I think there must be a rule that you must disclose the percentage of juice contained in a juice drink, I always see contains 23% juice, contains 100% juice.
I wish there was a rule for this on bottled / ready to drink teas. All too often there is more fruit juice than tea, or other ingredients that I believe have no bearing on being in a tea drink.
The real root of the issue is there are very few (but they are out there) good bottled/canned/ready to drink teas on the market. Too many teas I try taste like nestea powdered tea, overly brewed tea, or seem to have nothing but sugar and juice!
You may wonder why I don’t brew tea, and bring it with me. I will admit a majority of the time I have bottled tea is at work for lunch. The remainder of the time is while out at a fast food location, or traveling. I’ll just flat out admit to being tired and lazy. I am living on my own for the first time, I have always had roommates before, and find there is never enough time in a day to do anything, sadly right now this includes brew tea. I am hoping to finish unpacking the new place, and settle in, and have more time. In the interim I will be trying a variety of bottled and canned tea which are likely to disappoint, but perhaps I will find a few gems.
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I agree with you 110% (see what I did there?). I’ve had quite a few bottled/canned “teas” that were anything but. In all honesty I figured I should have saved some dough and bought a Nestea or Lipton iced tea. Very little tea = very disappointing.
I’m curious what types of tea have you tried in the bottled/canned variety?
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Baaza is pretty good, Tazo has been awful, Harney & Sons is pretty good, Honest Tea is hit or miss, and I like ito en jasmine
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The trick is ignore ALL claims to it being tea. If you tell yourself you are buying tea-tinged chemically-flavoured fruit-scented water, you won’t be all that disappointed
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Very true! expectations determine the level of disappointment!
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And it could be worst, it could taste something while having only other ingredients in it.
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meaning, to taste like tea and contain none? (like a long island iced tea)
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Couldn’t agree more. Most are just vile. Some have such a strong chemical lemon flavor that I wouldn’t even know it was supposed to be tea. Basically if it doesn’t specify a “type” of tea I’ve already decided it’s going to be poor. Ito En has done some okay ones (I’m about to test some Teas Tea they just sent…Didn’t care for the Sencha Shots though, not my thing). Harneys can be decent. Otherwise I’ve found a lot of misses.
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Even at times when they specify a type of tea it’s mainly juice and sugar 🙁 I tried the Ito En Sencha Shot, but to be fair I am not a sencha fan.
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If I must indulge in an RTD Ito En and Harney’s would be my choices. Tea is hot right now and so many “strange combos” have indicated that Tea is one of there ingredients. I have so many mixed feelings about this surge. Is it good for public awareness as tea a healthful alternative or am I upset about the misrepresentation and hype? Tea Education is the key.