Iced Tea - 901 Reviews

I went over to my Mom's house a couple months ago and she was drinking this green algae like drink. I was puzzled because the only things I ever see her drinking is iced coffee or diet soda. When I inquired about it, she started going on about how it's this amazing Matcha drink and it's better than coffee. I tried it and it tasted good, so she sent me home with a few packets.

I finally got around to trying it out myself. The green powder doesn't really mix with water very well. It felt like I was stirring it for a good 3 minutes and I am still finding little chunks in it as I'm drinking. The taste though, just as I remembered, is incredible. It's a lot like the green smoothie drinks that Bolthouse and Naked sells, but not as thick and more fruit flavors in it. I can't pinpoint any, but the website for this says it's made with pomegranates and blueberries mixed with the matcha (which is a type of green tea).

Before I started drinking this I was feeling a bit sleepy, but I'm halfway through the glass and I'm already feeling more awake. I'm glad my mom gave me a few packets so it will hold me over until I have a chance to buy some more.

Can Nature promise me that all of this dumb snow will be gone by the next time I look out the window. I know I live in Buffalo and I should be used to it. I am, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. I could move out of Buffalo, but that's where I keep all my stuff. What would I do with all my stuff? STUFF!!!???

Now that I've worked myself up into a tizzy I should probably drink this tea, as it has chamomile in it and it will help calm down my winter rage. First and foremost this tea has a strong oolong taste to it. Like yerba mate, oolong has a very distinct taste. It also looks dumb written out, as no words should start with two Os. So there you have it. This is a very strong, natural tasting tea. It has some lemon in it, but not in the cleaning spray way. It just helps the tea flavor shine instead of trying to run the show. That is the way lemon should behave. Know your place lemons! If children should be seen and not heard then lemons should be noticed, but not overbearing. Actually nothing in the world should be overbearing…€¦well except bears. They can do whatever they want.

I don't know anything about Rush Limbaugh except he's wildly Republican. My grandpa used to love him. Every time I went to my grandparent's house he would be sitting on the same chair with headphones on listening to "Rush." "Don't bother him, he's listening to his "Rush." grandma would say. He would be fine once those headphones were off but when they were on, don't bother him.

Now my grandpa can't drink this with me today unfortunately but I think that he would like to drink a bottle of unsweetened tea with a young Rush Limbaugh's fat face on it. Not to mention the tea is in a wonderfully decorated bottle with foil and full color print. I don't normally point those things out, but it has to be mentioned. The tea? A standard black tea. That's good though because so many people screw it up. He/They did it right. Good job, guys.

If you've got a grandpa, buy this tea and drink it with him while you still have time. Tell him something like, "Grandpa, I know I wear shirts with swear words on it, have a bad haircut, pierced ears, and a tattoo that says something in a language that you fought against in WWII, but let's share a beverage you and I.”

On the very tip top of the mountains of Toronto that are the skyscrapers there is a little bit of heaven that contains not one, but two gardens. One of those gardens is made of stones, which are moved around for the use of relaxation and meditation. The second garden grows but one thing: green tea. Did I mention that monks run the upper ten floors of this monstrous building? They are not your typical monks. They are urban monks. They wear hoodies with white zippers, raw denim and Beats by Dre cans that they listen to their chants on. It's a modern world and even the old customs are acclimating. In the early morning the monks make their way to the roof where they tinker around in the rock garden until they have reached their daily-allotted enlightenment. Then it is time to hand pick the tea leaves and take them to the 27th floor where they are dried and brewed into the products that help sustain their modern way of life.

In my first review of an Urban Zen tea I mentioned that I thought it was going to be green tea and aloe, due to the color and shape of the bottle. Guess what? That is exactly what this one is, and it's magical. It's like someone mixed a mango flavored bubble tea (hold the tapioca balls) and mixed it with an “original” flavored aloe drink (you know the kind that has the slight white grape flavor to it). Of course there are chunks of aloe in it, but they are not as plentiful as a lot of their competitors products. I'm okay with that though because the flavor more than makes up for it. It's extremely flavorful and sweet in all the right ways.

Next time you find yourself in Canada dish out the $2-3 a bottle of this cost and help the monks afford those new Samurai jeans they have had their collective eyes on. Remember enlightenment isn't everything.

