Tag: big brand

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Arizona Pomegranate Green Tea

This is the third of the three Arizona ice teas most commonly available here in Switzerland.

  • reddish color
  • fruity sweetness
  • slightly sticky
  • dense consistency

Color
As expected for a pomegranate ice tea, it has a reddish color, somewhat orangey. But is mostly clear with just a little bit of opaqueness.

Taste
I immediately feel how sweet it is at the tip of the tongue. And it’s taste is quite full and very fruity. (Although I’m not sure I would have recognised it as being pomegranate, without the big picture of a pomegranate on the bottle.)
But this full and fruity flavor also makes it pretty sticky. Its consistency seems dense and so personally, I prefer to drink it with a lot of ice and don’t mind if it gets diluted a bit.

Availability
This one is about as easy to find as the other two most popular Arizona ice teas, Honey Green Tea and Blueberry White Tea. You’ll find it in supermarkets and delis in Europe in bottles of 0.5L (for 1.80 $ US) and sometimes also in 1.5L bottles (for 3.60 $ US).

+ sweetness
+ fruity taste
–  sticky
– consistency
– price

Overall Rating: 6/10

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Arizona Blueberry White Tea

Another one of the most famous Arizona ice teas: The Arizona Blueberry White Tea. The first ice tea on here, which is based on white tea (instead of the usual black and the occasional green tea based ice teas). A very refreshing, light tea taste, with a slightly fruity sweetness from the blueberries.

  • pinkish, light clear color
  • white tea based
  • fruity blueberry flavor
  • pretty fresh and sweet

Color
The white tea itself having almost no color (probably only some yellowish), together with the berries, this ice tea ends up having quite a peculiar color: A light and clear pink.

Taste
Very sweet and refreshing: The white tea base is as light as it looks ans sounds… it makes it very drinkable and light on the tongue. The blueberries (and pear juice, according to the label) make it fruity and sweet, almost honey-like. It feels almost a bit like a syrup. This fruity berry-taste is slightly sticky at the front of the tongue, which means I can’t drink litres of it. But the rest of the tea being so light, it is still very refreshing, especially if you drink it very cold.
I’ve been drinking some of it now in winter and the fruitiness is surprisingly refreshing and fitting.

Availability
This variety from Arizona is their second most widely available ice tea outside the US. You’ll find it in a lot of small shops and in the deli-sections of large supermarkets.
It usually comes in a 0.5L bottle, priced the same as the Arizona Green Tea (substantially higher than 99 US cents).

+ sweet and fruity, but refreshing taste
+ light and quite easily drinkable
– slightly sticky fruitiness, can’t drink litres of it
– high price (outside the US)

Overall Rating: 7/10

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Arizona Original Green Tea

An American classic (and popular all over the world): The Arizona Original Green Tea with Honey. As its name says, this is also a green-tea based ice tea, but its taste is quite soft and delicate for a green tea. It lacks a ‘minty’ flavor and instead you feel the mild sweetness of the honey.

  • fresh
  • light
  • honey-flavor
  • delicate, only slightly sticky sweetness

Color
It has a very light, very clear yellow (with maybe just a slight hint of green). The ingredients are processed and so it stays clear and there isn’t much that can settle in the bottle over time.

Taste
Even though it is a big-brand, mass-produced ice tea, the acidity of the additives and artificial flavorings is bearable. Only on the edges of the tongue you can feel a slight bitterness. (Or if you drink too much of it, it still can stick a bit in your mouth.)
The honey in the Arizona Original Green Tea makes it really sweet, without giving it a too sugary taste. I really notice the honey all over my throat and it is a joy compared to artificial sweeteners. Maybe that is the reason that this is one ice tea that you can drink quite well even if it is not ice-cold.

Availability
This specific Arizona ice tea, the Original Green Tea, is the one most widely available around the world of the Arizona ice teas – but not everywhere at the original price of 99 US cents for a can. Instead, you’ll find only 0.5L bottles, priced upwards of 2 Euros.
Some other varieties of Arizona ice tea are also easily available, but most of the very large Arizona range is very hard to find outside of the US. Especially the black tea based ice tea types I have never seen in Europe (even though they’re my favourite ones).

+ fresh and very light
+ nice sweetness (from the honey)
+ easily drinkable
– slight bitterness at the edges
– high price outside of the US

Overall Rating: 8/10

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Volvic Thé

Volvic Thé – or as its sub-line says: “The vert avec saveur de citron”. This is another big-brand ice tea, from the French Volvic beverage company known for its mineral water.

It is the first ice tea reviewed on here thats based on green tea, instead of the usual black tea. This gives it a very fresh flavor, reminiscing of peppermint. The lemon-taste makes it even fresher, but you can’t get around noticing how artificial both flavors really are.
It says on the label that they use real sugar and certainly this ice tea is quite sweet for a green tea. But its taste is not as sweet, as most of the black-tea-based ice teas. (And nowhere near the sweetness of an Italian ice tea like San Benedetto.) This lack of sweetness, despite the sugar content, probably stems from the dominance of the green tea in the overall flavor. Nevertheless you can’t help but suspect they used some artificial sweetener in the production too, because of this fake-sweet taste. And as always with these additives, the artificial taste keeps on lingering at the back of the throat, and in this case at the edges of the tongue, long after you has your sip of ice tea.

