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Crossing Broad Product Review: Wawa’s Gritty Smoothie
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Wawa released a limited-edition Gritty smoothie in May and we’re just getting around to reviewing it now.
According to the promotional photos, and this large cutout of the Gritster at the Skippack Wawa, it originally came in a custom cup, but they must have run out of them a while ago. I got the smoothie without whipped cream and just had them put the chocolate chips on top of the drink itself:
The ingredients include a mix of pineapple and mango base with tart cherry syrup. It’s an orange smoothie for an orange mascot, and honestly, it was very good. I feel like the “tart” description of the cherry is misleading. It wasn’t sour at all. In fact, the cherry made for a very nice and subtle flavor on the back end, while the pineapple and mango combined for a tropical flavor.
You know those beer snobs who make the fancy IPA with the way-too-long description, and they say that something includes “notes” of a certain taste? Like there are “notes” of coriander and Madagascar vanilla or whatever. That’s what I think the cherry is here. I think you can taste “notes” of cherry to give it a unique and different kind of flavor.
I couldn’t find the Gritty smoothie on the Wawa nutritional facts page, so I just entered a 24 ounce Mango Pineapple smoothie with whipped cream and it shows 540 calories with 114 grams of sugar, which is 160% of your daily value. No wonder I was wired as shit last night. But I ate a salad for dinner, so it’s all good. It’s a dessert drink, right? You’re not buying this every day. That’s the whole point. It’s all about moderation.
The only issue I had with the Gritty smoothie was eating the chocolate chips. Probably my fault since I didn’t get the whipped cream, but what happened is that after drinking the smoothie the chocolate chips settled at the bottom of the cup. So I tried to drink them out of the bottom with the straw, which was hit or miss. Then I tilted the cup sideways and used the straw to kind of push the chips towards the end of the cup and get them out that way. Picture yourself getting to the bottom of a Slurpee, and there’s a little bit of ice left at the bottom, but you can’t get it out with the straw. So you use the butt end of the straw like a half-assed spoon and make it work.
Overall, the smoothie was very good. I’d give it an 8.4 out of 10. It’s my fault for not getting there earlier in the promotion to receive the special Gritty cup.
Just a reminder, by the way, that Wawa never fell off. All these people out here – “oh Wawa has really gone down in quality over the years.” Fuck outta here. Wawa is king. If you don’t like it, go to the Sheetz in Royersford with Russ Joy.
Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com