Down in North Carolina natural streams careen down from the peaks of the Appalachian Mountains. Arcadia Farms uses that fresh water to make their personal take on southern sweet tea. It's too bad that they use the water directly from the streams and don't take any measures to “clean it up.” There is just a pump that sucks the water directly from the stream out back on the Arcadia land into the vat that they make their tea in. Don't they know that squirrels, coyotes and various other fauna do their business in that water? Maybe I can't prove that they actual do that, but I think I might believe someone if they told me that after having tasted this tea. It doesn't really taste like tea at all. It tastes more like extremely heavily sugared dirty water. I can get by the insane sugar taste since it is sweet tea after all. I cannot get past the fact that it doesn't taste like tea; you know the main ingredient in “tea.” The strange thing is that the ingredients list …€˜brewed tea,” which generally means that you're in for a good beverage. Somehow the Farm got it all wrong.

Guayaki is a company that knows what they are doing, and what they are doing is making yerba mate based beverages that are nothing if not delicious. This is the 9th product of theirs that we have reviewed and so far they have all received either 4 or 5 out of 5 bottles. That is a rare thing indeed in the world of these Thirsty Dudes.

For those of you not familiar with it, yerba mate is essentially a tea. Does tea have to be made from a specific plant, or is it just any plant that is steeped in hot water? I think I'm safe referring to this as a tea. I've heard others do it, so I'm going to follow suit. As with all teas it has its own distinct taste, that is hard to describe, but once you've had it, you'll always be able to place the flavor. It's been compared to green tea, but I don't really see it at all. Both are a tad on the bitter side, but yerba mate has an earthier flavor to me.

Guayaki has been making this tea for years and recently has started producing a sparkling line. I for one love it. Tea based sodas are always hit or miss, but this is an inner circle bulls eye. The yerba mate flavor is right in the center and it's softened up a bit by some sweetener and a mixture of cranberry and pomegranate juice. What we have here are three bitter flavors, which could easily take all of the moisture out of your mouth, but instead blend together in a perfect way. Both of the juices are easily recognizable in the taste, but they are living in harmony together instead of fighting to see who will solo in the spotlight. I suppose that is because they both know that they will only ever be supporting characters in this drink; yerba mate is taking them all the way to Broadway.

I will start this review off with a quote from Editor Dan, “Holy crap it tastes as good as it smells!” Let me tell you people this is one of the most nasal cavity pleasing I have ever took a sniff of. Well that doesn't sound appealing at all. Seriously though the fruity vanilla aroma that emits from this bottle is what I imagine the perfect island paradise to smell like. It smells wonderful, but it's not too strong like those candy perfumes that your younger sister wore in the 90s. This is a classy island smell.

It also tastes like it smells: classy. The secret here is that this is not your everyday black or green tea in this bottle. It is an “herbal extract” that is a combination of hibiscus, rosehips, vanilla beans, raspberry leaves and lemon peel. To be honest Good Drink could have stopped right there, and I would have a drink that I loved. The folks at the company had a larger vision though. Theirs was a vision of a national takeover of the teas of Canada (to be fair, not a large take over at all) and they did the unthinkable, they added mango to an already stellar drink. The result: magic in a bottle, well almost. Everything about this beverage would be absolutely perfect if they slightly changed but one thing. There is a tad too much vanilla in this tea. It smoothes it out more than a tea should be and it pushes it almost to the dangerous level of potpourri taste. Luckily it doesn't reach that line and it still tastes delectable. This tea will easy run the tea empire of Canada, but if the vanilla were a little less, I'm thinking Good Drink could take on the world. Think about it George, you could be a global power. Doesn't that sound appealing?

The flavors behind this drink take you where you want to go when you retire, around the world. Tea taste? Present. Lemon taste? Wildly present. Coffee/espresso taste? Lacking. The lemon though, man...there in full effect like Reggie. I don't know what an espresso tea is since none of the ingredients are reflective of anything coffee related. The tea, though, is a sweet lemon tea. Although I assume it's black, I can't taste because of the sweet lemon going on in the forefront.

I didn't know what to expect with this drink because I thought that I was going to get a trifecta of flavors but instead, I only got a duo. Instead of getting the Thompson Twins, I got Tears For Fears. Instead of Beastie Boys, I got Lightning Bolt. I was discounted by 33.3% and I think that I would have rather gotten the full lineup.

