Ooya

It’s a shame this is a limited edition flavour because I think I’ve just found my new favourite Ooya flavour and by, like, quite a lot. It’s very fresh and juicy with really forward notes of sweet and floral lychee followed up by crisp apple and a hint of more earthy guayusa. Quite well balanced while being very dynamic, and I’m impressed by the fact there’s a distinctness between both the lychee and the apple. It’s clear the apple isn’t just being used as a “filler” juice like it often the case in fruitier RTDs…

I was initially a little surprised how sweet this was after taking my first few sips, but I realized quickly that I had naively assumed “sugar free” meant “sweetener free” and that was not the case. This Ooya flavour uses erythritol as an alternative sweetener, which is a synthetic sweetener. The overall drink was pretty good. Citrusy lemon top notes and then a smooth, grassy and ever so slightly earthy and smoky guayusa base that makes up the bulk of the profile.

I would much rather drink the sweetener version of the “Original” flavour though. It’s not that I’m personally against artificial sweeteners like erythritol on principle, but I do find the aftertaste lingers in a similar way to stevia and I just don’t care enough about a drink being sugar free to outweigh the taste difference…

I’ve reviewed the RTDs from Ooya before, but since then they’ve actually released a bunch of new flavours so I figured I’d just pick up one each of their entire product line and do another taste through – starting with this one, which I believe is limited edition for summer.

My favourite part of Ooya my first time tasting their drinks was how natural and minimally sweet they were, all while really embracing the flavour of the guayusa they use as the base. You can really taste the “rain forest” flavour, with its lush grassiness and slight earthy minerality. I’ve relieved to see that continues to be true! I definitely thought the passionfruit in this was stronger than the mango, but the overall tropical profile really compliments the guayusa without masking it. It’s quite fresh, and just a bit playful. Really serves up summer vibes. I could totally picture myself cracking a can of this in place of a beer and enjoying it on a terrace on a hot and humid afternoon!

We’ll see if this holds true as I revisit the other flavours and try some of the other seasonal ones, but this might be a new favourite from Ooya!

I actually drank this pretty closely after finishing Genuine Tea’s sparkling Peach Turmeric iced tea, and it was interesting having the two so back to back because it really highlighted the juiciness of the peach in this drink. Just miles more enjoyable to me. The kiwi kind of gets lost in the mix, but I do think it adds a little bit of a tangy brightness on top of the sweet summer peach flavour which does give a little more dimension even if it’s not distinctly kiwi tasting.

Pretty solid as a standalone drink – the sweetness is nice, it’s bright and refreshing, and it finishes with a very nice, smooth notes of guayusa. However, I’d put it sort of middle of the pack in terms of Ooya’s overall line up. Apple Lychee is still reigning supreme for me at a the moment…

I first discovered Ooya at a tradeshow a year or two back, and they were one of my favourite companies that I’d come across. So, I was very excited to see they’d released some new flavours since I had last sampled there teas!

Peach and kiwi as a combination feels so fresh to me. I’m so used to the very played out combination of peach and mango or strawberry and kiwi. Those are, of course, delicious but there are some fruit flavours that are sooooo played out in the RTD space that they just read as overly commercial to the point of being safe/boring. I don’t know if I’ve seen a peach kiwi RTD before – it just feels like a brilliant way to take two staple flavours and give them just enough of a twist to be different while not being novel and unfamiliar.

The drink was very good, though it’s certainly much more peach forward than kiwi. I’d expected as much, though, given that Ooya has used this soft peachy orange colour across all of the branding of the product – it sort of subtley implies that this is first and foremost a peach drink. It tastes natural and fresh though like the tender end-of-Summer peaches that melt in your mouth when you eat them. The kiwi adds a little top note brightness and a bit of a tropical acidity that elevates without distracting. Best way I can think to describe it is that the kiwi is a backup dancer for the Peach. This is not a duo.

I still need to find the new Apple Lychee – I’ll be keeping an eye out!

I’ve had this flavour before, but it was nice to revisit it. One of the things I remember from last time is feeling like the raspberry wasn’t nearly as strong as the watermelon but this time around I thought the two flavours were pretty balance. Tart, juicy raspberry first and then a sweeter melon note to round out the sip. Like all Ooya’s flavour I appreciate that they don’t mask the taste of their guayusa base – though I do think this is a bit lighter than some of the other flavours I’ve tried recently. It was still very, very good but so many of the new flavours have been so strong that I think this actually ends up being ranked a little lower for me in their overall line up than I expected it would be.

Tried this one at the same time I tried Ooya’s Original flavour.

I definitely think this is really tasty – it’s got a similar light, effervescent, and sweetly refreshing profile. Not something I would call heavy or cloying at all. The watermelon was stronger that the raspberry to me, but I got a bit more of the tartness of the raspberry in the finish.

I’m glad I had the original next to me to do that side by side though, because I don’t really taste the guayusa in this RTD at all. If I didn’t have the Original as proof that (when they want to) this company can actually highlight the natural flavours of the Guayusa in a very balanced and authentic way then I would probably have been less impressed with this company overall just based on this drink alone. It’s tasty, but almost a little too polished and commercial to be nearly as interesting/noteworthy.

At least to me personally.

…and, finally, I’m finishing off my Ooya revisit by trying their Original flavour once again!

Y’know, after recently having the Sugar Free Original, I thought I knew pretty much exactly what I was going to be getting flavour wise but there were actually a few small surprises here. Firstly, though the profile was quite citrusy it was a little bright and distinctly lemony tasting citrus note than the Sugar Free. The sweetness level is just perfect, though and really balances out the very smoky, grassy notes of the guayusa. The biggest surprise, however, was how much the finish tasted like bubblegum. Not aggressively so, to be clear, but just that sort of “juicy fruit” vibe that sometimes fruity teas (like pear or banana) can have. Quite interesting!

I think I still prefer some of the seasonal drinks (shout out to Apple Lychee), but this is a very, very good sparkling guayusa option. I’m always so impressed by how forward and pleasant the notes of guayusa are.

I met this company at SIAL earlier this year and they were just absolutely kind and pleasant to talk with! Also, I swear they had the busiest booth out of the whole trade show – Marika and I had to wait like twenty minutes for a moment to sneak in and talk with them! It was worth it though.

I’ve tried a lot of Guayusa/Yerba Mate RTDs and they tend to range between “gross” to “kinda just fine”. This one was impressively good! I think the best part about it was that on top of just being pretty light and refreshing it was also just genuinely very well balanced. Like, equal parts an effervescent sweet and just slightly tart natural lemon/citrus flavour with that trademark “rainforest” flavour of the guayusa. A little grassy and earthy with that sweet rain/petrichor finish. I just adored how true to the flavour of the Guayusa the drink was without any of the mineral/metallic taste I often get with Guayusa RTDs. It’s also rare to see one of these trendier RTDs focused around clean energy that doesn’t shy away from tasting like the thing it’s deriving that energy from!

You could easily crush a full can of this without even thinking about it! I am definitely going to be keeping an eye on this company within the RTD space!