Review: Au Naturel by Jones Soda

Jones Soda, Seattle, WA, announced at Expo West in March, that they were launching their new sparkling soda, Au Naturel. The name lends itself to the fact the ingredients are all-natural. Jones Soda CEO Bill Meissner says the creation was the result of a challenge to the soda industry issued by The Harvard School of Public Health. The challenge, says Meissner, was to create a drink with specific nutritional guidelines, specifically, no more than one gram of sugar per ounce of beverage as well as having 70% fewer calories versus Coke and Pepsi. "We took that seriously and wanted to be the first to meet it in a sparkling format, and we then upped the ante by making it all natural."

There are three flavors in the new lineup; Orange You Glad It's Mango, Lemon Limelight and Green Apple A Day. Among the ingredients in Au Naturel are the usual suspects of carbonated water, cane sugar, and green tea extract. Among the not so common ingredients are stevia, a natural product that's a gazillion times sweeter than sugar, and organic agave syrup. The agave syrup is used to tone down the licorice bitterness of the stevia.

The flavors are relatively palatable, considering the simplicity of the ingredients. My favorite was the Orange You Glad It's Mango. Its' initial sweetness quickly dissipates which leaves you with a mellow background flavor of orange which lingers a bit. The Green Apple and Lemon Lime are less sweet and not as notable. The carbonation of the soda is just about the right amount and adds a dry taste, which I prefer. Each flavor boasts 35 calories, 7 grams of sugar and a surprising 5 grams of dietary fiber per 16.9oz bottle.

Photo by @DrinkPro

The bottle is a sharp looking PET that has dimples near the top and bottom. The bottle is wrapped about 85% around with a pressure sensitive label, that leaves a small gap which allows you to see through the bottle to the inside of the label, which bares pictures of either oranges, lemons and limes or green apples, depending on which flavor you have.

You'll, undoubtedly, see the Jones name and will be familiar with the concept of using consumer submitted photos on their labels. However, the entire label itself leaves a bit to be desired in the "captain obvious" department. Even with the catchy name-play, you have to search around to actually discover what the flavor is and look even harder to find the words "sparkling soda" anywhere on the label. Trust me, it's somewhere. There's just a lot of action going on with that label which makes it look very busy. In addition to their trademark photo concept, Jones continues the practice of slogans under the caps. No word on whether these caps will be accepted for their Caps for Gear promotion.

I'm not sure how serious Jones is about this brand. The product is rumored to retail at $1.79, but, it has yet to be found in stores. And Au Naturel is not prominently displayed on their website, in fact, you have to click on their Product Locator to even see it mentioned, and even then, there are no results returned. If you do a Google search for "au naturel" without including the word "jones", you have to scroll all the way to page five in order to find it. Search Engine Optimization must improve if Jones wants Au Naturel to become a player rather than be merely seen as a project or experiment.

While the product has some quality points, there is definitely some room for enhancement for entry into what is an already crowded sparkling category. As always, time will tell.

This blog is the opinion of the author. None of the companies mentioned here have any affiliation with this blog, nor do they endorse its contents...but they should. From time to time, @DrinkPro will receive promotional product from suppliers for the purpose of review. Gregg W Shore is a 23 year beverage veteran who writes his blog @DrinkPro, A View of the Beverage Industry, from the Inside Out. Connect on LinkedIn and follow on Twitter @DrinkPro