Have you heard about ZEO?

I do have to say I get sent the nicest and most interesting things to try out.  I recently received this most fascinating box in the post, containing this attractive black hat box.



Inside was a tasty bag of Wasabi Peas.  I love Wasabi peas.  They're crunchy, and zippy.  Love. Love.
But that is not all . . .

 

There was a little pot of Beesting Lip Balm, something to make your lips feel tingly . . .
But, that is not all . . .



There was also these vanilla air freshener stick thingies.  I forget what they are called, but they smell nice and vanilla-ish.
But that is not all . . . it gets even more interesting . . .

 

There was also one of these, which was really hard to take a picture of, but it's a battery operated head massager.  It makes your scalp feel all tingly.
Interesting, and I'm not even to the best part yet!



This was what the box was all about.  These new carbonated drinks from ZEO!  This is new soft drink range with a tingling taste sensation. Made from natural ingredients, ZEO is an eclectic gathering of bold botanicals, fruits and fantastical flavours from nature.

From their page:

ZEO comes from the edge of Russia, bringing something rather new and extraordinary to the lightly effervescent world of soft drinks. At ZEO we value interesting and suprising flavours that spark off each other to create something rather special: a soft drink with depth, intrigue and complexity.
Russia doesn’t dabble in quaint or half-hearted! This is a vast untamed wilderness where wolves and tigers still prowl free, with a reputation as a hot bed of ingenuity, imagination and revolutionary ideals.  A place full of natural beauty and intrigue but with a side yet to be uncovered, explored and understood. ZEO is best served ‘Russian style’ 4 degrees. Chilled. No ice.

More than ever, NATURAL is a word that really matters. In an age where terms like synthetic, artificial and man-made don’t even draw a second glance, a fresh, easy- to-comprehend word like NATURAL still causes ripples. For us, natural is not a word to be taken lightly. That’s why we only ingredients from nature – we don’t do chemistry sets! Why settle for test tube flavours when nature’s well-stocked larder is ripe for raiding.

What's in it?

• Carbonated water: Naturally sourced, straight from the spring!
• Sugar: ZEO contains low levels of sugar extracted from sugar beets.
• Natural flavourings: All natural flavouring substances obtained from raw plant materials.
• Natural colourings: Extracted, isolated and concentrated from natural sources (e.g. strawberry)

• Citric acid: This is what makes lemons lemony. A natural preservative that is also used to add a sour taste to foods and drinks (lemon juice contains 3% citric acid).
• Pectin: A natural thickening/gelling agent extracted from citrus peel.
• Stevia: Made from the stevia leaf and used for over 500 years to sweeten food and drinks, this provides a sweet hit comparable with sugar but without the calorie count or leaving you with a sugar craving.

Sounds pretty good to me.  I love carbonated drinks and I like to think that I am drinking something which is completely natural.   But  how does it taste?



First up the one called Crush.   There was a definite citrus thing going there.  I could taste the orange in it and a hint of  lemon and lime, and I could taste something herbal . . . not unpleasntly so, but it just tasted natural like.  It was not overly sweet either, which was quite nice.  59 cals per bottle



Next up was Burst.  This said it has peach and grapefruit in it.  I have to say this was my favourite, but then again, I love grapefruit anything.   There was also a pleasant herbal undertone, which was nice and again not too sweet.  All too often "sugar free" drinks are over sweetened, especially the carbonated ones.   This is slightly lower in calories coming in at 45 cals per bottle.

  

The last one is called Zest.  This was quite zingy I thought.  I could taste the lime and I found it quite refreshing.  It comes in at 59 cals per bottle.

So all told, I have to say I found these drinks to be quite a refreshing change from the usual no sugar carbonated drinks out there.  They were not overly sweet, which I liked.  I also liked the herbal undertones.  Almost like herbal teas . . . but not as cloying.   All in all I did like them.

ZEO Drinks are available at Harvey Nichols, Ocado, WH Smith and The Drinkshop.com.

Many thanks  to ZEO and Briony for sending me these drinks to try.  All opinions are my own.