Welcome to Tea Shop 168 where we have 168 different flavors of tea. I know it's a bit overwhelming making your choice, but I'll let you in on a secret: 142 of the flavors are different blends of green tea that pretty much taste identical unless you went to school for teaology. I don't really believe that's a real major, but the owners assure me they are teaologists. They probably went to Evergreen in Olympia…€¦hippies.

I know 27 different varieties of tea can still be a bit much to choose from, so may I suggest you try our aloe vera green tea fusion? It's an interesting ride. Some say that it is just green tea with aloe chunks thrown in. Those people are just dumb. I know. I make the tea and I can assure you that there is also aloe vera juice in it. It is mostly green tea, but you can still definitely taste the aloe juice. It's strange having a slightly bitter aloe drink, and the chunks have a fairly different flavor from what you're probably used to, assuming that you have had aloe drinks before. Oh you haven't? Well aloe essentially tastes like a light white grape juice with a little something extra to it. It's delicious, and I can't sing it's praises enough.

So yeah, this is unusual and fun. It certainly isn't mind blowing, but when you're choosing either this or some tea infused with raw meat, it's the choice to make. Teaology…€¦What a joke. The owners just soak random foods in green tea and act like they are scientists. They don't even wear lab coats or goggles. Lamers.

ps. I just discovered that Tea Shop 168 is an actual tea shop with a physical stores all throughout Ontario. AS far as I know they do not have 142 different types of green tea. Also, I can only assume that they do have roast beef tea, as their website does not explicitly state that they do not. Don't forget your horseradish.

Black tea is the old man. White tea is the young buck. Green tea is the grandpa. Red tea is the teenager, confused on what to do with life. Bad haircuts, ill fitting clothes, questionable taste in music, and so much more. It's like a midlife crisis but done as a young kid so it's like a quarter life crisis. You date people younger than you and people are starting to talk. You started to see this strawberry and that's not a traditional thing for tea to do. It's a kid flavor and you should be on your way to become an adult tea. You should be seeing other red teas but you aren't a conformist. You do what you want. You are your own tea. You are going to date that strawberry because she's got a great shape and is fun to be around. Together, you make a decent tea. You are sweetened but aren't done the right way because you, like always, cut corners and went the corn syrup route. It's alright because people that are just like you are fine with it. It smells good thanks to your younger girlfriend but you're really letting her do all the work. You're just sitting back, like you always do. You know, as I think about it, I agree with your black tea father. Use real sugar and don't mess with no fruits. That's how to let a man shine.

Children, gather around the fire and I shall tell you a tale. It is the story of fruit tea. It is a tale as old as time and this is how it goes: some people were thirsty so they decided to brew some tea. They wanted to make it a bit more exciting than their normal afternoon beverage so them juiced some passionfruit into it. The end. I know it is a short story and not exciting in the least bit. There were no lions, or robots, or robots that turned into lions and breathed fire out of their butt, but it is a story nonetheless. If you have a problem with my story, then I shall offer you a sip of my tea and that will shut you right up. It is sweet and flavorsome. If you've ever had passionfruit bubble tea than you know exactly how this tastes. Green tea used in bubble tea has a specific taste and that is exactly what is in this bottle. If you're not a fool then you got it with passionfruit, because it is the king of fruits, or at least is in a Game of Thrones type war for the crown. How on Earth did a television show written explicitly for nerds gain such a normal audience? I think it's the promise of dragons and zombies. Perhaps there will even be an undead dragon. Or an undead robotic lion that shoots fire out of its butt. I would watch that and drink a gallon of this tea as I did so.

I can't get over how great it is that this company was started by a couple of surfers. Even better is that they decided to start the company after a surging trip to Brazil when they were given a bowl of acai juice to drink…€¦A SURFING TRIP TO BRAZIL! If you ask me I'm gonna have to wager that we have a Point Break type scenario here. These dudes pulled some bank heists in order to fund surfing expeditions (to this day this is still the greatest movie premise of all time). The thing is that instead of all either ending up in jail, dead, or lost at sea on the coast of Australia these dudes changed their lifestyle and put their heist energies into making juice. Now they just use their profits from the business to fund their surfing trips. I mean these guys aren't crazy adrenaline junkies or anything.

