Mike Literman

Mike Literman - 1759 Reviews

Mike loves new drinks. He's drank some gross stuff in his day, and this blog is making him drink even more against his will. That being said, he wouldn't trade it in for the world. He loves new beverages and is always, and always will be, on a quest for something new.

Xing Tea Green Tea With Pomegranate

Xing Tea Green Tea With Pomegranate
Better than the cherry? Possibly. Once again, not a strong tea flavor, but this time the pomegranate was the star. The aftertaste of the fruit was pretty spot on to the sweet, tartness of real pomegranate seeds.

The pomegranate green tea is a nice, drinkable alternative to the ten minutes and yellow fingers you have to deal with on a real pomegranate. I do love the bursting flavor of those lil' seeds, though.
Rating
🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷
Categories
Iced Tea
Company
Xing TeaWebsite@XINGtea
Country
United States
Sweetener
Cane Sugar
Author
Mike Literman on 9/14/10, 8:01 PM
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Xing Tea Green Tea With Cherry

Xing Tea Green Tea With Cherry
I've had Xing Tea before. It was a nice change from the Arizona tall boys to these because of the totally different cane sugar taste. This cherry flavor was unique since I've never had that flavor iced tea before. It certainly was unique but it was so cherry flavored that they could almost remove "tea" from the title and change the title to a juice and get away with it. It's got green and black tea in it but it's so faint that it's almost non-existent.

Look, it was one tasty drink, and I recommended it and would get it again, but now I know to get it when I have the taste for juice and not iced tea.
Rating
🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾
Categories
Iced Tea
Company
Xing TeaWebsite@XINGtea
Country
United States
Sweetener
Cane Sugar
Author
Mike Literman on 9/14/10, 3:09 PM
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Harrisburg Dairies Southern Brewed Sweet Tea

Harrisburg Dairies Southern Brewed Sweet Tea
I typically love independent, mom and pop, generic iced teas because they're hand made and generally very good. This one was a bit of a let down.

The sugar was overpowering to the point where it tasted more like tea flavored sugar water than sweetened iced tea. You didn't get much tea flavor at all.

I will continue to try out small company iced teas like this in search for more winners.
Rating
🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺
Categories
Iced Tea
Company
Harrisburg DairiesWebsite
Country
United States
Sweetener
Cane Sugar
Author
Mike Literman on 9/14/10, 10:58 AM
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Metromint Chocolate Mint

Metromint Chocolate Mint
As soon as I saw this I had to buy it. Where can you get chocolate flavored water, let alone with mint in it? Now you see my urgency. I opened it and it was a nice light cocoa scent.

At first sip it was a nice light mint followed by a chocolate aftertaste. I actually liked it more than the other Metromint flavors I've had so far.

UPDATE: I can't stop telling people about this drink so I'm upping it from a 3 to a 4. Congratulations Metromint.
Rating
🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷
Categories
Water
Company
MetromintWebsite@Metromint
Country
United States
Sweetener
No Sugar Added
Author
Mike Literman on 9/14/10, 10:54 AM
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Lipton PureLeaf Sweetened

Lipton PureLeaf Sweetened
Everyone has had Lipton iced tea, but they've got so many different lines that you shouldn't nail them down to the abomination that is Brisk.

This tea is very strong in its black tea taste and is very sweet but doesn't taste terrible. Is that hard to imagine? I know. Nice thing is that this is all natural with not fructose garbage and you can get it anywhere.

Give Lipton another chance. Forget the stuff you've had before and start from scratch.
Rating
🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺
Categories
Iced Tea
Company
LiptonWebsite@Lipton
Country
United States
Sweetener
Sugar
Author
Mike Literman on 9/13/10, 6:41 PM
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Glaceau Vitamin Water Power-C

Glaceau Vitamin Water Power-C
I like Vitamin Water. It's more a juice than water regardless of what the folks at Glaceau say. I'm a fan of whatever the orange color/flavor is because it's like Tang.

I've had a real dragonfruit and it was weak. Did I get a bad one? Possibly? Was I young and stupid? Yeah.

This was a nice, flavorful drink. Refreshing with a real tasting fruit bite.

