Oasis Blueberry Sparkling Drink 350ml: The Blueberry Ade in a Can

On drink menus, "ade" is shorthand for a fruit-flavoured fizzy drink: the lemonade idea, with the fruit swapped out. So a search for blueberry ade in the UAE nearly always means the same thing, which is blueberry flavour, bubbles, and a serve that is properly cold.

Two things are worth clearing up before you order. First, this is a carbonated fruit-flavoured soft drink in a sealed 350ml can, so it pours clear and fizzy rather than thick or creamy. Second, blueberry ade also turns up in the UAE as a chilled pouch, and as something mixed to order behind a cafe counter. Those are different products with a different texture and a different serve. What is described on this page, start to finish, is the Oasis 350ml sparkling can.

Pour it into a glass and the colour tells you most of what you need to know. It is a deep purple-red rather than a cartoon blue. The first mouthful is sweet the way cooked berries are sweet, rounder and darker than a berry sweet, and then a light tartness arrives at the back of the palate and keeps the whole thing from going flat.

The carbonation is fine rather than aggressive. It carries the flavour instead of scrubbing it away, which matters with a heavier fruit like this one. Straight from the fridge it is crisp and the finish is quick. Let the can sit out and warm up and it turns syrupy, so temperature does more work with blueberry than it does with the lighter flavours in the range.

If you already know one Oasis flavour, this table places blueberry next to the two it is most often compared with.

The gentler option is the strawberry sparkling drink, which is the easiest can to hand round to guests you do not know well. At the other end sits the green apple sparkling drink, which leads with sourness. Blueberry falls between the two on sweetness and well past both on depth.

Give the can at least four hours in the fridge, or twenty minutes in a bucket of ice and water if guests are already at the door. Blueberry needs the cold more than the citrus flavours do. Chilled hard, the tart edge stays clean and the sweetness stays in proportion.

Tilt the glass and pour down the side so you keep the bubbles. A tall glass packed with ice suits this flavour better than most: the slight dilution opens the berry note out and stops it reading as heavy. A wedge of lime on the rim, a sprig of mint, or a few frozen berries dropped in are enough to turn a can into something you would put in front of a guest without apologising for it.

Dark berry and cream is an old pairing and it does most of the work here. The can earns its place next to:

• Cheesecake, particularly a burnt Basque one, and plain vanilla ice cream.
• Dark chocolate, brownies and anything with a cocoa edge to it.
• Pancakes, waffles and the rest of a weekend brunch table.
• Bingsu and other shaved-ice desserts, where the fizz lifts the milk and ice.
• Fried chicken, grilled meat and spicy noodles, where the bubbles cut the richness.

It also holds its own against food that would flatten a lighter flavour. Korean fried chicken with a sticky glaze, a plate of tteokbokki, or a heavily spiced grill will all bury a delicate soda. Blueberry has enough body to answer back.

Build it over crushed ice with lemon juice and a few bruised mint leaves, then top the glass with the can and stir once, gently. Add a rosemary sprig if you are serving it at a table rather than a counter. The colour does the presentation for you, which is the main reason this flavour turns up in glasses at gatherings rather than being drunk straight from the can.

Cans are easier than bottles when you are hosting. There is no pouring round, no half-finished jug going warm on the table, and everything stays cold in one ice bucket. For a majlis table, a birthday, an iftar spread or an office fridge, a tray of mixed flavours with blueberry as the dark one on it looks deliberate rather than thrown together.

The 24-can blueberry carton is the format for that. One carton covers a gathering with cans to spare, keeps a household stocked through a month of school runs and long afternoons, and takes the repeat ordering off your list. Cafes, home bakers and small shops order the same carton for the same reason, and it is the sensible unit once you know you like the flavour.

Blueberry is the flavour to taste before you commit. Buy a single Oasis Blueberry Sparkling Drink 350ml can, drink it properly cold, and you will know within two sips whether the carton is for you. It is common to expect blueberry to be the sweetest of the set and then find that the tart finish is the part you want again.

If you would rather taste across the range first, the single cans collection carries every flavour in the 350ml size, so you can put together your own mixed set and work out which one deserves a carton in the store cupboard.

The drink is halal. It is produced under HACCP controls and made to UAE standards, and a certificate of analysis is available on request for trade buyers who need documentation for their own files.

For ingredients and allergen information, read the printed label on the can. That label is the authoritative source and it is the one we point every customer to, rather than repeating details second-hand on a web page.

Order the single 350ml can or the 24-can carton directly from the store. Delivery is within the UAE only, and UAE delivery is free on orders above AED 300. Payment is online or by bank transfer.

If you are buying for a shop, a cafe or an office and need more than a single carton, send the details through and we will confirm availability before you place the order.