I’ve never been a tea drinker, I’ve always hated most teas. Even as a child I would only drink Lipton Instant Iced Tea, often with lemon slices. I still can’t stand most brewed teas, hot or cold. They taste “burnt” to me, as does coffee. I can barely get down brewed tea in any form and I absolutely loathe unsweetened tea.
Arizona brand iced teas have always been the only traditional teas that I have enjoyed – other than Lipton Instant Iced Teas and some herbal teas. Now, even though I’m not a tea buff, it says a lot when I find a tea that I truly love and want to keep on hand at all times. I’ve finally found an iced tea I love in the new Arizona Iced Tea Concentrates.
When my husband brought this home from the store instead of our usual Lipton Instant Iced Tea powder, I was hesitant to try it. Knowing that I liked canned Arizona brand iced teas, he persuaded me to try this new iced tea.
I was a bit miffed at first, because Arizona Ice Tea Concentrate was a lot more costly than the traditional Lipton Iced Tea. But after the first sip of the new Arizona Iced Tea Concentrate, I was sold. I can’t go back to the Lipton Instant Iced Tea, it tastes harsh and artificial to me now in comparison to Arizona’s Iced Tea Concentrate.
At Sam’s Club, for example, Arizona Iced Tea Concentrate comes in a four pack for about $4.00. Each can in the four pack makes 2 quarts. To fill a standard, large pitcher, two cans are required. Therefore, each large pitcher of tea costs $2.00, which to me is a bit pricey compared to the inexpensive Lipton Iced Tea. Each package of four cans of concentrate makes a total of 2 gallons of tea. This is 32, 8 oz servings of tea, costing about $0.13 each 8oz serving.
The Arizona Tea website offers the same product at $2.99 instead of $4.00, a savings of $1.01, if you order enough to make the cost of shipping it worthwhile. I found that for 6 packages of the tea, the shipping estimate was $5.95. But the extra expense is well worth it, because there is just no comparing the two teas. Arizona’s Iced Tea Concentrate is in a different league than Lipton Iced Tea.
Personally, I find most teas, iced or brewed, to have a nasty “burnt” taste. I also find most teas harsh, bitter or just nasty. Also many powdered teas are overly sweet and very artificial tasting. Arizona Iced Tea Concentrate is every good as the iced tea Arizona sells by the can. We found the traditional Arizona Brand Iced Tea Concentrates and found them smooth, mellow and not overly sweet, but just right. I’m also finding that the caffeine levels of this tea is higher than instant tea, therefore I need to drink less to give me an energy “boost.”
I’ve always particularly hated green tea, I found it even harder to stomach than black tea. Knowing of the many purported health benefits of green tea, I’ve tried many different brands and have disliked them all. I really didn’t think I’d like Arizona’s Green Tea Iced Tea Concentrate. Surprisingly the green tea is very mellow and not at all harsh. I like it just as well as the Arizona traditional iced tea. In fact, we drink this one now instead of the traditional tea, to get the purported benefits from green tea.
To make tea from the Arizona Iced Tea Concentrate, you simply pull the pop top lid on the can of liquid concentrate. Then you pour the liquid concentrate into a pitcher and add water and mix and chill in the refrigerator. Again, a large pitcher will require two cans of Arizona Iced Tea Concentrate. There is no way to make tea by the single glass using these Arizona Iced Tea Concentrates, you have to make a small or large pitcher of tea.
Now for those of you concerned with ingredients, there may be some ingredients in Arizona Green Tea Iced Tea Concentrate that you might not like. The ingredients include:
Premium Brewed Green Tea Using Filtered Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Honey, Natural Flavors, Citric Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Ginseng Extract.
Personally, I could do without the corn syrup and other additives. The tea is sweet, but not overly so. But if you were making it yourself traditionally from tea bags, you might put less sugar in the tea.
Nutritionally, Arizona Green Tea Iced Tea Concentrate, (when mixed with water) is most likely better for you calorie wise than traditional soda pop. But, there is still more sugar and sodium content than I would personally prefer, although it is still an acceptable level.
For each 8 oz serving of tea:
-70 calories
-0 saturated fat
-0 trans fat
-0 cholesterol
-10 mg sodium
-18 g total carbohydrates
-0 g dietary fiber
-17g sugars
-0g protein
Vitamin & Mineral Content: (Percent daily values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.)
-0% Vitamin A
-0% Calcium
-10% Vitamin C
-0%
Even with the extra expense of Arizona Iced Tea Concentrate, we intend to keep buying it. It will replace soda completely in our household, since mostly we only drink soda for the caffeine and not the taste. I don’t think I’ll ever buy the Lipton Instant Iced Tea powder ever again, as long as this Arizona Iced Tea Concentrate is available. Considering that just one can of Arizona tea (not the concentrate but ready to drink) costs between $0.50 to over $1.00 (although most of them have more than 8oz in each can), making Arizona iced tea at home from the concentrate is still a good value.
So far, the only flavors of Arizona Iced Tea Concentrate I’ve seen (and tried) is the traditional iced tea and green tea iced tea. I’m hoping they will come out with the raspberry iced tea and the peach iced tea next. Ice tea lovers, do your self a favor and try this tea. Even if you don’t like tea, you may find that this is the one tea that will change your mind about tea.
Arizona Iced Tea’s Website:
http://www.arizonabev.com/csr/home.asp
About the Concentrate Tea-Green Tea: http://www.arizonabev.com/csr/ProductCart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=180
Traditional Iced Tea: http://www.arizonabev.com/csr/ProductCart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=2&idproduct;=179
