Aldi Fans Are Unsure About Its Fruit-Flavored Sparking Cold Brew
Beverage mash-ups have been all the rage lately, with everything from coffee sodas to hard seltzer-meets-canned cocktails. Grocery store chain Aldi is no stranger to inventive drinks, wowing its devoted fanbase with bottled mimosas and margaritas in a can, to name just a couple. Now, the German supermarket known for low prices and fun seasonal items has rolled out a mash-up of mash-ups, and for once, the crowd reaction isn't exactly an instant rave review. As it turns out, when you combine cold brew with sparkling water with fruit, people are ... unsure, to say the least.
"Snarking cold brew in fruity flavors....I'm not sure how I feel about these. What do you think?" posted Instagrammer @theamazingaldi on July 12. The cans in question are from Aldi's in-house coffee brand, Barissimo. They come in Black Currant Grapefruit and Cucumber Lime Ginger. They're 93 and 94 calories per can, respectively, and according to FoodBeast, these 11-ounce cans go for $1.49 – which is admittedly a steal compared to cold brew from your average coffee shop. But based on the reaction to @theamazingaldi's post, we're not overly confident Aldi shoppers will be stocking up on these.
Fruity coffee could be too hard a sell for Aldi
"I love Aldi. I love cold brew. I love sparkling water. I love cucumber and lime together. But all of those together...It's a pass for me," commented @birdie.72 on @theamazingaldi's Instagram post. Most fellow commenters seemed to share this sentiment. "Sounds nasty. Coffee does not need to be defiled like that," wrote @hikingdiva. "Keep coffee coffee," chimed in @theokkm. @allie_kate_ simply said it all with "Ewwwww.com."
Some Aldi shoppers seemed intrigued just by the novelty of these Barissimo Sparkling Cold Brew Coffees. "Well...I may barf a bit just trying to take a sip...going in about an hour I just may grab one for sh*ts & giggles!" wrote @twnstxi. A much smaller percentage of Instagrammers already know they love these blended beverages. "I just bought these and tried the cucumber lime ginger today and it's AWESOME!" declared @jennyynnej.
Fruit-flavored coffees might sound unconventional, but they're actually nothing new. Starbucks has its Orange Spiced Iced Coffee (via its website), you can get blueberry-flavored java at Dunkin Donuts, and Flavored Coffee has a whole section of fruit varieties for sale. Sparkling coffees, too, have been making their way onto coffee shop menus, according to Martha Stewart, and before Aldi, a whole bunch of smaller brands rolled out their own flavored takes on cups – or cans – of joe that bubble and fizz. Aldi might be making waves with its flavored sparkling cold brews, but this isn't uncharted territory. The only question that remains is, are you going to try these?