Sugarcane juice is something we’re familiar with only as a popular drink either sold on its own or with the added acidity of kumquat juice at Vietnamese enclaves around Sydney.

So, even though Natural Field has been around Westfield Parramatta — not somewhere people visit for Vietnamese food — for as long as we can remember, we’d never tried their products until we chanced upon this Natural Field with Lemon and Ginger from an acquaintance (of course, because we would never order anything with ginger of our own volition).

The juice is a translucent yellow-colour with green sediment and a heady mix of sweetness, tartness and spiciness. Served chilled and over a lot of ice, the juice tastes much like how it smells with all the pungent flavours hitting the taste buds at the same time: the intense sweetness from the sugarcane, the salivating zesty tartness of the lemon with the fragrant spiciness of the ginger. The ginger gave the drink an interesting carbonated mouthfeel, which usually leaves a clean aftertaste, but the mix of flavours here continue to linger unpleasantly in the aftertaste. We enjoy fresh sugarcane juice and lemonade on their own, but their combination is not balanced with any level of sophistication in this juice.

Suffice to say, this drink is one of the worst we’ve encountered, right down there with the Nokchawon Green Tea Latte and the Moccona Spiced Choc Orange Sensation Latte.

This Natural Field Fresh Sugarcane Juice with Lemon and Ginger contained 1 l. It was produced in Australia and received as a gift from an acquaintance in Sydney, Australia in 2019.