#ThirstyThursday: CJ Petitzel Water Jelly Review: Cheap & Worth the Calories

Anybody who knows the definition of fun will tell you that drinking sweet things out of a pouch will make it taste better.

It’s not even that there’s more liquid in the pouch, or that those had more sugar. It just tasted sweeter and more satisfying.

Don’t ask me why. It’s just magic.

Image: Giphy

In the midst of doing my review for #ThirstyThursday, there was a moment I knew I f-ed up. I didn’t respect the pouch.

This is the captured moment that I realised I had orchestrated a crime against the mental well being of children across the world. Drinks in pouches are simply not meant to be consumed in a cup. Or damned if you say it, in a bottle.

My future kid would not disapprove of the above image.

Image: Meme Center

But anyways.

This week’s review is CJ Petitzel Water Jelly, Orange, Peach and Apple flavours, which usually retails at S$1.50, though somehow we bought it on discount at S$1.00.

But, jelly AND in a pouch? It’s not a revolutionary idea in 2019, but there’s no way to hate this, right?

*Middle and right cups should be swapped.

Even after my realisation, sometimes science has to go too far. The people needs to know about the colour of the juice! They need to be informed consumers! I tell myself. In committing sin, my conscious shook the confidence I had in conducting the experiment, and I neglected to swap the places of the Apple and Peach sample cups around.

If you’re interested in an advertisement they had, here’s an older product line commercial with Kim Soo Hyun. I wasn’t able to find English subs, so I had no idea what they are saying.

So, are they worth the calories? Let’s find out.

Apple: Unable to Review

On the first taste – these tastes are based on drinking from the pouch, of course – I started cursing and swearing at petitzel for bringing such a disappointment to a drink unifying jellies and drinks in pouches.

It was foul. So I turned to the packet and noticed the darker brown spots near the nozzle. I might have happened to got a packet that is spoiled, so I wouldn’t be reviewing this.

Peach: Pretty Good

Moving forward, I sucked the whole packet of peach. The sweetness of the peaches was in a balance that tasted like the real thing, with a mix of artificial tasting ones. But it wasn’t foul, and in fact tasted pretty darn good.

With only 130ml of jelly it wasn’t long before it’s empty, but I found myself wanting more of this peach thing.

It was fun to eat with the jellies squishy texture flowing against the liquid in the mouth. It was fun to blow up the packet and suck the peach flavoured air.

And the packet I had wasn’t even cold.

But yes, checking the ingredient list confirms the mix of real thing and artificial. There’s peach concentrate, peach puree and peach flavouring.

It’s not something I would eat in a restaurant, but I’ll take this packet anytime it’s hot. Which is like, everyday in Singapore.

Rating: 4/5.

Orange: Pretty Average, Somewhat Sour

With such a raving review for peach, I would have thought the orange would fare better. But maybe it’s the more sour composition of its flavour, but I didn’t want to drink more of it. Like the peach flavour, the orange had a mix here, but it wasn’t as well blended as the peach for some reason.

An artificial taste hits my tongue before the orangey pulps registers as a taste. I still don’t mind drinking the whole packet, but given a choice I’ll pick the peach any day.

Or maybe because it’s not cold, but then again that tells me that the peach flavour is pretty impressive.

Rating: 3/5

And because any pouch drink would probably remind you of Caprisun, here’s a random fact: the straw hole in the CapriSun pouch is the dot of the “i”.

Image: reddit user u/britsumm