R.W. Knudsen Sparkling Essence review

Have you missed me? I've been away at a delightful family reunion in Colorado (we're actually originally from Mississippi, but who wants to meet in Mississippi in the middle of summer? Not me!) and didn't have my act together enough to have posts ready for you.

To get back in the swing of things, let me tell you about this new drink from R.W. Knudsen. I was fortunate enough to win a four pack of every flavor of the new R.W. Knudsen Sparkling Essence drink thanks to This Mama Cooks! on a Diet. The drink comes in four flavors - lemon, blueberry, mint, and cucumber.


What are these drinks? As their name suggests, they're simply carbonated spring water ("sparkling" water) with various essences for flavor and a little citric acid (as a preservative, I suspect). NO added sugar! NO fruit juice! It's a true flavored water. Take a look at the ingredients for the cucumber Sparkling Essence:

Carbonated spring water, organic brewed lemon extract, organic natural cucumber extract, organic lemon juice concentrate, citric acid

Ok, ok, so there is actually a little juice in there. Still, it's minimal. This is not a sickly-sweet, fruit-juice flavored water. I'm impressed with the ingredients in each of the drinks. Very simple and flavorful.

But how does it taste? The flavors are true. The blueberry and lemon flavors are not overpowering. The cucumber flavor, on the other hand, is really intense - but not in an unpleasant way. The mint has a pleasant spearmint flavor.

My son is hooked on these already. He is not a huge fan of "bubbly" drinks, but he really enjoys these. He's a big fan of the blueberry and cucumber flavors. I'm tickled pink that he likes these. Now I've got a sugar-free carbonated drink option for him that I don't feel the least bit bad about him drinking. Woo hoo!

Me? I'm on the fence. When I first tried one last night, I didn't care for it at all. I'm not a fan of sparkling water in general, though. I've given each flavor a try since then, and while it's not a drink that I would necessarily turn to (because it's sparkling), the flavors are actually quite good. The cucumber and mint are my favorites, which really surprises me. If they sold this drink in a non-sparkling variety, I think that I would be all over it.

That said, I will buy this when I see it in our store. Not necessarily for me, but for my kids and their company. If you like sparkling water, I would definitely recommend that you give this a try!