Aguas Frescas at Cancun Juice - Santa Ana

I don't know how much money I've wasted over the years on smoothies from that national smoothie chain that rhymes with "samba shoes". I say "wasted" because every time I get one, I always realize three things:

1. It's expensive.

2. It's got a weirdly tart and artificial after-taste.

3. It harbors more calories than a Big Mac.

But now I know better. Now when I crave something cold and fruity, I get an agua fresca.

It turns out that aguas frescas are the drinks I actually wanted when I thought I wanted a smoothie. It fulfills my requirements of something fruit-juicy without just being fruit juice. And best of all, aguas frescas are cheap, finishes clean, and has slightly fewer calories than a smoothie.

My go-to place for aguas frescas right now is Cancun Juice, which has only four locations in OC, three of which happen to be where I usually am anyway.

They have a vast selection of flavors which I will list here, all of them made to order.

WATERMELON
PINEAPPLE
MANGO
CANTALOUPE
PAPAYA
LEMONADE
LIMON
STRAWBERRY
ALFALFA
HORCHATA
JAMAICA
TAMARINDO
GUAYABA
GUANABANA

The watermelon tastes, well, like watermelon. It's as if they took a couple of fresh-cut wedges and then just liquified them in a blender.

The strawberry tastes, well, like strawberries! My point is this: these are straight-up, real fruit flavors uninterrupted by the distraction of yogurt, sherbet, or whatever additive those smoothie chains dump in their drinks to make it so sickly sweet.

I'm now committed to Cancun Juice's $2 aguas frescas over smoothies as my frivolous drink purchase of choice.

Cancun Juice
2302 S. Bristol #D
Santa Ana, CA 92704
(714) 668-9588

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