Did you also know that Snapple made an offshoot of their classic teas called Snapple Elements? That’s a real-life, honest to goodness, Snapple fact. But with names like Rain, Fire, and Air, we’re not talking real elements here. They should have had names like Plutonium, Xenon, and Tungsten. Is this the reason Snapple Elements are as rare as Astatine (the Earth’s rarest element—look it up)? Let’s discuss Snapple Elements.
What are Snapple Elements?
The Snapple Elements line was released in 1999. As a brand, Snapple already had some great gimmicks. Their tagline “Made From the Best Stuff on Earth” was ubiquitous, and their commercial spokeswoman Wendy the Snapple Lady belongs in the Brand Mascot Hall of Fame, right next to Spuds McKenzie and the Budweiser Frogs.
Snapple’s Elements line focused more on “elements” per Captain Planet—fire, rain, earth, etc—rather than actual elements. The release coincided with a lot of brands turning their focus from caffeinated teas and sugary sodas to fruit drinks; Fruitopia is a competing example that also didn’t last.
Snapple Elements came in a funky-shaped glass bottle that screams Boy Band era. It eventually grew to include 15 fruit juice flavors, three tea flavors, and six energy drink flavors, with each having a bright color that hinted to the flavors trapped inside.
How many Snapple Elements flavors are there?
The original Snapple Elements flavors were Fire (dragonfruit), Rain (agave cactus), Earth (grape-cranberry), and Sun (starfruit-orange). You can tell right off the bat that they are trying to be the quirky, manic pixie dream girl of the fruit drink world.
Later fruit juice flavors included things like Spark (mandarin carrot), Turbulence (shredded lemon), Sky (passion fruit), Lightning (ginseng black tea), and Metal (blood orange energy-infused). They honestly sound more like American Gladiators than elements.
Why did Snapple discontinue Elements?
Snapple Elements were discontinued in 2005 due to lagging sales. Those lagging sales probably had to do with a culture change around “health” foods. While fruit drinks like these positioned themselves as a healthy alternative to soda, they were still chock-full of sugar. In the case of Snapple Elements, that meant high fructose corn syrup. Oh, how naive we were.
Eventually, Snapple had to reckon with their sugar sins with a series of lawsuits in the early 2010s. Apparently, “the best stuff on Earth” is not supposed to include high fructose corn syrup, a prominent ingredient in all of their teas, not just the recently deceased Snapple Elements. After these suits, Snapple switched over to regular sugar, which is now the second ingredient listed. It’s still pretty much the same, it’s just not trying to trick us with all that corn nonsense.
Where can you buy Snapple Elements?
For those fans of Snapple Elements who wept for their demise, your day of redemption finally came in 2022 with the relaunch of the brand. There are now five flavors: Rain (agave cactus), Fire (dragonfruit), Air (prickly pear and peach white), Earth (cherry and fig), and Sun (starfruit, orange, and nectarine). (We included them in our most recent tasting of all the Snapple flavors.) They’ve toned down the wacky glass bottles for a more subdued plastic, and they can be bought in many grocery stores or online.
I, for one, am patiently waiting for the Snapple flavors that go full-on American Gladiator mode: Laser, Tower, Hawk, and Nitro.
Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!