I don't care what people say about the calorie intake of Vitamin Water. This is a good drink and I'm sure there are more in the line that I'd like. Let the voyage continue.
Rating
🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷
Categories
Sports/Dietary Supplement
Company
GlaceauWebsite@vitaminwater
Country
United States
Sweetener
Crystalline Fructose
Author
Mike Literman on 9/13/10, 6:32 PM
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Ito En Teas' Tea Citrus Black

Ito En Teas' Tea Citrus Black
After a long, or even moderate bike ride to work, I usually chug about one and a half bottles of water. Yes, it comes from a container and not individual bottles. What, do I look like a savage to you? Anyhow, today I decided to change it up with some iced tea. Now normally, once again, I would never drink anything with sugar this early in the morning. You know when you brush your teeth and the last thing you want to do is ruin it with something? Who cares today? I feel like I can trust Ito En not to destroy my efforts to have nice teeth by always and consistently producing lightly sweetened drinks and this is no different.

This drink is clearly a black tea due to the lack of bitterness that a green tea, regardless of company, produces. It also has a fresh lemon taste, as if someone made a very light sweet tea (because it's black) and then squeezed some lemon in it. It tastes authentic and not produced, from concentrate, or just plain fake.

Is it my favorite Teas' Tea? No. Will I get it again? Probably. Do I recommend it? Yes.
Rating
🥛🥛🥛🥛🥛
Categories
Iced Tea
Company
Ito EnWebsite@ITO_EN
Country
United States
Sweetener
Cane Sugar
Author
Mike Literman on 9/13/10, 5:59 AM
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What's Knew Freshet Lemon Honey Green Tea

What's Knew Freshet Lemon Honey Green Tea
I don't particularly enjoy not being able to find anything on a company. I enjoy supporting a company I can get behind, but when two of the listed drink manufacturer's websites are down, and have been down for two years, I get a bit...iffy. I mean, seriously, it costs less than $20 a year to renew a domain and everyone knows someone who has more than enough hosting. Less tech, more tea.

I didn't like it. I like a light drink. I don't like over saturated juice or tea. A step above "weak" is right where I like to be. This tasted like someone put too much drink mix in and shipped it out. Also, an ingredient in the tea was "green tea powder" so I was pretty spot on. You do get a rather pleasurable lemon honey aftertaste, though. I quite enjoyed it, but didn't appreciate the initial punch in the face that it gave me.

Even with the highly contrasting dynamics of flavor, I will leave these on the shelf next time I see it.
Rating
🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾
Categories
Iced Tea
Company
What's Knew
Country
United States
Sweetener
Organic Sugar
Author
Mike Literman on 9/10/10, 9:27 AM
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Arizona RX Stress Herbal Iced Tea

Arizona  RX Stress Herbal Iced Tea
I am a classic fan of Arizona Iced Tea, namely, the green tea with honey. Then, out of nowhere, I just stopped drinking it. There are a lot better quality teas out there for my, nay, our consumption. This tea, though, is pretty good. It's light. I drank it at room temperature, so it was more "tea" and less "iced tea" so it was more smooth and subtle, rather than cold and sharp. This tea is infused with chamomile, valerian root, and ginseng and you know what? You get a little bit of that on your tongue. A little bit of herbal aroma is all you need. You even get a little bit of the decaffeinated black and green tea, but a nice, genuine aftertaste, not a bitter, bitey taste.

For being a high fructose corn syrup beverage, this doesn't have that terrible lingering aftertaste.

I condone this.
Rating
🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺
Categories
Iced Tea
Company
Arizona Website@DrinkAriZona
Country
United States
Sweetener
High Fructose Corn Syrup
Author
Mike Literman on 9/9/10, 7:35 PM
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Sweet Leaf Mint & Honey Green Tea

Sweet Leaf Mint & Honey Green Tea
Oooh. This is something strange, different and somewhat familiar. What we've got here is a high quality, organic tea, with a splash of mint, spearmint to be exact. It doesn't have that "I am chewing gum and drinking at the same time" feel. It feels...complete, like it was so well blended that there is never a separation between mint and tea. Anyone who has had spearmint MetroMint water knows what I'm talking about. Even though it's refreshing, it doesn't give me a feeling of having a "correct" drink. It just tastes like a mistake, or something I could make at home by soaking a stick of gum in water.

Alright, enough. With this tea, you get a nice honey green tea, but without the bitterness, all the while, the cool, refreshing taste of mint.

My only problem with this is that it's not something that I could drink all the time. The mint isn't overwhelming for one can, but I couldn't drink more than one can in one day, or even in a couple days. It's just to distinguished of a taste. Too unique? It's not a "too much of a good thing" thing, it's just a very strong drink in all regards, which is not how the rest of their tea is.