  • green tea
  • light and fresh
  • medium-sweet

The color of the tea is an extremely light, clear yellow – fitting to its light, fresh taste. On the label it says that they use the Volvic mineral water (“‘l’eau minérale naturally Volvic”) and this automatically gives you the impression, that you can feel the freshness of the water.

Overall it is a fresh, light, easily drinkable ice tea that is not too sweet and an ok refreshment for once in a while. But with the artificial flavorings, a certain sweetness keeps sticking in my mouth and makes it so, that I can’t drink too much of it.
Still, due to its lightness and sweetness, one of my more preferred green tea-based ice teas.

In Europe this ice tea is quite easy to find, though it is not quite as ubiquitous as Lipton and Nestea. As far as I’ve seen, it mostly comes in 0.75L and 1.5L PET plastic bottles (pictured). Especially the small bottle is a really good size bottle for the road.
The packaging-size also indicates that this is a mid-price range ice tea – usually slightly more expensive than your local (non-)brand and big-brand ice teas, but way cheaper than the ‘specialty’ ice teas in small-form packaging.

One thing I really like about this ice tea, is the labelling (which I’ve already quoted from). It’s nice to actually be able to read that this ice tea contains: 96% mineral water and 3.8% sugar (even if I personally can’t verify that).

+ light, easily drinkable
+ fresh
+ good labelling
– artificial sweetness
– sticky after-taste
Overall Rating: 7/10

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Lipton Lemon Ice Tea

This is the other major big-brand ice tea — and one that I was drinking for many years (since it is the only one easily available at a reasonable price in the UK).

Unfortunately it has the same blandness to its taste as Nestea and its flavor is dominated by the artificial sweeteners. That said, it lacks the distinctive artificial sweet taste at the top of the tongue, which Nestea has. So it is more easily drinkable and flows down the throat without being too sticky.
Nevertheless it has a certain bitterness at the end of the tongue, upon swallowing.
The black tea is also quite obvious in the taste and the sugar is clearly noticeable.  Mixed with the artificial sweetener, the taste lingers on the lips until washed out with another drink. The artificial lemon taste is also very strong and permeates the whole aroma.

  • strong, but artificial lemon taste
  • very sweet (artificial sweetener + sugar)
  • consistent flavor

Same as the other big-brand ice tea it has quite a high consistency in taste the world over, although not quite as extreme as Nestea. You will notice just slight variations in taste from country to country, which I guess are due to the different water-sources used in the production of the ice tea.

On the plus side: This is probably THE most widely available ice tea in the world (maybe even more common than Nestea). You will quite easily find packs of large bottles at quite a low price, as this ice tea is produced by one of the biggest food companies in the world, Unilever. So if you want to drink some ice tea without spending a fortune, you have little other choice. Also, you will often find yourself in a place (especially stalls and kiosks) where there is no other ice tea on offer other than Lipton.

There are several varieties in flavor, but as usual the Lemon version is the most common (and my preferred) one.

+ widely available
+ mostly reasonably priced
– artificial taste
– artificial sweetness lingers on

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Nestea Lemon

In my personal opinion, this is one of the worst big-brand lemon ice teas. It has a very particular taste, that’s why it’s not even branded as an ‘ice tea’ as such. Nevertheless its sweet, artificial taste is modeled after black tea and it is an iced tea.

The taste at the front of the tongue is uniquely bland. The artificial sweetener is all over the mouth and the sugar makes it stick.
Upon swallowing there is a bitter aftertaste (I’m not sure if this is the ‘apple-acid’ mentioned on the label) that lingers on.

  • bitter-sweet
  • artificial sweetener

Nestea is a brand by Nestle, but produced by Coca-Cola. Some very big brands… That makes it one of the most widely available ice teas in the world. So you often find yourself in a situation, where the choice is: Either another (soft-)drink or this ice tea. Or sometimes there’s a local alternative, which is more interesting and can be much better – but might be even worse.
With Nesta at least you know what you’re getting, because it provides a consistency in taste the world over, as I have only seen it with Lipton ice tea.

 

+ widely available
– artificial, bitter-sweet taste

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San Benedetto – Thè Limone

So to start with, one of my favorites: The San Benedetto – Thè Limone (in Aqua Minerale Naturale), here in the 0.5L bottle.

  • Very Sweet
  • Very light, yellowish color
  • Light sweet lemon-taste

It drinks itself just as lightly, as its color would suggest. But because of its sweetness, only when cooled down to a really ice-cold temperature, will it give off its full taste. If not cold enough, it can be a bit sticky on the tongue as you drink it.

Absolutely one of my favorites in the summer, if served ice-cold.  Preferably this “Limone” version, which is way better than the peach or green-tea-flavored ones.

Unfortunately it is not so easy to get outside of Italy. Certain bars and delis have it and sometimes you’ll find a 6-pack of the big bottles (1.5L) at a discounter – but the supply is not steady.

So if you happen to have a cold glas of this – enjoy. Or rather: Cin-Cin!