The pros: Trader Joe's Cold Pressed Watermelon Juice has a fresh watermelon taste straight from the bottle which is 100% juice and fortunately none of the lemon comes through an acidic type of way.
The cons: This product settles very easily and will need to be shaken often.
The verdict:
Trader Joe's enjoys certain flavors more than others: coffee, mango and pumpkin all seem to immediately come to mind. However, when I think of summer I think of watermelon. There really isn't a more summery fruit that I can remember. I can barely think of any BBQs without there being watermelon being served.
When it comes to the watermelon available on the shelves your options are a bit more limited: fresh watermelon, Watermelon Cucumber Cooler, one flavor of their Salt Water Taffy variety pack, and this refrigerated product. Now, I can see with the watermelon cucumber cooler that it was not going to be a universally loved flavor because of its mix with another watery vegetable. If you disliked the cooler because of the cucumber flavor, then this cold pressed beverage is a safe choice.
Despite needing constant shaking to keep it in a beautiful pink hue, this genuinely tastes like summer. The lemon keeps this flavor very fresh tasting and no you won't really taste it. The watermelon tastes fresh without the hassle of the seeds. It's pretty well strained but more enjoyable when mixed thoroughly.
Overall, for $3.69, if you are going to make this a regular habit, perhaps it would be worth the time to learn a little bit from this Alton Brown video on how to juice a watermelon properly (1 Minute video) because this little bottle does cost as much as a drink from Starbucks. A whole watermelon in season can be had for less than the cost of this drink. However, if you are never going to make the effort, then consider this a convenience drink at a premium price. If watermelon is your flavor, then there is no better choice than this drink.
Here is the visual run down of what you get if you buy this product:
The bottle of Trader Joe's Cold Pressed Watermelon Juice:
Since this product does settle very easily, here is what it looks like most of the time on the shelf:
The nutritional information and the ingredients:
A quick illustration on how much goes into this little bottle:
How to Trader Joe's describes this:
Would I buy this again? As a summer flavor, I thought Trader Joe's Cold Pressed Watermelon Juice was good, but know drinks like this get expensive. If I want watermelon juice, I'll follow Alton Brown's lead.
Want to see more items I've reviewed from Trader Joe's? Click on Thoughts & Reviews of Trader Joe's for a searchable list.
Did you try it? Let me know what you think in the comments section!
Timothy Cain says
I bought this juice last week, and it was wonderful. And just as you pointed out, you can't taste the lemon at all. It's a little pricey, but it's delicious, convenient and healthy.