I do recommend this drink to anyone, and I will buy it again, but I just advise take your time between servings. Or share. That's a novel idea and a polite option.
Rating
🧃🧃🧃🧃🧃
Categories
Iced Tea
Company
Sweet LeafWebsite@SweetLeafTea
Country
United States
Sweetener
Organic Cane Sugar
Author
Mike Literman on 9/9/10, 5:02 PM
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Southern Graviola Distribution Inc. Graviola Life Original

Southern Graviola Distribution Inc. Graviola Life Original
No thanks. The whole drinks packaging reeks of "As Seen On TV" sales tactics. With phrases like "World's most powerful heath drink" and "Low on sugar low on carbs" (no spaces or punctuation). I should have known. Not to mention, the website listed on the bottle is not correct. That rarely happens.

Let us continue...

From opening up the bottle, it gave me a plasticy, unnatural taste. The primary ingredient is a fruit called the "graviola" or known by its more common name "soursop". It does have a slightly sweet, milky smooth taste, but that strange aroma overpowers the taste and welcomes itself back into your senses.

Having heard nothing of graviola or soursop, I did ten seconds of research on Wikipedia, the worlds most reliable (sarcastic) source, and came across two items which interested me:

1. "Nutritionally, the fruit is high in carbohydrates" - After it had previously stated that it was low in carbs
2. "Research carried out in the Caribbean has suggested a connection between consumption of soursop and atypical forms of Parkinson's disease due to the very high concentration of annonacin." - Which just plain isn't good.

Sure, everything is good in moderation, but this just plain isn't good. Needless to say, the garbage found a 3/4 full bottle of this drink.
Rating
🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃
Categories
Sports/Dietary Supplement and Iced Tea
Company
Southern Graviola Distribution Inc.Website
Country
United States
Sweetener
Sugar
Author
Mike Literman on 9/9/10, 4:50 PM
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Gold Peak Iced Tea Sweetened

Gold Peak Iced Tea Sweetened
What a silent but delicious brand. I have had the lemon as well and will review that one in due time, but this tea is very close to the Southern sweet tea that you know and (hopefully) love. I enjoy this tea because it's got a nice "real" tea flavor and is naturally sweetened with real sugar and not a substitute or sweetener. Gold Peak is also very cheap. I found this guy in a 6-pack for $3 and change and I know you can get a big 40-ish ounce bottle on sale for around $2. It rivals the gallon jugs from Arizona. I can see it as being a bit sweet for some and it's not terribly good for you, but if you don't care, then who cares, right?
Rating
🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷
Categories
Iced Tea
Company
Gold PeakWebsite@goldpeaktea
Country
United States
Sweetener
Sugar
Author
Mike Literman on 9/9/10, 1:10 PM
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Ito En Teas' Tea Blueberry Green

Ito En Teas' Tea Blueberry Green
As I may or may not have stated previously, I don't like blueberries. I know, I know, I should, but I don't. That being said, I do like blueberry flavored drinks. This is no exception. I enjoy a nice bitter green tea, but mixed with the subtle sweetness of the cane sugar and blueberries, this is a nice, light drink. It doesn't feel too sweet and you can still tell at the end that it's still a tea. I'm endlessly pleased with Ito En's rendition of everything blueberry. Keep up the good work.
Rating
🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾
Categories
Iced Tea
Company
Ito EnWebsite@ITO_EN
Country
United States
Sweetener
Cane Sugar
Author
Mike Literman on 9/9/10, 12:08 PM
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Prometheus Springs Spiced Elixir Pomegranate and Black Pepper

Prometheus Springs Spiced Elixir Pomegranate and Black Pepper
This was my first try at a spiced elixir, as Prometheus Springs like to call it. I can describe it like this:

Remember hot Warheads? The candy that you had as a kid that was hot and you thought you were awesome because you could eat a whole one without spitting it out? This is that, but in a drink. It's not terribly refreshing, even chilled, but they are nice enough to give you pairings like "Serve neat for maximum spice" and "Serve warm and get well soon", so I give them credit for being witty and not so stuffy. It's a completely organic drink, so you can feel good about drinking it, and it's so spicy you have to feel like it's doing something good to your body besides ravaging your taste buds.

If they come out with another flavor, I'll buy it, but I will not be surprised if I just copy and paste this review for that flavor, too.



