What Were The First-Ever Flavors Of Capri-Sun?

Capri-Sun is one of those childhood lunchbox staples of mine that's still going strong today. There's nothing like that familiar old Capri-Sun juice pouch (which aren't going away, by the way) that is sometimes notoriously hard to puncture but we affectionately love no matter what. I have historically been known to just jab them through the bottom out of complete frustration, however.

While our modern sensibilities have allowed us all to enjoy flavors that run the gamut between cherry to fruit punch, it's interesting to note that the brand has actually been around for longer than you'd probably imagine; nearly 100 years, in fact. It all started when a man named Rudolf Wild created a company called Wild Flavours in 1931, in Heidelberg, Germany which specialized in natural food products with no chemical additives. In 1969, he'd start Capri-Sun (originally spelled Capri-Sonne), and those famous stand-up pouches were born. There were only two flavors back then, neither of them fruit punch. They were lemon and orange.

A form of both of those flavors still exists today. There's a lemonade version of Capri-Sun as well as regular orange. But Capri-Sun's flavor line-up has definitely expanded quite a bit beyond just those two, and I'm wondering if Rudolf Wild would recognize them now.

Capri-Sun comes in many varieties now. They include Apple, Berry, Dragonfruit Punch, Fruit Punch, Lemonade, Mango Pineapple, Mountain Cooler, Pacific Cooler, Mango Passionfruit, Splash Cooler, Strawberry Kiwi, Tropical Punch, Watermelon, and Wild Cherry. If that isn't quite the juice selection, the company also offers a flavored water product called Roarin' Waters, which is sweetened with the sugar-free sweetener stevia. Roarin' Waters flavors include Berry, Fruit Punch, Grape, Strawberry Kiwi, Tropical Punch, and Wild Cherry. The juice versions of Capri-Sun were reformulated in 2022 to contain less overall sugar, thanks in part to the addition of monk fruit; which is a popular way to sweeten kids' drinks without sugar.

That would be enough to make the child version of me's head spin, and it's enough to run circles around me as an adult. Plus, this is quite a far cry from simply lemon and orange. I haven't had an occasion to pick up Capri-Sun in decades, but next time I'm browsing grocery store aisles, I have a feeling I'll be standing in front of those pouches checking out just how many new ones have popped up since the brand was started.