definitely a nice tasting product. On the outside, the product follows the same template as Hop Soda. The company has changed up the wording to match the new flavor and they’ve also introduced two new accent colors. While it looks nice from an aesthetics point of view, we’re not sure that the Proper Soda Co. brand is being established properly with the approach that it has chosen. Furthermore, the connection between the two products is left up to the consumer (is this a line of floral sodas or something else?). In any event, this is an issue that seems like it can be addressed with some minor fine tuning. Overall, Proper Soda has done a nice job crafting this product, and it’s one of the nicer uses of hibiscus flavor that we’ve seen.

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