Not only do these guys have a great bad guys gone good life story, but they also know how to make one hell of a beverage. I think we can all agree that a lot of companies' acai juice can be a little much to handle. It always tastes like you're drinking concentrate. Sambazon knows how to smooth it out and make it an enjoyable, healthy drink. You can taste the acai, but it's not in your face with every sip. I think it's the apple juice that they mix in that solves the harshness problem. Either way this drink is great. It's smooth, fruity and all of the flavors blend together seamlessly. You can tell that there is yerba mate and guarana in the drink if you think about it, but if you were given a glass with no indication of what was in it, it would just taste like a general blended smoothie. You would have no idea of the caffeine kick you were about to receive.

We in Buffalo do not have a Whole Foods. It has something with us having a rival grocery store and fifty miles and something. Not too far out in Ontario, Canada there is one. Jay, Jay's old lady, and myself went there and did some damage. We bought a lot of things that you can only get at Whole Foods but nothing that you can get only at a Canadian Whole Foods. I think they stock what they stock regardless of country. This 365 seems like it's an "in house" brand. What does it taste like? A little like minty pool water if you ask my coworker, Dan. Do I agree? Mostly. It's a lightly sweetened green tea with little bite and a little, good amount of mint, but somewhere in that mix, it certainly does have a bit of a "minty plastic" taste. I drank the whole thing, so I must have gotten over it, but it was just "alright." Would I drink it again? Eh, probably not. I'm not really moved one way or the other with this guy. I thought it would be good, and it wasn't awful, but it might have stumped my taste buds into making a decision. That could be the worst rating of all; one that is just...there. It's like that cat that just appears when you try to leave for work and you would normally give it a clichè saucer of milk but you've got a big meeting with the Johnson firm today and you can't be late. Those eyes...dead inside, just staring at you. Where did that cat come from? It makes no noise but is just...there...being there.

Would you just look at that bottle? Is that the classiest looking bottle of iced tea you have ever seen, or what? It's just a normal plastic bottle, but the shape and the cleanness of the design make it look much greater than it is. Little kids would look at this and think to themselves, “That looks like it is for grownups. I bet it burns like grandpappy's juice.” I assure you the contents of this bottle are nothing like your grandfathers private stock, well unless your grandfather is a collector of fine teas. Those kids were right though. I bet if you gave this to 100 kids maybe 2 or 3 of them would enjoy it. It's an unsweetened jasmine green tea, so it's slightly bitter and tastes of flowers; two flavors kids tend to not like. It is what I like though. The jasmine flavor is just right. It's not overpowering like some of Oriental Leaves' competitors drinks are. This just hints at the floral and lets the green tea do most of the work. It's tastes like a dream, and it makes me feel like more of a grown up than I will ever actually be. Oh, did I mention that I'm 33 and I spent more than 60 hours over the past two weeks playing Final Fantasy X? That's right I spent more time playing a video game than most people work in a week. At least I get to pretend to be an adult sometimes.

Ahh flowers. They look great. They bring color to this otherwise depressing world. When I lived in Boston for a few months, I didn't know that I would miss foliage and color. I spent six week not really seeing trees or grass too much and then someone told me about Boston Commons and I felt I needed to go. It was like I had never seen flowers before. I spent the whole time just not caring but really my body craved those little guys.

So, I self-admittedly enjoy a flower every not and then. It's fine. This drink was floral. It was like if you had a red tea that wasn't too bitter, infused a flower, and then added a little sugar to it. I will also admit that I clearly have no idea what hibiscus tastes like because sometimes it's the greatest thing I've ever had and then other times it's just...there. I'm not hating on it, but I wish that I could taste it in it's truest form so that I know which side of the fence I'm on; like or love. I guess either side is pretty non-confrontational, but still, I don't like this floral purgatory I'm in. It's terrible but the smell is relaxing and the sights from up here are quite scenic and well pruned.

Dr. B. I don't know what to say anymore. One guy said that this smelled like cough syrup. I think that it tastes like plastic flavored, overly sweetened tea. The Xylitol takes the cake in this drink and overpowers whatever flavors my have existed in it. It's like fighting an unmatched fight. Xylitol is playing the role of the 250 pound seasoned boxer and the lemongrass and iced tea together weight 300 pounds but aren't boxers and collect stamps and coins from the Civil War era. The only way this tea has any flavor that isn't artificial is if you take a big sip and let it mull in your mouth. Don't move your tongue. Just let it sit there. Then you think, "Hey, there's that lemongrass flavor Dr. B, a person I'm questioning whether or not they are a real doctor, was telling me about." The time in your mouth kills the cool, sweet sugar and allows the B-Team to take over. It's a fight that no one has the right to watch. It's too much. It's the man standing up to the tank in Tienanmen Square except the tank didn't stop. He just kept going. I think that makes Dr. B Deng Xiaoping.

