Iced Tea - 901 Reviews

When I bought this I had no idea what The Amazing Race was. I was then informed that it was some sort of reality television show. I need not know more to know that I was certainly not interested. I don't know the premise, and I don't really want to know. I will just assume that it is a giant race where teams have to go around the world and harvest ingredients to make special and unique teas. In the past some of the entrees were haggis-pickled avocado, tripe-kale, and calamari-poutine. Needless to say none of those were winners. The contestants were actually publicly ridiculed and a series of brutal pranks were played on them and their love ones for another spin off reality show "So You Suck at Making Iced Tea."

Apparently the winner of last season was India. I don't know if it was the entire country of India, or if it was someone's name. I can only assume the entire country of India brainstormed and came up with this wonderful tea. It's a dark sweet tea (nearly too sweet). It's like a classic mango tea with some exotic fruit and spices (there aren't any added, but it tastes subtly like their is). For a limited time specialty tea this is pretty incredible. Snapple has stepped up their game from the 90's in a big way.

This review is a big stepping-stone for me. Until now, I have not reviewed any unsweetened iced tea. This has been by choice because until recently I hated any iced tea that wasn't loaded with sugar. The turning point was when Jay and I were on a road trip this summer and he freaked out when he found a lot of this jasmine tea for $1 each at a Big Lots. It was a really hot summer day so he opened one in the car and offered me some. I quickly understood what the fuss was all about. It was delicious.

Then a couple months later I realized, I had been looking at unsweetened iced tea completely wrong. I kept thinking it would have as much flavor as sweetened iced tea but obviously it won't due to the lack of sugar. Knowing this has allowed me to enjoy iced tea that is better for me now.

Since I'm new to the unsweetened iced tea world, you'll have to forgive my ignorance with this review. I was expecting this to have a stronger mint flavor than it does. I thought it was going to be like a mouthful of breath mints, but it's more of a mint aftertaste. Green tea isn't my favorite, but this is good and light. I could see this being really refreshing on a hot day, so I probably shouldn't have waited until it was 48 degrees in Buffalo to drink this.

It's weird when a drink tastes exactly like the flavor it's supposed to be. Many times it's advertised to be something, but somewhere between the taste testers and the packaging department something went awry. Not with this Slap energy drink, it really tastes like a crisp apple with a slight green tea aftertaste. I'm glad it's not strong on the green tea because I am not a huge fan and was kind of dreading this drink for that reason.

This is a great energy drink because there's no gross taste to it. If you wouldn't have told me, I would have just thought it was an apple green tea soda. I wanted to write this review about someone slapping this can out of my hand and not caring, but I couldn't do it because it tastes too good.

For the first time on US soil, we bring to you, chocolate tea. "Oh, that's so American." you say to yourself. "They'll put chocolate in everything." and to that I respond with this:

Chocolate is delicious, can be good for you, and is no different than adding fruit to flavor your food so get off your high horse, a phrase that has never made sense to me, and drink this.

Are "high horses" a breed of horse? Are they just tall horses? If you have the tallest horse in a pack of horses...herd of horses...gaggle of horses, does that mean you have the "high horse"? I don't really care if I'm right or wrong because I'm picturing people getting out a piece of wood and drawing lines on it like you would every year your kids grow up and you want to make a growth chart just to see who has the tallest horse. It's a hilarious vision that I would like to retain for quite some time.

You like sweet tea, right? You like chocolate, right? You like experimenting by assuming that putting two things you like together can't be wrong, right? Welp, so does Rob and he made something really nice. Essentially, all he did is make some quality black tea and put some cocoa powder in it and make this gem. Yes, more happened than that, but I'm guessing that you could do close to this by doing what I described above. It's really good. Better colder than now, but nonetheless, pretty exceptional and quite different than any tea you've ever had before, unless of course, you've had this before and in that case, it's quite parallel.

Come on, people. You haven't had this? I don't know how we haven't had it yet. We've been spending all our days drinking Black Mushroom sludge and enough Energy drinks to fuel the most depressed, tired country. So why the wait? We probably went to the store as individual, thirsty dudes, saw lemon Snapple, and though, "Oh yeah, someone already did this. Next." and moved right on down the line? You didn't come here for that, though. You came here for a review so here goes.

