Lipton PureLeaf White Tea with Tangerine

Lipton is a Unilever brand, which is also the maker of Hellmann's mayo (a top of the line condiment), detergents, Pond's beauty products, and...Axe body sprays and grooming products for boys. Besides Lipton, Unilever also has the Slim-Fast weight loss products, which at some point we'll review here.

Lipton is one of the largest tea maker in the world with deep market penetration in the USA and Europe and significant parts of the Middle East and Asia. The wikipedia entry gives plenty of historical and current market information, so no need to repeat it here.

The tea under review today is a ready-to-drink cold tea from the Lipton PureLeaf line. What drew me to this particular bottle was the additional flavor of tangerines and the fact that the sweet versions of these teas are made with sugar and not HFCS.

Presentation/Appearance - 7/10 This has a lovely natural crystal clear green tea appearance. The brew is a blend of white and green tea leaves. Sold in glass bottles with a pressurized resealable cap.

Nose/Aroma - 7/10 Pleasing tea odors that are pushed out of the way by the tangerine aroma. This smells good and inviting. Hot teas usually have a stronger nose and score higher than this. An iced tea will be hard pressed to score above a 7.

Taste/Flavor - 7/10 If you like sweet teas, this might score higher for you. It is by no means treacly sweet like typical southern USA sweet tea, but there isn't a smidgen of bitterness to be found here. The tea appears very early in the taste before being demolished by the sweet tangerine flavors. No juice is used to make this tea, but the flavor company that created the tangerine taste has done an outstanding job with this one.

Finish/Satisfaction - 6/10 The tangerine lingers for just a moment. There isn't much and the tea leaves no lasting memory. This is a fine drink while it is in your mouth, but you won't be tasting tangerine or tea afterwards.

Overall - 6.7/10 This is a fine beverage that drinks very easily. I paid $1.69 for a 16 oz (473ml) bottle. If you want anti-oxidants but don't care for the bitter flavors of tea and you aren't interested in brewing and sweetening your own teas, then this is a perfect way to go. Clearly not intended to be the end all be all of teas, it is still a refreshing drink and only 120 calories per bottle.

I'm going to have to start down the tea brewing road soon. Any recommendations on where to start? Tea seems to be incredibly popular judging by the number of brands and the sheer size of the shelf space it takes up in the supermarket aisle.

Oolong Shot

Oolong Shot is a blue tea, as in, not green or black. This tea, according to the can, is semi-oxidized. It's darker than green, but lighter than black tea.

Dr. Andrew Weil is a big proponent of the Ito En brands of teas. His image appears on the cans and on the website.

This is a simple ready-to-drink (RTD) tea, made of purified water, oolong tea and some added vitamin C (ascorbic acid.) You get 130% of your daily value of vitamin C in a 6.4 oz (190ml) can. You also get 40 mg of caffeine. That's bit more than a 12 oz Coke, but about half of a typical coffee.

Like the merlot juice from earlier, the big marketing push here is for a healthy dose of anti-oxidants. In this case, polyphenols. Studies continue to determine the efficacy of ingesting polyphenols on human health. Can it hurt? I don't know.

I do know that this little can of tea cost $1.07. Not bad, but it is mainly water. At $21.40 a gallon, I'm expecting something special.

Presentation/Appearance - 6/10 Nothing

special in the appearance. This is a dark gold, nearly brown translucent tea. Clear, pretty, not homely. I served this in a rocks glass because I did not have a see-through coffee mug. I will remedy this situation shortly.

Smell/Odor/Aroma - 7/10 Earthy, just the way you would expect. There is something spiritual about this odor. It brings back memories the way grass, cinnamon, or hickory smoke do. It smells of autumn as leaves fall and rot. It smells of spring, when the earth is turned for planting. I should stop before I write an embarrassing poem. I've had other teas, fresh brewed that present this aroma more strongly. But for an RTD tea in a can, this is impressive. Spouse says it smells "dusty"...different noses, no?

Taste/Flavor - 5/10 The can was labeled best before April 21, 2010. I have no idea when it was canned. The earthly oolong flavor is there. The water is plain and simple, but I detect a metallic taste. I'm not enough of an expert on tea to know if this is natural for the particular leaf, or is this part of being canned in steel.

Finish/Satisfaction - 5/10 The metallic taste dominates the finish. The bitterness is even and would be near perfect is the steely finish wasn't in the way.

Overall - 5.35/10 This is not terrible by any means, but there are better tasting teas out there. Think of the Oolong Shot as a convenience tea, rather than a staple. It is worth spending the extra time heating water and brewing your own.

I'm going to continue to review Ito En beverages, including their other RTD tea: Sencho Shot.

Anyone have any recommended teas in a can?