What are Snapple Elements?
First launched in 1999 and discontinued in the mid-2000s, the Snapple Elements line associated inventive fruit flavors with natural phenomena. Snapple has re-launched the line starting with three flavors: Fire (dragon fruit), Rain (agave cactus), and Air (prickly pear and peach white tea).
Now with updated formulas, Snapple Elements contain no artificial sweeteners and 45% less sugar than other Snapple varieties.
How are they?
If you loved Snapple Elements enough to buy one of the original curvy glass bottles on eBay or sign an online petition begging for their return, this review is for you. Although my memories of the line are not clear enough to compare the old and new formulas, I’m here to report my experience, unclouded by a nostalgic haze. If only your Tamagotchi were alive to see this!
The ruby red Fire variety achieves its dragon fruit flavor through a mixture of pear and grape juice concentrates and natural flavors. While dragon fruit is a mild flavor that is difficult to get right, Fire gets it pretty close. It tastes like sweet pear enriched with subtle floral notes.
Rain’s agave cactus flavor was most intriguing. I associate cactus flavor with prickly pear flavor, sometimes with a hint of sourness, and the drink delivers shades of this expectation. It tastes like watered-down white grape juice (which does not appear in the ingredients list) mixed with mild pear and agave (which do). A subtle ribbon of tartness runs through the drink, and the agave’s flavor smoothes it out. The flavor is pleasantly light, refreshing, and subtle in a way that reminds me of drinking coconut water or aloe water. Rain was definitely the most unique drinking experience of the three flavors, and approaching it with an open mind and nebulous expectations made it easy to enjoy.
Finally, Air promises prickly pear and peach white tea flavors. Ironically, it is the only variety of the three not to contain pear juice or even much pear flavor. Its ingredients (white tea, acerola fruit extract, and natural flavors) contribute to a mellow peachy flavor paired with the crispness of white tea.
Although each contains a decent amount of added sugar, all varieties taste light, refreshing, and highly palatable. I would choose any one of them over Snapple’s current juice offerings, which (despite my affinity for Kiwi Strawberry) I find too sweet to finish in one sitting.
Anything else you need to know?
I struggled to locate all three varieties in my area, so stock up if you find your favorite. Also, although Snapple has swapped its iconic glass bottles for plastic, the Snapple facts printed beneath the caps live on. Did you know that humans can encourage precipitation with cloud seeding? Diploma, please!
Conclusion:
All three Snapple Elements flavors provide light, refreshing flavor experiences which are exciting contributions to the brand’s current line-up. Nostalgia aside, I hope the Elements line expands.
Purchased Price: $1.39 (Target) and $7.99 (Amazon)
Size: 15.9 fl oz bottles
Purchased at: Target (Fire and Rain) and Amazon (Air)
Rating: 7 out of 10 (Fire), 8 out of 10 (Rain), 7 out of 10 (Air)
Nutrition Facts: (1 bottle) Fire – 110 calories, 0 grams of fat, 10 milligrams of sodium, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 25 grams of sugar (including 20 grams added sugars) , and 0 grams of protein. Rain – 110 calories, 0 grams of fat, 10 milligrams of sodium, 25 grams of carbohydrates, 25 grams of sugar (including 19 grams added sugars), and 0 grams of protein. Air – 110 calories, 0 grams of fat, 10 milligrams of sodium, 25 grams of carbohydrates, 25 grams of sugar (including 25 grams added sugars), and 0 grams of protein.
I still don’t understand what these flavours have to do with the elements.
And oh my gosh!!! I remember searching high and low and making so many phone calls to stores in the constant search of my own Tagamotchi! I suppose my wise parents had the attitude of “If she really wants it, she’ll put in the leg work.” What can I say, determination is a strength of mine. That special trip to Bigg’s to purchase my allowance money will never be forgotten.
purchase my Tamagotchi with my*
(another strength is getting really excited and letting typos fly because my fingers can’t keep up with my mind…)
I always loved Snapple elements back in middle school & high school. Rain was always my favorite, fire was a close 2nd (since I like dragonfruit juice, another goodie is Vitamin Water: power-C)
Rain was really good, at that time, I didn’t know what agave even was lol, but I knew I liked that cactusy taste.
