Trader Joe's Passion Fruit Orange Guava Juice Review: POG Juice Without the Mouse

Passion fruit. Orange. Guava. POG.

If you've spent enough time at Disney, that combination might already sound very familiar. Trader Joe's Passion Fruit Orange Guava Juice is sold in four-packs of 8.45-ounce cans for $4.49. For a while, this seemed like one of those Trader Joe's products that appeared briefly and then vanished before you could decide whether you liked it.

Thankfully, it seems to be making another appearance on shelves, and I'm happy about that because this has become a regular purchase in my household. It's sweet, tropical, a little tart, and while it's perfectly good straight from the can, this juice is practically begging you to start mixing things into it.

Review

Let's address the obvious first. Yes, this is sweet. If you're expecting something light, delicate, or barely sweet tasting, this isn't that. But what I appreciate is what's actually creating the juice blend. You've got passion fruit, orange, and guava. That's it for the juices. There's no apple juice quietly doing most of the work and no water cutting down those tropical flavors.

When Trader Joe's says Passion Fruit Orange Guava Juice, those are the flavors you're getting, and they work remarkably well together. The orange and guava bring plenty of sweetness and tropical fruit flavor, while passion fruit provides some much-needed tartness. Without that passion fruit, I think this could easily cross the line into too sweet. Instead, you get some balance.

It's still firmly on the sweet side, but there's enough acidity to keep me coming back for another sip. It's a tropical vacation in a can. That's probably the easiest description.

The orange is familiar and juicy, guava adds a sweeter and more tropical quality, and then passion fruit comes through with that distinctive tartness that keeps everything interesting. None of the three completely disappears. More importantly, the drink doesn't taste like generic "tropical fruit punch." You can actually tell there are specific fruit flavors working together.

The overall flavor is bold, fruity, and sweet with enough tanginess to provide some contrast. And you absolutely want this cold. Room-temperature tropical juice isn't the vibe. Get those cans into the refrigerator.

This isn't a subtle juice. Guava and orange bring plenty of sweetness, and there's no water diluting the blend. Fortunately, passion fruit is doing important work here. Its tartness provides contrast and keeps the juice from becoming completely one-dimensional.

That's why the combination works for me. You get sweet, tropical, and tart in the same sip. If you don't like sweet fruit juice, this probably isn't going to convert you. But if you enjoy tropical flavors, there's a lot to like.

You get four 8.45-ounce cans for $4.49, which works out to a little over $1.12 per can. I actually like the individual format here.

A large bottle of juice requires you to open the whole thing and then remember that it's sitting in the refrigerator. With these, you can chill a can, crack it open, and you're done. The size also works particularly well if you're using the juice as a cocktail or mocktail mixer.

And that's where this product gets much more interesting.

How to Enjoy

Trader Joe's Passion Fruit Orange Guava Juice is perfectly enjoyable straight from the can. But every time I drink it, part of my brain starts thinking: What can we add to this?

For the 21+ crowd, this is basically a tropical cocktail starter kit. The sweet-tart fruit combination can pair with several different spirits, and the juice already provides enough flavor that you don't need to build a complicated cocktail around it.

POG Mimosa

This might be the most obvious use. Replace some or all of the traditional orange juice in a mimosa with Trader Joe's POG Juice. POG juice plus sparkling wine. Done.

You get something more tropical and interesting than the standard orange juice version without creating extra work. Brunch just got an upgrade.

POG Rum Punch

Rum and tropical fruit are already good friends. Combine the POG Juice with rum, plenty of ice, and a squeeze of lime. If you want some fizz, add sparkling water.

POG Tequila Cocktail

Tequila, POG Juice, and fresh lime would make an extremely easy tropical drink. Salt or Tajín on the rim could give you a savory contrast against the sweet juice.

POG Vodka Spritz

Combine POG Juice, vodka, sparkling water, and lime. Easy, cold, refreshing, and no bartender certification required.

Don't Forget the Mocktails

You don't need alcohol to turn this into something more interesting. In fact, because the juice already has such a strong flavor profile, mocktails are incredibly easy.

• POG Fizz: Pour the juice over ice and top with sparkling water and fresh lime. The sparkling water also helps tone down the sweetness if you find the juice a little intense on its own.
• Tropical Ginger POG: Combine POG Juice with ginger beer and fresh lime. The ginger adds spice and keeps the drink from becoming too sweet.
• POG Sunrise: Pour the juice over ice and add a small amount of grenadine for a layered tropical drink. Finish with an orange slice if you're feeling fancy.
• Coconut POG Cooler: Combine the juice with coconut water and plenty of ice. This lightens the sweetness while keeping everything firmly in tropical territory.
• Frozen POG Slush: Freeze some of the juice into ice cubes and blend them with additional chilled juice. Suddenly we're one tiny umbrella away from vacation.

Don't limit this to drinking straight from the can. Freeze it into popsicles, use it to make tropical ice cubes, add a splash to smoothies with mango, pineapple, or banana, or combine several cans with sparkling water and fresh citrus for an easy party punch.

You could also freeze it in a shallow pan and scrape it with a fork for an easy tropical granita. There's a surprising amount you can do with four little cans.

FAQs about Trader Joe's Passion Fruit Orange Guava Juice

The following are commonly asked questions about this product:

Final Thoughts

Trader Joe's Passion Fruit Orange Guava Juice is one of those products I'm genuinely happy to see back on shelves. It's sweet, tart, and unapologetically tropical. Most importantly, it actually tastes like the three fruits advertised on the can.

Passion fruit keeps the sweeter orange and guava flavors from becoming overwhelming, while the individual cans make this easy to keep chilled and ready to go. Drink it straight from the refrigerator and it's good. Turn it into a mimosa? Even better.

Start experimenting with sparkling water, ginger beer, lime, or frozen drinks and suddenly those four little cans have a lot more potential than you might expect.

At $4.49, this has become a regular purchase in my household. Sometimes I drink it straight. Sometimes it becomes a mocktail. And sometimes brunch happens.

I'm not judging any of those choices.