Bolero Essential Hydration Sugar Free Fruit Drink Apple 12 Sachets

Love these sachets, can get 4-5 x 500ml bottles out of a single sachet and the flavour is great.

The flavour of this was awesome, almost sour which I love! Really strong and morish.

Great alternative to a high sugar drink. Although the powder is a little clumpy compared to other Bolero drinks.

These Bolero drinks are very much hit and miss when it comes to flavours. The apple is definitely a hit. It tastes very close to apple juice and doesn't have such a distinct artificial sweetener taste compared to some of the other flavours. Like other flavours, I find the 1.5L per sachet a little on the strong side and that's saying something because I like a strong squash. You can make up to 2.5L easily - my water bottle is 2.2L and it gives me the perfect ratio. One thing I've noticed with the apple compared to the other flavours I've tried is that it has a lot of residue. I haven't noticed this with any other flavours, which tend to dissolve fully. Apple has bits of powder that just won't go away no matter how much extra water I add - to the point where I get a slightly gritty sensation on my tongue when drinking. It's been the same with every sachet so far. I'll be tasting and reviewing as many flavours as I can get my hands on. Taste-wise, apple is probably my favourite so far, but the residue hurts the score a bit.

If you've tasted non-concentrated versions of these flavors then you'll instantly tell that the flavors these provide aren't the same. (Some flavors aren't anywhere close) But they definitely make water taste differently to normal, you just have to find a flavor that works for you. The bigger problem and concern in my mind is that I've often ended up with some white hard bits in the powder that doesn't dissolve and does irritate my throat if I drink them. I know that it's from the powder and it happens in all the flavors I've tried since I've puzzled my head over this all for a few months, as I also can't figure out what ingredient from the list that could be causing this. So my best guess is that it's some contaminant that has gotten in which has possibly been reported in the past from seeing a few other reviews on their other flavors saying about it not fully dissolving. I've also noticed that over half the boxes I got had no expiration date on them or it was misprinted in such a way that it wasn't legible. One final thing is that this also has in the ingredient list is it has Acesulfame K which while FDA approved is having some studies coming out that suggest it contributes to obesity and chronic inflammation. In addition to the fact that your body can't break it down so you have to expel it.

Great thirst quencher

Great flavour, I make up 2l in the morning, and drink it throughout the day !

So delicious