Blue Raspberry-Flavored Minute Maid Is Here, So Get Ready For a Blue Tongue

A while back, pop star, pitchman and culinary innovator Justin Timberlake devised the concept of the “brapberry,” a fruit he created by jamming a blueberry inside of a raspberry and giving it a catchy name. It was honestly kind of mind-blowing that something so revolutionary yet so deviously simple wasn’t already A Thing.

Well we can’t claim that JT has anything to do with the newest addition to Minute Maid’s lineup of sweet 20-ounce bottled beverages, but he should be very into it.

Yep, what you’re looking at is a Blue Raspberry Minute Maid, which has recently started popping up on store shelves here and there. You can expect it to probably taste similar to the universal but surprisingly abstract notion of what “blue raspberry” is supposed to taste like. On a related note, props to Minute Maid for sticking to its guns and not pretending that a raspberry is blue.

The push to suddenly release a bright blue drink based around a faux fruit that was probably invented in a boardroom is no accident. Coverage of the National Association of Convenience Stores show last fall mentioned that the new Minute Maid flavor was developed “after Coca-Cola learned that Blue Raspberry flavors have recently grown in beverages 6% year-over-year.” So though blue raspberry flavors somehow feel like a throwback, they’re apparently in vogue.

As you can see from one of the posts above, this is also part of a broader product push from the Coca-Cola line of beverages, which includes the previously-unveiled Piña Colada flavor of Fanta. I don’t know if anyone should consider mixing those two particular flavors together, but don’t let me stop you.

With brightly-colored drink season (spring and summer, I guess) not far off, expect to find this fluorescent blue beverage in coolers across the country not long from now. Go blue or go home.