It's good. Now that they've replaced their lines with all natural product, every tastes better. You can taste the black tea, the sugar, the lemon and everything together is actually great. This is a wonderful lemon tea. Great balance, great price, great taste, and so on. Snapple, you've been in the game a long time and I would be upset that you couldn't have gotten it right in that amount of time.

Today a slew of us went up to Letchworth State Park to enjoy yet another gorgeous day. We enjoyed the sights, sounds, and smells of everything nature. In addition, there was also a craft show, which I didn't give two rips about until Jay freaked out because some dude from his past was selling homemade root beer, sarsaparilla, birch beer, and (the legal equivalent of) Cheerwine. Also, I got a blackened chicken po-boy that was pretty darn outstanding.

On our way to "the Grand Canyon of the East" and some waterfalls, I saw the following automobile:

• 1986 Bertone


• Mid-90's Miata


• Glistening black Porsche Cayman


• Bentley Continental


• Triumph Spitfire Mark IV


• A new, brown Mercedes E-class coupe, which couldn't have been owned by a nicer man.

Nice, right? Yeah. You know that's night. Can you tell where my priorities are? I just told you that I went to a state park and told you about cars that I saw? I've got my interests and you've got yours. I love cars. I would love to do something with cars later in my life because no way do I see myself doing web development until the day I die.

So I did not drink a whole lot when I was there. I had a small, twenty-pound weight strapped to the front of me in the shape of a small boy and that didn't make matters any better. After spending all day there and only sippin' on Jay's drinks that came in a refillable, tin can, I didn't have much. Seriously, every drinking fountain gave me one-third the water I so desperately desired. When I got home, it was an issue of quantity so I grabbed a tallboy, threw it in the fridge, waited an hour, and then grabbed it and went.

I made the right decision. This is a good green tea and honey iced tea. Like many other drinks like this that don't need to be named, you lose quite a bit of the green tea, but there is a really good honey taste to this drink. Cintron also performed some magic and managed to keep the calories down to a respectful amount. Drinking this whole can, which I am not far from doing, would rack up only 210 calories and although that is a lot, 23.5 ounces is also a lot. It's not like I didn't work it off at the park, so I'm fine with my decisions.

"Ahh" is the sound you make when you drink this. I picture myself swimming through space and all of these sugary, canned and bottled juices and pops coming at me, slowly. It's space after all. So they're all coming at me, from all angles and I'm just pushing them effortlessly into oblivion with little to no effort since there is no gravity in space. I am also wearing a jet pack to get me from the spaceship to wherever it is I'm going. Probably the International Space Station, which has a water slide, everything is in a bubble, and looks like the inside of BioDome, the movie featuring the quasi-lovable Pauly Shore.

So all of these drinks are coming at me and I'm swatting them away like flies. All of a sudden, this Anteadote oolong tea comes towards me and it's like I met the love of my life. I (stupidly) hold my breath, lift up my space visor which, yes, is oil spill colored like awful gas station sunglasses. I take a big gulp and I say "Ahh" because I didn't need all those sugary beverages, literally, in my space. I made the right decision, picked a couple more from the seemingly infinite amount which are being propelled at me from what I can only guess is a grocery truck that made a wrong turn at Albuquerque and ended up crashing into an asteroid and spilling its cargo all over space. I go back to my space hut. Put my bushel of drinks on the counter, and think, this is great. It's bitter, natural, and has a bold flavor. It's not like I've never had one like this before, but it's good to switch it up every once in a while.

Sometimes drinks speak to me. No, not in a crazy way. Sometimes I see a drink and I just have to have it. This, for some reason, I had to have. I grabbed it, threw it on my shelf only to completely forget about it for about two weeks. Today, while picking my drinks for the day, I came across it and thought, "Oh yeah. I really wanted this." so in the bag and to work it went.

On first sip, it was very Stevia-esque. On second sip, I could start tasting what was supposed to be happening. Are you a graphic designer? Sure you are. Everyone and their brother is a graphic designer. As soon as you touch MS Paint (or Mac equivalent) and design your first birthday card, you say to yourself, "This is all a graphic designer does? Well, looks like I am going to design my album art for my band The Death Of A Thousand Suns Birthday." This drink is a gradient if I've ever tasted one. It does start out very Stevia, but then it slowly fades into a passion fruit that is actually quite nice. The green tea doesn't really come out to play for me.

