
I took yesterday off for an unscheduled mental health day, but we are back and ready to finish out this competition by this weekend. Things not going to plan wound up being the theme of this semi-final.
#3 LaCroix Tangerine

Do you like Cuties but find the effort of unwrapping them a bit more work than you want to do? Do you like gently essenced sparkling water? Then this is the drink for you.
I won’t call this stuff a bright ray of sunshine since that’s far too bold a flavor. Instead, let’s call is a stray beam of sunlight on an otherwise overcast day. Not as bright but still a delight in its own right.
Yes, I’ve descended to the point of making internal rhymes. This is fine.
#7 Trader Joe’s Cranberry & Lime

Your eyes are not deceiving you; that is indeed not a photograph of the correct flavor.
I had a corner of the fridge sectioned off for bracket contenders, which kept us from accidentally drinking what I needed to complete this year’s bubble bracket.
However, because the cans are so similar, I hung on to the wrong cans from Trader Joe’s and didn’t realize it until it was time for the semi-finals.
I had to go from memory, an even fainter echo of flavor than your typical seltzer.
Winner
Tangerine advances on a technicality, which seems like a weak way to make it into the finals, but I genuinely believe it would have beaten the right Trader Joe’s beverage fair and square. And clearly so did all my readers, because it was the most picked sparkling water to make it into the finals by everyone who filled out a bracket.
Tomorrow, two essenced LaCroix will battle it out for this year’s crown. Who do you think will win it all?
