Fruit Tea: Now in 3D
I don’t know about you, but I like my tea in a can. Well, a bottle is also acceptable. I was never a big fan of brewing hot tea on 80-degree days or drinking green tea instead of coffee for my caffeine fix. But at one point in my life, I realized sometimes I don’t need (and probably shouldn’t have) soda or straight juice all the time. Bottled water, however, is hardly a taste substitution for those of us too lazy to make our own iced teas. Enter in Ito En, Honest Tea, and now Revolution 3D tea beverages: refrigeratable, healthy, portable, and low-calorie solutions on the alternative drink market.
Revolution is primarily a tea company specializing in a variety of tea, and tea and fruit combinations. Most of their teas come in teabag form (they even have spiffy pyramid tea foil infusers). But it’s their new 3D beverages (in a can) that interest me most. “Pomegranate,” “white tea,” “cane sugar”? I think somebody hit my buzzwords.
We tried four flavors: Green Apple, Pomegranate, Blueberry, and Mango. All four are paired with white tea, young green tea leaves, which offer a smoother flavor than normal green tea. All four are billed as a super fruit, multi-vitamin (emphasizing vitamin C and B complex) and tea combo—hence the “3D.” The fruit flavors are all natural juice and play a nice offset to the tea. The fruity smell is strong, though the flavor itself is much more mild, trying to leave room for the tea and probably also not add calories to the drink. The white tea, typically a a very subtle flavor, competed on equal terms with the flavor of the fruit juice. This created a taste confusion for the first few sips. My mind was trying to decide… is the tea too fruit-flavored, the juice too tea-flavored, or had it struck the right balance?
Overall, I quite liked the drinks and easily see them as a good alternative to the Cokes and Pepsis of the world. They’re just over half the calories of most sodas, easily replacing sodas as a healthier and tasty beverage, but perhaps not replacing some people’s Fuze drinks on calories alone. So, my favorite? Surprisingly, blueberry. The green apple is nicely crisp and the pomegranate has an understated sweetness, but the blueberry, a typically overlooked juice, mixes best with white tea. Revolution 3D Teas are available for around $8 for a four-pack, making them competitive with other similar drinks.