I'm interested to see what else Honest does in this "zero calorie" line. I like a range of their drinks and am always game to try new ones.

I have to drink more water. It's a fact. You might need to, also. I'm looking out for your health. It's good for you. Drink more water.

Now that me educating you on the basics are done and out of the way, we can get to the nitty gritty. Side fact: if all water tasted like sweet tea, had no calories, and was as plentiful as water, there would be no war, no crime, no funny business. Everyone would just be high-fiving everyone, kissing everyone on the cheek like some fancy European country.

This Mio isn't half bad. I drank a large and a half glass last night and was pleasantly surprised. It was slightly diet, but it's a diet drink. I don't want that to dissuade you. It's not gross. It is closer than many sweet teas I've drank that aren't diet, aren't concentrate, and come highly recommend.

Think of it as a diet sweet tea. It's a getting a thumbs up from me.

Remember that time when you had an undying need to get a poncho? You thought they were just the coolest and you needed one to live, well at least to live with the kids who ditched class and snuck across the street to smoke cigarettes. It was the early 90's and it was a different world than it is now. It was a world where poncho's, or drug rugs, were a sign of stature.

You begged and pleaded with your mom to take you to get one. She wouldn't give in said that you would look stupid wearing one, especially since you hated the Grateful Dead. So you waited and ended up going with the older kids in your shop class that wore leather jackets, even in the summer. Those guys must be touch. They said they were going to the "head shop" anyways, but you had to pay gas, and ride in the trunk. Whatever, anything for that sweet, sweet poncho. As you walked into the shop, still a bit woozy from the exhaust that spilled in through the holes in the trunk, you were blasted with the smell of hippies and incense. It's a smell that you would become familiar with over the next few years at parties in dimly lit basements.

When you graduated high school you thought, and hoped that smell would never be apart of your life again. It didn't until you cracked open a can of Yeo's green tea. The smell was kind of there, but Christ did it taste the way that head shop smelled. One would think that something like that should never hit your taste buds, but it's actually a little bit of alright. This is supposed to be jasmine green tea, but I've had jasmine tea before and it tastes nothing like this. The only way to describe it is to say it tastes like ill lit basements, black-light posters, and incense. It will also fill you with shame for once owning a drug rug, even if you only wore it twice. Really, what was I thinking?

On a recent trip to Korea, you realize that in Asia, things are different. You had to travel all the way around the world to know that things on the other side of the world are different. You have eaten with chopsticks and all you can think of is that Jerry Seinfeld bit about using shovels and not using chopsticks. You haven't exactly mastered them but you're working on it and that's good enough for you. You have drank fish face juice, cow leg milk, and even chicken sauce which you thought was a drink but was actually a legitimate sauce for chicken and not made from chicken. That one was a mistake. You don't blame anyone but yourself for that blem.

You wander into yet another small shop on a nice Tuesday night and you come across this can. It's in English and at this point, you will drink anything you can read the ingredients for. You pay whatever the equivalent of one American dollar is in Korean currency and head out to walk the streets of the city, maybe pet a horse, maybe eat some meats of sticks, maybe both. You open the can, take a sip, and sigh in relief that there aren't any chunks or eyeballs or cow feet in it. You are later excited because you actually like it. It's a light black tea, sweetened with sugar. Just like mama back home would have made. No funny business in this can. All serious work. Suit and tie stuff. It's good and also has a little citrus taste to it. A nice twist.

For the first time in many moons you are quenched and can go to sleep not dreaming of something drinkable like you had back home. Tomorrow will be another day in Korea and you may or may not drink something gross. If you do, you now know what you can use to wash down your pig knee soup.

Today R.E.M. announced that they were no longer a band. For most people that probably means very little. I'm sure a lot of people probably thought they broke up years ago. To me it's a major upset. They are and have been my favorite band for the last 25 years or so of my life. With the exception of an album and a half, their catalog is solid. This year's Collapse Into Now is one of the best records I've heard in years. They were the best live band I've ever witnessed and at one show Michael Stipe even threw me the microphone to sing the end of "It's the End of the World." I met bassist Mike Mills a couple years ago in Athens while I was touring through. He was one of the nicest people I've ever met. I just meant to say hello and tell him he was the reason I play bass now, but he engaged me in conversation for a while. The band has been with me throughout the highs and lows of my life and I will always hold them dear.

