I’ve been in an organic juice kick lately, for reasons unknown even to me, so let’s continue that trend by taking a look at Simply Nature’s Organic Orange Banana Strawberry juice, which is available as a seasonal special buy from Aldi stores.

I find it a little odd that it’s in a carton…usually I feel like organic juices are presented in a more premium way, whereas this one just kind of gets lost amidst all the other non-organic drinks on the same shelf. The packaging design is also rather uninspired. Usually I don’t notice or even care about packaging design, but something about this is just so…bland that I almost subconsciously didn’t buy it. (Well, that and the heightened price thanks to the “organic tax”). However, orange pineapple banana just might be my favorite juice of all time, and even though I love pineapple juice, I figured subbing strawberry in for pineapple should still yield some delicious results. And so into the cart it went.

And into my mouth it went. Oh yeah…this is more or less exactly what I was hoping for. It’s got a delicious sweetness to it, while each of the titular flavors get a chance to shine. One of my favorite all time juices is the pineapple orange banana variety, and while this one doesn’t quite match those lofty expectations, it gets a majority of it right. I don’t think the strawberry does as good of a job as the pineapple does, so it won’t be replacing it as my favorite anytime soon, but it’s still a very good, very drinkable juice that I would definitely get again. And the fact that it’s 100% juice is also a nice touch, although there are also a ton of non-organic juices that make that claim, as well.

Speaking of which, there’s one thing I find wrong with most organic juices: they taste no different than non-organic juice. In fact, in many cases there is nothing different from them and organic juice. It’s just the idea that we’re getting something that’s better for us because they weren’t treated with harmful chemicals, or other things that we’d rather not think about touching something that we are going to put into our mouths. Are we? Who knows? But at the end of the day, I do know one thing: whether or not you do, you’re going to pay more for it.

And that adage holds true here: a 64 oz. carton retails for $3.69, or some shit (can’t find pricing online and threw away my receipt). While the price is pretty much in line with Aldi’s typical organic juice offerings, it’s still quite a lot to spend on something with no justifiably different taste, and no additional nutritional benefits, either.

Overall: 7/10. It’s pretty sweet, but it’s an overall delicious juice, with each fruit in the combination tasting like they were all meant to be joined together. It’s not quite as good as the pineapple orange banana variety, but it’s darn good. My biggest complaint is the “organic” designation, which leads to an increased price, but without any additional nutritional benefits or difference in taste. I mean, give me the choice between this and a non-organic version (which would be at least $1 cheaper), and I’d take that one in a heartbeat. I guess some juices are made to be offered up organically…and this just doesn’t feel like it should be one of them. At any rate, based on flavor, it’s fantastic, and one I would definitely get again, so at least there’s that…just not as often as a non-organic version, if they had one of those lying around somewhere.