Today we were at IKEA doing some Christmas shopping (mostly looking, actually, being the poor students that we are) and eating. The restaurant is not bad at all, and very cheap. They also have this little shop just before the exit with a bunch of Swedish products. You can find sweets, jam, köttbullar (meatballs) and, naturally, salmon – both fresh and smoked. You can also find a series of (mainly) apple-based (i.e. cider) alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. These are labeled “ekologisk” which, according to the translation on the back, means that it is organic. We’ll come to that a bit later. I chose an “Äppeldryck med Hjortronsmak” (appledrink with cloudberry flavour) and Kynthia chose a “Kolsyrad Pärondryck” (sparkling pear drink). We’ll try to briefly describe our impressions below.
Kolsyrad Äppeldryck med Hjortronsmak
(appledrink with cloudberry flavour)
“Ok. I’m no expert on cider, but this drink smells more like cider than it tastes like cider. It tastes rather sweet, which is due to the added sugar. According to Wikipedia, this is normal for Swedish cider. After the first sip, I asked myself “where are the berries”? The second sip didn’t answer the question, nor did the next 35 for that matter. I didn’t taste the alcohol either at first, but after drinking the whole 500 mL can I felt a tiny bit tipsy, so there definitely is alcohol in there. The overall flavor is pleasant and the bubbles make it very refreshing, but I’m not all that impressed.
A great letdown is that, please correct me if I’m wrong, the drink is not actually organic, as stated on the can, but simply contains many organic ingredients (denoted by stars on the ingredients list). It also contains citric acid as an additive, which is not harmful as such, but it is definitely not produced organically, and the preservative potassium metabisulfite. I’m not sure if this is even legal, since the label is rather misleading, but I won’t so far as to make accusations since I’m not familiar with legal issues concerning organic food and labeling.
Anyway, for 1.35€ for a 500mL can it didn’t really impress me, although it has an interesting taste, so I probably won’t be buying it again. I can’t say that it’s badly spent money though, it was just a mildly unsuccessful experiment.” – Alex
Kolsyrad Pärondryck
(sparkling pear drink)
As for the sparkling pear drink, well, it wasn’t impressive either. Maybe I should have served it ice cold as suggested, but I was very thirsty so I just drank it there and then, at room temperature. The first few sips tasted like sugar water with pear flavor; it was a bit too sugary for my taste. As for the pear, it was quite subtle at first, but after a while it was apparent. Actually, as Alex already stated, I’d say it smelled like pear rather than tasted like pear. I don’t know if the aroma coming out of the can was artificial or not, but it added a lot to the overall image of the ‘pear drink’.
The sparkling feeling was nice though; I even joked I could try to replace Coke light with it (being quite an addict – how green! 
). Of course, that was only the excitement of trying something new. After a little while, as the drink grew warmer, I started losing interest more and more. Since Alex wasn’t very fond of it either, the can ended up in a trash bin, half-empty.
Overall, it wasn’t the best buy I’ve ever done. For 1€ (this one is non-alcoholic, so it is probably cheaper due to lower taxation) for half-a-500mL can, it was somewhat disappointing. I must admit, though, that I’m willing to buy it again and taste it ice-cold, as I suppose it affected my judgment a lot.” – Kynthia
Taking all the above into consideration and having tasted the smoked salmon today, I’d say that IKEA seems to be much more successful in edible stuff than in beverages. Not to mention furniture, of course .