About five years ago Snapple released their "All Natural" line. I for one was ecstatic. It was around the time that I realized that if I drank beverages that were sweetened with corn syrup it would destroy my stomach (yes I am dumb and I still drink them sometimes). It was just before the big anti-HFCS boom, so having a new beverage I could enjoy without having to deal with some pain was greatly appreciated. Now that some time has passed they are expanding that line to include a few flavors that are "Lightly Sweetened."

This country sure loves its sugar. Even though this has less sugar than their normal version it is right to the limit of how sweet I think drinks should be allowed to be in an ideal world. It is by no means unsweetened, or even "Just a Tad Sweetened," like Honest Tea. It's pretty sweet, but I appreciate the effort in trying to wean the public off so much sweetness.

As far as the actual flavor goes, they certainly got this one right. The peach and passionfruit blend together perfectly, as if to make one new ultimate fruit. It also does not have an overly bitter flavor like white tea tends to have. It all just blends together very nicely.

Snapple, I like what you've done here and I'm excited to try the rest of this line.

Every once and then Turkey Hill iced teas used to pop up in Buffalo and I always found them to be a treat. Then Tops Markets started always carrying a few of the flavors and I found that once they were readily available, I hardly ever purchased them. I guess that is always the case with me. It's more about the game than the prize itself. Whoa, things just got a bit deep there...anyways since this stuff is based out of PA there are a bunch of Turkey Hill gas stations where their entire line is available. In the past I would have stocked up on all of them, but I only bought this single, smaller, bottle. The game has officially ended.

This is a heavily sweetened black tea (48g of sugar in 16oz) with some real orange juice mixed in. It tastes like a fairly even ratio. While I appreciate the use of real juice, and it does effect the flavor in a positive way, it seems like if they're going to make that effort, they should have used real sugar instead of corn syrup. The sweetener they chose gives the tea a cheap taste that is just unfortunate.

You may find yourself wondering what my new game is, and I can safely say that it is soft pretzels from Philly/Wawa. The amount of them I eat while there is enough to choke a baboon.

Let it be known that I am not a huge fan of NYC. It's dirty, a good majority of the people are rude, and I hate the idea of being a faceless identity in a sea of people. Two things the city does have going for it are a nice variety of veggie food and great drink selections sat all the corner stores. It's been awhile since I have been overwhelmed by what beverages store carry, but the bodega in which I found this chia tea did just that. I spent way too long making my selections, and this came out one of the victors.

If I had come across this s year ago my mind would have been blown, but since then a couple other companies have emerged that have used chia seeds in their beverages. I'm not talking down on this drink, because it is something I really enjoyed. It has a good semi sweetened peach green tea flavor. That alone would make it a drink that I would keep my eyes open before, but on top of that the chia seeds give it a nice unusual texture. They also make it more beneficial health wise as they boost omega 3 and 6, fiber and calcium.

On a side note you have to love that the seeds are the first item on the ingredients list. There are literally more seeds in here than beverage. Ridiculous.

I have to admit that my knowledge of Rio is solely that there is a giant statue of what I believe is Jesus and little tidbits that I picked up from reading Carioca Fletch. That's right, I so cultured that I've read a bunch of the books that spawned two of the funniest movies ever, and yes I did hear Chevy Chase in my head as I read them. Oh yeah, I also have some friends who have a cat named Rio. Does that count for anything? No? I didn't think so.

Okay, so I'm going into this with limited knowledge, but that knowledge has expanded now that I know that yerba mate is grown there. That alone gives the city a thumbs up from me. I love yerba mate. It has such a distinctive unique taste in the world of teas.

As Mike likes to point out in every review he does of a lemon flavored beverage, I am not a huge fan of the fruit. Sure I love lemonade, but just adding it to another beverage that is not solely lemon just doesn't do much for me. I'd have to say the same goes for this drink. I would have preferred it to be straight up tea, but I cannot deny that it tastes pleasant. I also know that there is a world of people out there who love the lemon flavor, so I won't hold it against this drink. It tastes exactly as it's advertised; just like you brewed a pot of yerba mate, mixed in some lemon juice (not too much) and put it in the fridge to cool down for an hour. If you are a fan of lemon iced teas, and are looking for something a bit different, look no further. The future awaits you.