Our Rhubarb and Ginger Has No Added Sugar. Here's What We Used Instead.
Most drinks that claim to be good for you aren't. That's not cynicism — it's label reading. The vitamin drinks lining supermarket shelves typically contain so little of the good stuff that the health claim is technically accurate and practically meaningless. A trace of vitamin C here, a negligible amount of vitamin D there, buried under a list of sweeteners and flavourings doing the actual heavy lifting.
We built Riviera's rhubarb and ginger differently. And this is what that actually means.
No Added Sugar Doesn't Have to Mean No Taste
The standard playbook for reducing sugar in a soft drink is to replace it with artificial sweeteners and hope the flavour holds up. It rarely does. You get a drink that tastes like a slightly hollow version of what it's trying to be, with a lingering aftertaste that reminds you something's missing.
We didn't want to do that.
Riviera's rhubarb and ginger uses fruit juice to maintain the sweetness and depth of flavour — no added sugar, no artificial sweeteners, just the natural sweetness that comes from real fruit. The result is a drink that tastes full and balanced because it genuinely is, not because something synthetic has been added to fake it.
The rhubarb brings tartness. The ginger brings warmth. The fruit juice ties it together. Nothing is pretending to be something it isn't.
On the Subject of Functional Drinks
Walk down any health food aisle and you'll find drinks making bold claims. Immunity boosting. Energy enhancing. Gut supporting. The language is confident. The vitamin quantities, when you check the small print, often tell a different story.
A drink containing 8% of your daily vitamin C is not an immunity booster. It's a soft drink with a marketing budget.
We're not interested in that game. If Riviera is going to make a claim about what's in the can, it needs to be a claim worth making.
Half Your Daily Vitamin C and D. In a Can of Iced Tea.
Riviera's rhubarb and ginger contains 50% of your recommended daily intake of both vitamin C and vitamin D. Not a trace. Not a token amount to justify a label. Half your daily target, in a drink that already tastes the way you want it to.
Vitamin C supports your immune system and helps your body absorb iron. Vitamin D — the one most people in the UK are deficient in, particularly through autumn and winter — supports bone health, muscle function, and immune response. Getting enough of it matters, and getting it from a cold drink you actually want to have is considerably easier than remembering a supplement.
We didn't add these to make the marketing easier. We added them because if you're going to drink something every day, it might as well do something useful.
What This Looks Like in Practice
A can of Riviera rhubarb and ginger is:
- Low calorie
- No added sugar
- Sweetened with fruit juice
- Non-carbonated
- 50% of your daily vitamin C
- 50% of your daily vitamin D
- Naturally brewed in the UK
It's the drink for people who are tired of choosing between something that tastes good and something that's actually good for them. With Riviera, that's not a choice you have to make.
Find Riviera Rhubarb and Ginger in Lincolnshire Co-op stores and independent stockists across the UK, or order online here.