Paper Boat Aamras, Mango Fruit Juice, No Added Preservatives and Colours (Pack of 6, 200ml each)

Paper Boat’s Aamras and Jaljeera drinks are hard to miss in the Tetra Pak jungle of juices and other fruit-based beverages at your local grocery mart. Designed to appeal to your most buried hipster tendencies, just the mere packaging of these drinks makes you want to give them a try, at least once.

It’s not really paper, dummy!

Before we get into how these drinks taste, let’s talk about the packaging. Now you may think the Paper Boat packaging is fresh and inventive, but it’s exactly the same as that of Tzinga, a lemon-flavoured energy drink manufactured by the same parent company – Hector Beverages Pvt. Ltd. However, while the visual impact of Tzinga shouts out ‘cheap’ and ‘desi’ in comparison to its competitor Red Bull, Hector gets it right with Paper Boat. Also the tightly sealed cap and plastic doypack ensures zero spillage and tear, cleverly belying its delicate, paperish look.

The branding on the packs and over social media is all about conjuring up memories of childhood and simpler times. There’s some good copy and some not-so-good, but the message is driven home.

Ever wondered how memories would taste?

Okay, that sounds weird. But the reason why we are stressing so much on how Paper Boat packages and brands its drinks is because for once, the marketing angle actually goes with the contents inside. The minimalist artsy doodles and a nostalgia-inducing tagline – ‘drinks and memories’ – creates a positive anticipation of the flavours. And for the most part, Paper Boat gets it right.

Aamras: Sipping these drinks from their packs may be what the manufacturer intended, but we wanted to pour them out and see how they looked. The Aamras drink has a wonderfully thick consistency and a nice natural colour. Take that first sip and you believe Paper Boat’s claim of ‘No colours. No preservatives. No artificial flavours. Basically none of that junk.’ on the pack (okay okay, you’re a counterculture drink, we get it!).

But then, unfortunately, your taste-buds catch up with that slightly artificial aftertaste, most likely because of the ‘added flavours’ that are explained on the pack as ‘nature-identical flavouring substances’ and is very reminiscent of Maaza. Wait, so is it natural or not?

Nonetheless, Paper Boat’s Aamras is a lesson to other mango-based and mango-flavoured drinks that if you don’t go overboard with the sugar, you may just manage to retain actual mango flavours. Crazy, right?

Pros: Sturdy packaging, close-to-authentic flavours

Cons: Not completely natural tasting, slightly tedious copy and branding

Paper boat’s Aamras is the best tasting fruit juice with no added colours and preservatives.
It is cute & the right size.
My son loves the taste!
I prefer this anyday over aerated drinks with colours & preservatives.

I feel the tetrapack used by Paperboat for 1 litre has defects and is of very low quality. They get damaged during shipping and delivery like many customers have commented. I ordered Bnaturals 1 litre packs in the same shipment and they never get damaged. Juice is good, packaging let it down.

nice product , nicely delivered