EDIT

As Jay previously mentioned in his re-review for the Lemon Ginger, we were new to the game and didn't know what to expect. Now that this review is in retrospect, it is one of the more outstanding drinks. Is taste all that matters in a drink review? No. Not anymore. The Hey Song Shaking Jelly Soda Drink was tasty, but it was also a load of fun to have people try. Also, we reviewed a lot of ginger beers since this and it turns out we like and prefer the ones with burn. This was not a bad drink. It was just hot. It's a sipping drink, not a chugging juice like we may have previously expected. For that, I am re-editing this review and adding two points to its previous score of 2. Congratulations, Prometheus Springs, you've earned it.
Rating
🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾
Categories
Other/Weird and Juice
Company
Prometheus SpringsWebsite@drinkprometheus
Country
United States
Sweetener
Organic Evaporated Cane Juice
Author
Mike Literman on 9/7/10, 9:13 PM
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Prometheus Springs Spiced Elixir Lychee Wasabi

Prometheus Springs Spiced Elixir Lychee Wasabi
Fun. I don't know how else to describe it. It's not refreshing, but it's not, not refreshing. It tastes good, but burns. See, it's got capsaicin in it, the stuff that makes spicy things spicy, so it's...spicy. I had the Pomegranate and Black Pepper flavor and it was around the same deal. It took me about three days to drink it as I had more fun sharing it and seeing other people's reaction than actually drinking it.
Rating
🍺🍺🍺🍺🍺
Categories
Other/Weird and Juice
Company
Prometheus SpringsWebsite@drinkprometheus
Country
United States
Sweetener
Organic Evaporated Cane Juice
Author
Mike Literman on 9/7/10, 9:07 PM
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Ito En Green Tea Blueberry

Ito En Green Tea Blueberry
I have probably drunk cases of this stuff in my life. I don't really like blueberries but this tea is great. I love the bitterness of the blueberry and tea together. The cane sugar really makes it not have that undesirable aftertaste. My team and I will review the whole line of Ito En Tea drinks in due time. Also, for $1.50, it's not breaking the bank and this drink goes well with everything.
Rating
🥛🥛🥛🥛🥛
Categories
Iced Tea
Company
Ito EnWebsite@ITO_EN
Country
United States
Sweetener
Natural Cane Sugar
Author
Mike Literman on 9/7/10, 5:42 PM
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Ayala Herbal Water Cloves, Cardamom, and Cinnamon

Ayala Herbal Water Cloves, Cardamom, and Cinnamon
It's...alright. I mentioned before about how I don't really like drinks that taste like water with other flavor aftertaste. I mean, I am a fan of light drinks but it's a little tricky with flavored water. Berry Bot is a little too light for me taste. I think that with a titch more zing, this drink would rule. I was excited for the clove and cinnamon but I only got a little cinnamon and even less clove.
Rating
🍷🍷🍷🍷🍷
Categories
Water
Company
AyalaWebsite@HerbalWater
Country
United States
Sweetener
No Sugar Added
Author
Mike Literman on 9/5/10, 8:30 PM
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Ayala Herbal Water Cinnamon and Orange Peel

Ayala Herbal Water Cinnamon and Orange Peel
I was very impressed by this. I was a bit leery as some flavored water tastes like water after you ate something. This tastes like a nice cold tea made from natural bagged or loose tea. It's got a nice subtle bite from the cinnamon and a hint of orange. It was only $1.50, which means that it's easy to buy and not feel bad about it.
Rating
🧃🧃🧃🧃🧃
Categories
Water
Company
AyalaWebsite@HerbalWater
Country
United States
Sweetener
No Sugar Added
Author
Mike Literman on 9/5/10, 7:36 PM
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Arizona Black & White Iced Tea

Arizona  Black & White Iced Tea
Delicious. This is my favorite (so far) of Arizona's iced teas. Could be the lack of high fructose corn syrup, but I think that I genuinely like the taste more than my previous favorite of many, many years, the Green Tea with Honey. Now this is getting increasingly hard to find which makes my sad but I just found that they have another company in the works that does all cane sugar teas.
Rating
🍾🍾🍾🍾🍾
Categories
Iced Tea
Company
Arizona Website@DrinkAriZona
Country
United States
Sweetener
Evaporated Cane Juice
Author
Mike Literman on 9/3/10, 8:14 PM
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