Ribena has been a popular drink in the Uk for more than 80 years, having first been developed in the 1930s.
It was originally created as a blackcurrant syrup, high in vitamin C and was given out by the government to children and expectant mothers free of charge during World War II, as fruit with vitamin C was scarce at the time.
Today it’s enjoyed as a squash, but those who consume it regularly might have noticed it tastes a little bit different.
That’s because the drink’s recipe has recently undergone some changes, as has been confirmed by the brand itself. This included adding a natural blackcurrant flavour and removing the polydextrose.
They’ve also ‘very slightly’ reduced the amount of blackcurrant juice the product contains.
This confirmation follows complaints from customers who claimed it tasted ‘weird’ and demanded they ‘bring back the original’.
Taking to Facebook, Paul Thomas Spencer said: ‘I thought it tasted weird, I thought I’d got an odd bottle. It tastes cheap.’
As Kerry Enoch wrote: ‘Bring back the original Ribena from the 1970s, that was delicious.’
And Eddie Platt shared: ‘Nobody’s ever complained about the taste since day one, so why try and improve or fix things that are not broken?’
Mazy Von Peebles added: ‘It was perfect and now undrinkable. Thanks Ribena, kids crying now.’
Speaking about the changes, Sarah Fleetwood, head of marketing for Ribena, said: ‘We set ourselves the challenge of improving our Ribena Blackcurrant squash. The key ingredients remain – we’ve just re-balanced the recipe to deliver more of the unique Ribena taste that we know our consumers love.
‘After a year of trials, we’ve delivered a better tasting drink and in a taste test, two thirds of people preferred the improved recipe.
‘What hasn’t changed is the fact that Ribena is still made with 100% British blackcurrants and performs very favourably on “juice per serve” ratio compared to other squash drinks’.
This isn’t the first time the Ribena recipe has changed though, as it was also notably altered in April 2018, when artificial sweeteners were added to the drink, in response to the introduction of the government’s sugary drink tax.
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