Sunkist Solar Fusion: Don’t get lured in

The orange-and-black packaging on the Sunkist Solar Fusion tricked me into adding the two-liter to my shopping cart this week. But like the brightly colored clown fish, it was just a setup for the harsh sting of the anemone inside. 

This beverage is an unfortunate blend of energy drink and soft drink — I’ll call it a soft energy drink. It’s infused with caffeine and vitamin B.

When I unscrewed the cap, I got an explosive whiff of mandarin oranges — the syrup-laden, mashed-up-in-a-fruit-cup version. While regular orange Sunkist is a bright soda, neon doesn’t even begin to describe Solar Fusion when poured — it’s the kind of orange that would show up under black light. And whereas orange soda can be opaque, the soft energy drink is just like putting a liquid orange filter into the glass.