To celebrate this band/mourn their death I decided to review a southern sweet tea. Something that the folks of Athens, GA would sip on their front porches on a hot summer day. Okay they probably brew their own, and probably never think to buy this product, but it was the only sweet tea I had on hand. It does taste fairly authentic. It's made with cane sugar and you can totally tell. It's very sweet, but it actually tastes like tea and not sugar water. Bravo on the product.

Now onto the packaging. Really? Is Larry Johnson relevant at all anymore? The grandmamma character is from
Converse commercials that came out in the early 90's. I will be the first to admit that those commercials were awesome, and this would have made sense 15 years ago, but now would people even remember it by name? A gimmick that is out of date, but a product that is great. Now I'm going to go and listen to the entire R.E.M. catalog in chronological order.

Let's talk about Maroon 5 for a second. Whether or not you like them, you have to give them this; they might write some of the catchiest, more radio friendly pop rock songs ever. Good hooks, funky guitar, great rhythm section, and Adam Levine is a good singer. Real good. Although you might not like them, you have to give them that. I think that they are one of those bands that I could probably listen to any record and say to myself, "Yeah, this is a certified multi-platinum album for a reason." So, I can see why Snapple called up the Maroon 5 hotline and said, "Hey guys. Reason we called you is because while we were getting a drink from Bret Michaels, we thought that we might want to ask some people that the kids like for being good, not for winning a TV show. So what do you say, dudes?" They then had to go to the thinking lair of the Maroon 5 multi-million dollar headquarters and put together the perfect drink to put their name on.

They each picked a fruit and you know it was Adam Levine who stepped it up and thought out of the box and said that he wanted hibiscus in there. Everyone else probably had "fruit regret" because hibiscus is the secret ingredient in many drinks to push it over the top. Since they picked them, they had to stick with them, though. Snapple took these flavors, put them in a mixer, called up the hotline a week later and said, "This is great stuff, guys. I can taste everyone's flavor suggestion and can still tell that it's a black tea. It's nicely sweet and there is a nice, complex overall flavor both in initial taste and aftertaste. You've got another hit, boys!" and promptly put the drink on the shelves. Mickey Madden, the bass player with ears of gold said that he knew that he could sense that the person that made that call had gold, T-bar glasses, smoked a cigar, and was wearing a fedora when he made the call. He could hear it. Also, he could hear the reverberation coming from the call and also noted that he could tell that he was calling from a velvet-curtained room. Maroon 5 did a five person high five, sold another million records that second, and got sushi.

For the past couple of days my cat will not leave my lap. She goes through phases where she completely ignores my existence and then in the blink of an eye she needs all the attention in the world. I'm okay with that. I like giving her attention, well except when she insists on sitting directly in front of my computer monitor staring at me when I'm trying to get work done. I love when she's a lap cat. It's comforting, especially now that the weather is starting to cool down and Fall is right around the corner. This tea is also comforting. There's something about jasmine tea that just calms me down. The effect is greater when the tea is hot, but even when it's iced it does it's job. I think this may be the first jasmine tea I've had that has vitamin C added to it. It very subtly effects the flavor, but it's in a good way. It still has the great jasmine aftertaste, which I love.

Now I'm going to sit on my couch with my cat and this bottle of tea and read like a nerd. Yes I am fully aware that when I get old I will be the male equivalent of the crazy cat lady.

Cintron's canned teas and juices are fairly average. They taste like most other tallboy drinks. Those are what I first came across in the stores and I had written them off as just another cheap tea company. Then their glass bottle teas and energy drinks came into my life, and I can tell you for certain that these categories are where the company really shines.

I appreciate an iced tea that you can tell from the first sip that it is made with real brewed tea. Especially green tea. Junk iced green tea has become too commonplace. I really have no need for it in my life. I don't care if it's cheaper. Give me a nice brewed green tea and I will be a happy camper. That is if you give it to me when we're out in the woods and I'm setting up a tent. Well as long as the tent is easy to set up. Then I may be an annoyed camper with happy taste buds. Cintron uses a good quality brewed green tea. In this flavor the peach and mango taste like you're eating the actual fruit. They blend well with the tea. The use of cane sugar is also noticeable in the taste. I only wish their tall boys tastes like this because sometimes I want to be a glutton, but a glutton for high quality tea.

