to think the new Ribena formula tastes disgusting

[BlackeyedSusan]

with a nasty aftertaste.

I would rather pay the sugar tax on it.

I am swapping to another brand of squash.

Years back they did an unsweetened version which was fab, but then they went to tooth kind with sweeteners and less fruit. I stopped drinking it then.

My local (large) Tesco no longer stocks any drinks that don't have artificial sweeteners. I hate the taste of them. I don't often drink soft drinks, so if I'm having one, I'd like the option of one that I like the taste of.

Yanbu- I used to buy the full sugar ribeana to avoid sweeteners. Seems more and more difficult. Why we can’t just moderate our intake but need to remove sugar I don’t know

I used the last of the bottle of the nice one a couple of days ago and just tasted the new bottle, horrible and very disappointed, but Ribena say they are going to stick with it.

they interviewed the CEO of Ribena on R4 this morning and he said that most customers had asked for reduced sugar. I guess the minority that can't stomach artificial sweeteners are so small a market that we don't matter.

Personally I'd have been happy to see a reduced sugar version that wasn't sweet. I often add lemon juice to my ribena to take the edge off the sweetness.

I was lucky enough to get a large bottle of the unadulterated stuff last week, but when it's gone I'm afraid that's it. I really hate the way these large companies pander to the masses and don't care about giving consumers a choice.

I am sure this trend towards AS will come back to bite in future years. Like being persuaded to switch to hydrogenated fats has been proved to be worse for you than eating butter.

It's because they were caught lying about the nutritional content. Awful stuff.

I don't understand the 'customers asked for it' logic that they keep stating, because Ribena already did a sugar free version for anyone who wanted it.

treaclesoda I can't understand why they are still making 2 versions. Especially as the new labels don't look any different (and the ingredients list is very difficult to read)
Either people want reduced/low sugar or they don't. Why can't they be honest and say it is a cost-cutting measure?

Agree with the fact that there were already two versions so people could have chosen the sugar free version if they wanted. They could have been encouraged to buy that one by making it cheaper (ie allowing the sugar tax to do what the sugar tax was designed to do) then people would have had the choice. Now there is no choice.

Have you tried Pepsi lately? I'd rather drink my own pee

oh no, I used to like pepsi. I haven't had any for ages.

I heard about this right before going shopping recently. I am now hoarding 4 big bottles of the old style sugar packed stuff.

I might become a dealer. Anyone want some? First taste is free...

Coke still tastes nice! I think it's more expensive than it used to be, but who wants to pay less just to drink something nasty?

YANBU. I've switched to Sainsbury's blackcurrant high juice. It's nowhere near as good as Ribena

I have to drink sugary drinks after bowel surgery. I was originally told to drink a litre of rehydration fluid a day, but my GP said sugary squash and adding salt to my food would do the same job.

Ribena was one of the few that tasted OK even with nasty post-chemo taste. I have one small bottle left, which I'm saving for next cycle.

I heard a bit about it in the radio this morning. I'm sure they said the levy was 20p a litre. I'd have happily paid that

Have you tried the Waitrose blackcurrant cordial. Even nicer than Ribena!

The issue is the companies seem to be going all out for reduced sugar, rather than reduced sweetness, so are just replacing sugar with artificial sweetener. We need to wean ourselves off ridiculously sweet drinks. Well, wean ourselves off ridiculously sweet anything!

Artificial sweetener is foul. It just tastes like . . . artificial sweetener.

They were saying on the news that the sugar tax won't raise half as much revenue as first hoped.

Well no shit sherlock as the manufacturers have just stuffed a load of artificial sweeteners in their drinks instead.

That blackcurrant cordial you mention sah doesn't seem to appear on the Waitrose website any more so I fear it may no longer exist.

There was another thread on this, where I mentioned the blackcurrant and blueberry cordial from Belvoir Fruit Farms. You can get it in Asda. Its much nicer, no sweetners and tastes like Ribena used to years ago. Highly recommend it.
www.belvoirfruitfarms.co.uk/our-drinks/type/cordials/blueberry-and-blackcurrant-cordial/

Predictably the cordial we are currently using now contains sweetners.

I bought two bottles to give to DCs when we hosted bonfire night and I had to go to three shops to find one that didn't contain artificial sweeteners as I knew we would be left with most of it and wouldn't have drunk the reduced sugar versions.

We are now halfway down the second bottle (this is how fast we drink it) and I've just looked on the Morrisons website and it now contains sweetners

groceries.morrisons.com/webshop/product/Morrisons-Blackcurrant-High-Juice/229612011?from=search&tags=%7C105651&param=blackcurrant+cordial&parentContainer=SEARCHblackcurrant+co

What will you give me for half a bottle of Morrisons full sugar no artificial sweetner blackcurrant cordial? Maybe I should put it on ebay?

What about Sainsbury's own brand drinks? Have they changed? They have always been my go to place for lemonade for Pimm's because the own brand didn't contain NutraSweet*.

*NutraSweet autocorrects to put the capital S in the word, so powerful is the brand name! Doesn't do anything to improve the taste of it, though.

Pretty much only Coke, Belvoir, Fever Tree and Rock's are the ones left without sweeteners. So much for choice.

ds will only drink the last remaining type of sugar in sainsburys cordial. we are fucked when that goes. he is autistic and these things matter.

I’m pretty sure Fentiman’s don’t use artificial sweeteners. I love their Curiosity Cola. Think I’m going to move over to Belvoir for my cordials/squash. I personally would rather have just paid the extra for sugar and no artificial sweeteners. It reminds me of the vilification of fats. When actually you’re better having a small amount of real butter than loads of margarine etc. I’d rather have a smaller amount of sugary cordial as a treat than loads of artificial sweeteners. I know refined white sugar is not ideal but I’d take a small amount any day over artificial sweetener.

I bought Rock's from Tesco.
I hate, hate, hate artificial sweeteners, they taste disgusting and have me running for the loo.

Rocks squash here too since Tesco messed with their hi juice squash. We don't drink much and I hate the taste of sweeteners
Used to love warm Ribena if I was ill!