Schweppes Slimline Tonic, 12 x 150ml

Product Information

Good, instant fizz, almost sherberty. Delivers a nice dry bitterness; sweet without being overwhelming. Flavour is well rounded. Too sweet, almost syrupy. There’s a lingering bitter aftertaste – not in a nice, snappy way – and not enough other flavour. Quite bland, and not fizzy enough. The acid-drops fragrance whets the appetite for this sharp, lemon-water flavoured tonic. Not very bubbly or complex, but a clean citrus taste and nice bitter balance, not sweet. With “light” tonic waters it’s more complicated, especially if you want to avoid artificial sweeteners. Lidl’s glass bottles, as well as Fever-Tree and Aldi Ridge View, are the only widely available “light” tonic waters that I found which are artificial-sweetener free, using fructose instead, like the standard London Essence, so they are not very low in calories. In fact Lidl’s “light” tonic water has a higher calorie count than some of the standard tonics. Both fructose (“fruit sugar”) and artificial sweetener get a bad rap from the original NOVA classification (the benchmark for identifying ultra-processed foods), but I’d take the former over the latter, which appears in some other premium light tonic waters I looked at – Lidl Deluxe and Morrisons The Best.

Unwanted Food or Drink Products - Once supply conditions are broken, there are a number of factors outside of our control that can affect the quality of a product. Therefore perishable goods such as food and drink cannot be returned.According to Dr Chris Van Tulleken, in his new book Ultra-Processed People, artificial sweeteners may also contribute to weight gain. “A sweet taste in the mouth prepares the body for sugar. If that never arrives, it’s a problem,” he writes, adding that there’s evidence that they may actually decrease our insulin response (something seen in Type 2 diabetes) as well as damaging our gut bacteria. This has a lemon-pitch bitterness but with a sweet aftertaste rather than the other way round. But low fizz. As for the “standard” tonics (rather than premium or diet), almost all are sweetened with a mixture of sugar and artificial sweetener, generally sucralose, aspartame, acesulfame K or saccharin. Not only are they cheaper than sugar, but they now avoid that sugar levy. On flavour grounds, this is often bad news. Sweeteners, particularly saccharin, can be bitter, and especially disgusting to the one in four of us who is very bitter-sensitive. Secondly, manufacturers tend to put too much in, so artificially sweetened drinks are often much sweeter than their sugar-sweetened counterparts. A strong bitter taste of sweetener, which overwhelms any quinine flavour. There’s a fine bubble, but you’ll know you’ve chosen slimline.

This has fermented botanical extracts which sounds posh, as well as a huge 7.7g sugar per 100ml. It tastes slightly soapy, almost medicinal, and dries the mouth a bit – all of which works OK with tonic water, but you wouldn’t want to drink this on its own. Oh dear. Smells like toilet cleaner, with a fake lemon scent. It’s syrupy sweet, and to add insult to injury, it’s flat too. No stars at all. Tastes like slimline – I can taste the sweetener. Very dry and pretty citrussy. Sherberty fizz, rather than big bubbles. I’m not so keen on that. Looks very bubbly, I like that. Really squeezes the edges of your tongue with sherberty flavour, just not enough bitter depth. Would stand alone as a driver’s drink. Bubbles very fine.

Gin and tonic is as British as strawberries and cream – one of those combinations that really come into their own in summer. Gin’s recalibration from granny to groovy over the last decade may have made it the drink of choice year-round, but a G&T sundowner in the garden on a warm evening is still one of the quintessential flavours of the season.