This just may be the best berry tea I have ever had. It may have an unfair advantage as they call it a "juice drink" and not a tea. It tastes like they created an incredible mixture of blackberry, raspberry and hibiscus and then combined one part of that with one part of black tea. Most flavored teas are mostly tea with a little flavoring and a whole lot of sugar. In this drink the fruit juice seems more important than the tea. It works well.

The label says it's "light sweet," but truth be told it's pretty darn sweet. I have no problem with it, as I said it tastes incredible. If I was looking for a tea that wasn't very sweet and I got this I would be in for a surprise. Other than that this is a top notch drink that I hope catches on in a big way. Also between the company name and the stripes on the bottle I feel like it should be served at a circus. I'm not putting my head in a lion's mouth again though. I'll tell you that for free.

I didn't realize until today that there is no direct route from my new apartment to downtown via bike. I should have figured that out before I had 20 minutes to reach my destination. I rode fast and I rode hard, and I was only one minute late. Not too shabby, but exhausting. I'm glad I brought a drink with me, specifically a drink this large.

It has a decent tea taste with a lot of sugar (hey it's sweet tea it's supposed to have copious amounts of sugar, if you have a problem with us then drink something unsweetened). I was actually shocked when I saw it was sweetened with HFCS. It doesn't taste like it, nor does it have the consistency. It's not the best sweet tea I've ever had, but for a drink that comes in a tall boy it's pretty darn good.

I've been saving this guy for a long time. Look at it. It's literally a flower in a jar. It looks revolting. Yeah, it's a flower in a jar, but it looks like something decomposed in there and they're trying to pass it off as a drinkable, delicious drink. Well I'm here to tell you what's what.

On first sip, it was light. Really light. I, for some reason probably along the lines of I don't like to read, thought that it was going to be sweet or mint or something. It took a couple more sips to get used to. Once situated in the floral land of chrysanthemum, I was whisked away to a land filled with flowers and the lightest tea one can drink. There was a strange taste in there that, and this is very strange, tasted like pickles, but once I finally read the ingredients and noticed that there was orange peel in it, it tastes less like pickles and more like orange peel. That is a good thing.

As I stated, this is a light tea. No bite, no complex flavors; it tastes like it looks, light and yellow. I wished it would have been a bit bolder, but as late as it was when I drank it, it was alright with me just the way it was. Although, when I got to the bottom and one of those petals touched my mouth, I thought I was going to gag. It was instinctive. I strategically poured it into another glass for fear of losing my lunch. I also took the bottle's advice and went for round two and put more water in.

Lets see, what do I have left to drink in the fridge? Man all I have left is 1/4 of a bottle of pineapple ginger juice and 3/4 of a bottle of green tea. I think we're all good with math and know what needs to happen. Combine them in one bottle and shake vigorously. This tastes pretty good. It's definitely mostly green tea, but the pineapple shines through a bit. It makes it sweet, but not candy-like. There is also the faintest hint of ginger. This is really a drink that everyone can enjoy. A lot of drinks with ginger in them are strong with a burn. While I love that, and wish this drink had a bit of a burn, I also understand that it's a turn off for a lot of people. This would be really marketable. I need to call Cintron and pitch this idea to them. I bet they would love it.

Did you know that the only things that vegans consume are leaves and bark? It's true, just ask Derek. When a vegan works up a hunger they scamper out into the woods and fill up their satchel with some nice leaves and bark. Then they bring them home and make a nice sandwich out of them. Don't worry they aren't murderers; they only eat the leaves on the ground and the bark from fallen or dead trees.

Okay that may have been stretching the truth, but I have had basically that conversation verbatim with a woman in a restaurant before. She really believed everything I mentioned above to be true. Some people are just complete idiots.

While vegans don't solely consume those things, there are people out there who eat sticks. I know because all three of us here at Thirsty Dudes did just that a couple of weeks ago. We were in a local natural foods store and on the counter they had a jar of licorice sticks. They were exactly that: sticks from a licorice plant. We were interested. We each bought one and chewed on them for about a half hour. It was actually tasty until they started falling apart in our mouths.

This tea tastes like someone brewed some black tea, added a whole lot of milk and sugar and then drank it while chewing on one of those sticks. There are a whole bunch of other herbs in it as well, but all I can taste in the licorice and I like it....a lot.