I’ve been petitioning to bring the elements back since I was a junior in HS ? and I’m glad they’re back… True, they’re not in glass bottles, we all know what happened to the Brisk and other teas when they went plastic, but I’m sure plastic will be better than when elements went to aluminum cans *yuck, that was awful*
I don’t know if they’re going to re-release the others (i.e. lightning and such, which imo was gross, it was like Pepsi nitro, flat, too sweet and off tasting) but I’m glad the 2 main ones I drank are back in action.
I’m going to Fred Meyer today to buy them since they’re in stock, so excited!!
I can easily tell you what these three (Amusingly, all of the main fruits featured are Succulents) have to do with the elements featured.
First, let’s go with the easiest, Fire. It’s a Dragon Fruit. Not only a firey-looking fruit but one that only grows on succulents in hot areas.
Second, Rain. The Agave Cactus is known for its light sweet juice, and specifically, fermented for tequila. It’s one of the cacti you are told to look for in hot areas if you need to find water and is usually harvested after the rainy season for its juices.
Third, and the hardest, Air. Now, as someone who has lived in an area where the Prickly Pear is common, the fruit can be very sweet and red, but looking at the bottle (I haven’t tried it yet), They didn’t use that variety; possibly a different variety. This isn’t well known, but the Prickly Pear is one of the fruit commonly fertilized by nectar bats, and I’m sure the peach tea makes it a more refreshing version. It’s also one of the few edible succulents that thrive in cooler areas as well as hotter areas. I personally consider it one of the United States’ most common edible succulents. That’s the best I have for an excuse for Air, sorry.
I finally found all 3 of these in Cincinnati at Kroger and on sale for $1 too! I loved them all I agree very light and refreshing
I remember the fire version had a, let’s say, viagra-like effect, at least on me…hehehe. No lie…
Snapple is disgusting. I found one of these on the store and they’re horrible. I hate Dragon Fruit to begin with. I tried the Prickly Pear one and didn’t like it at all. The flavors are nothing new or inventive either.
I have to say I am a bit disappointed. Yeah sure I got a fire after years of wishing they would bring back the elements, but they changed the formula and another reason people loved the elements outside of there flavor was that they was healthy and I mean healthy energy drinks at the time in the early 90s and 2000s. They had ginseng in it and b12 and other natural vitamins in it that helped boost energy levels. Same with Sobe Dragon’s dragonfruit. We had health energy drinks and loved them ,but now Snapple brought back a joke to our memories. Sure they taste good but nothing to what they used to taste like or the vitamins that used to be in the drink. Like snapple used to rule the world on their drinks and there amazing flavors and then one night all there amazing drinks disappeared and now they make joke drinks….like the apple juice….seriously going to sub it with pear juice….pear…..apple juice should taste like apples not pears…..smh. When a customer begs you to bring back something they love for years and years and years you don’t change the recipe and shit on what they love.
I’m curious on how old you are? I’ll be 35 in January 2023. I was just wondering because I thought maybe you were in the same grade I was in and maybe had the same sense of nostalgia tied to these drinks as I do. If so then your comment makes me upset for what Im expecting them to taste like. I havent came across them yet because I just found out they brought them back. Im hoping when I taste the rain one that 2001 when music videos were the best on mtv2 before school or some memories like that get triggered, ya know?!
I wish they would bring back Spark, it was a carrot juice infused one from the old line-up.
The original Elements drinks were energy drinks and tasted a lot better. The new formulas are watered down versions of the original recipes. They are a let down. Whether some want to call such an observation “nostalgic” are ignoring how good things could be again and how CHEAP Snapple is being instead.
This. That was my exact thought when I first tried one of them (Fire), it’s just like a watered down version. It’s sad too, because I was so excited when I seen they were bringing back the Element series, I really loved those things. 🙁
I’ve been wanting these back for almost 20 years. It was a shocking surprise to see these in a cooler at Walgreens. My favorite was Rain, and still is rain. Everyone talks about them being watered down or not tasting the same. I drank rain every day as long as Snapple made it. When it disappeared I had to find another drink which was unfortunately not healthy. I bought two rains today and I remember the flavor like it was yesterday. To me I don’t notice any difference in the taste at all. This is once again my go to drink and will be unless it is stopped being made again.