Sparkling water has experienced a major popularity boom in recent years, and although La Croix is the undeniable leader of the seltzer pack, Trader Joe's recently debuted four new flavors of its own sparkling water that will surely give the Wisconsin-born brand a run for its money.
The grocery chain announced the bubbly news in a blog post last week, explaining that "each bottle contains water drawn from carefully selected sources in the U.S., which is then infused with bubbles to create a crisp mouthfeel." Crisp mouthfeel! That's our favorite kind of mouthfeel! Plus regional water sources, cool. The new Trader Joe's seltzer flavors are: Pineapple, Island Colada (so...pineapple + coconut), Grapefruit, and Cranberry Clementine. Island Colada definitely got the winning name here.
According to the post, the sparkling water features "NO sugar, and NO artificial sweeteners." The seltzer comes in 1 liter bottles on the East Coast and 1.25 liter sizes on the west coast, and all retail for a whopping 99 cents — a similar price point to La Croix, which is available in 12-packs of 12 oz. cans for anywhere between $4 and $6. One thing Trader Joe's doesn't have on La Croix? The fact that they come in cans, cans that have the best label of all time.
Trader Joe's has been keeping up with food trends in all the right ways lately: They recently released gluten-free cauliflower pizza crust, tiny avocados we love, and a $4 four-pack of conveniently purse-sized canned wines. Plus, TJ's created a package of frozen cauliflower rice that is so popular it had to be rationed in multiple locations in the tristate area. They're a force that can't be stopped.