Simply EspressOJ Review: Daring Coffee And Orange Juice Blend Delights Our Taste Buds
Do you have a hard time choosing between drinking a cold, refreshing glass of orange juice or a warm, savory cup of coffee with your breakfast before the hustle and bustle of the day ensues? Well, now you don't have to. Simply EspressOJ combines the best of both breakfast beverages, adding a bit of espresso flavor to Simply Orange juice.
We get it; blending coffee and orange juice might sound off-putting. These two beverages don't necessarily seem like they'd mix well with one another. But in case you missed it, Ashton Kutcher made quite a splash in early 2023 when he mentioned on "The Kelly Clarkson Show" that he likes to add a small amount of orange juice to his morning coffee to lighten and sweeten it rather than use traditional coffee additions like creamer or sugar. Since then, the act of mixing the two breakfast beverages has blown up on TikTok, with creators sharing their favorite ways to blend them.
Simply Orange has taken the guesswork out with its new Simply EspressOJ kit, which includes almost everything you need to make this trendy drink at home for brighter mornings. Continue reading to learn more about this unique addition to the Simply Orange lineup and see what we think about it.
What's included in the Simply EspressOJ kit?
Simply EspressOJ isn't a premade drink you can pick up in a store. Instead, it's a kit that includes each item you need to make it at home, except for a bottle of Simply Orange juice. If you're not sure where to find Simply products, you can visit the Simply website and click the "Where to Buy" link to locate a store near you. The kit includes two packs of espresso boba and two boba straws. For those who don't know, boba are small, round pearls made from tapioca. In addition to enhancing drinks with fun colors and aesthetics, they add flavor and texture when you sip them through a straw. Because a boba straw is larger than the average straw, it makes it possible to sip up the boba while also enjoying your beverage.
The boba in a Simply EspressOJ kit is infused with coffee for real espresso flavors. Making your juice requires just three steps. First, open the espresso boba packet and pour it into a glass, and make sure it's a clear glass so you don't miss out on the fun of seeing the boba float around. Then, pour one cup of Simply Orange over the boba. Finally, add a boba straw included in the kit, and enjoy.
Where and when is the Simply EspressOJ kit available?
A Simply EspressOJ kit is not as easy to come by as you might hope for — at least, not with its initial launch — but if you use the Ibotta app, you're in luck. Ibotta is an app that gives cash back on shopping trips; among other companies, it partners with Walmart for both its retail stores and online store. For the Simply EspressOJ kit's initial release, Walmart.com shoppers can use Ibotta to claim a $0.40 off coupon for Simply Orange. Once an Ibotta user successfully redeems their Simply Orange coupon by buying a bottle, that person gets sent one of 500 kits saved exclusively for Walmart.com customers. The kits are available starting August 16th.
If you miss your chance to claim one of the initial 500 kits, there's one more thing you can do: Engage with an official Simply EspressOJ Instagram post from Simply. When you like, comment, or share the post, you'll have the chance to receive one of 100 more kits reserved specifically for active Simply fans on Instagram who want to see what the OJ-coffee combo buzz is all about.
How it compares to other Simply products
Although it's most known for its Simply Orange drink, Simply has released several different beverages over the years, including variations of its classic orange juice. Browse the product line, and you'll also find refreshing lemonades and flavorful juices made with fruits like watermelon, pineapple, and cranberry. You can also try a smoothie from Simply or its Simply Mixology line, which offers cocktail mixes to easily blend your favorite drinks at home. There's even a Simply Spiked lineup of alcoholic lemonade.
With that said, the Simply EspressOJ kit is very different from anything else you'll find on the shelves from Simply. This kit was designed to capture a fun trend floating around the web and give Simply fans another way to enjoy their Simply Orange juice and morning mugs of coffee. Unlike other products from the company, you can't just buy this kit in the store, but the few extra steps it takes to reserve your kit will likely fade away from memory once you're sipping on your boba-infused OJ.
Simply EspressOJ nutrition
As you might expect, adding Simply EspressOJ to your morning routine will boost your sugar intake a bit if you're used to less sugary drinks in the morning. That's because orange juice is known for being relatively high in sugar, even if there are no added sugars in the specific recipe. Simply Orange juice, for example, is made with 100% real orange juice and includes 23 grams of sugar with no extra sugar added. An 8-ounce glass — the amount you'd add to your espresso boba — sits at 120 calories.
Then, you need to consider the boba. One boba packet has 70 calories and 16 grams of sugar, all from added sugars. Aside from water and sugar, each delicious boba pearl contains coffee extract, spray-dried coffee, and other ingredients to help form the bubbly pearls. When combined with Simply Orange, you have a pretty sugary beverage on your hands.
Of course, this drink isn't meant to be "healthy," per se. Instead, it's more of a treat-yourself-and-enjoy-every-second-of-it type of drink to get your mornings going. If you're looking for a lower-sugar version, you can always swap the original Simply Orange drink with the Simply Light Orange version, which has just 50 calories and 11 grams of sugar per serving.
Our final verdict
Before trying Simply EspressOJ, we thought that this taste test would go one of two ways with no gray area in between. It was either going to be something we'd sip once and never want again or make us realize that we'd been missing something we never knew we needed. Ultimately, we leaned fully toward the latter.
Let us start by saying that we absolutely love the taste of Simply Orange juice, so enjoying that part of the experiment was a no-brainer. However, we weren't quite sure how the boba would fit in. After trying it, we were pleasantly surprised by just how well they seemed to belong in our beloved orange juice. Of course, if you're a person who's not into the texture of boba, this drink is definitely not going to work for you. However, we found that the little pops of flavor added some fun to breakfast. The only downside? The espresso boba didn't have as much coffee flavor as we'd hoped, but that could possibly be remedied by adding more boba from the second packet or a little less Simply Orange to your glass. You might even add a splash or two of brewed coffee.
This kit could be a good alternative to other orange juice-and-coffee blends that mix each beverage together. It's mostly Simply Orange with just a hint of espresso, which we believe will hit the right chord for many.