I love the Emergen-C packets that you add to water.
As someone who rides public transportation, I drink those very often in the winter months when everyone is coughing and sniffling over my shoulder. I also drink them several times a day if I feel myself getting the sniffles. But they do have some questionable ingredients, and as a vegan I have to be careful about what flavors I buy because they aren’t all vegan. (Weird that animal products would have to be added anyway)
So I was excited to try this Sencha Naturals effervescent drink mix that is vegan, and also all natural. I can pronounce and recognize all of the ingredients listed. I tried the dragonfruit flavor, which is flavored with acerola cherry, dragonfruit extract, ginger and turmeric root, and organic orange peel. Although it also has matcha and sencha green tea, it’s still pretty low caffeine at 10 milligrams per packet.
I poured the packet into some cold water, and gave it a good shake. At first it was a little clumpy and I was worried because who likes drinking clumps? But there was no need to worry, once it was properly mixed it was a nice smooth drink. It has a sweet, slightly tart taste that I found very refreshing. And best of all it tasted natural, like it was made of real ingredients, not mixed in a lab by people wearing lab coats and goggles which is how I imagine Emergen-C being made. I feel hydrated and refreshed after drinking it, the little surge I always get after a vitamin c infusion.
Each packet has 180 mg. of vitamin C, so that’s really great. Next winter when it’s sniffle season, I will definitely be choosing this over Emergen-C.
It would also be great just as a mid afternoon pick me up without a ton of caffeine. I look forward to trying their other flavors!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green Tea
Where to Buy: Sencha Naturals
Description
We believe that nutrition should come from whole food ingredients, not synthetic vitamins. Whole leaf green tea, acerola cherry, coconut water, and supporting herbs to help you stay well. Exotic dragonfruit has a tangy, yet slightly sweet flavor profile we think tastes extra amazing over ice.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Get a Boost with Green Tea +C Citrus Ginger
Green Tea + C Citrus Ginger from Sencha Naturals is an effervescent drink mix made with green tea, ginger, and orange flavoring. Like other immune-system-boosting fizzy drinks, this powder bubbles and hisses when mixed with water, like seltzer tablets. The powder and the drink smell super spicy with ginger and tangerine citrus. Drinking this beverage, there is a tart bite of citric acid, like the sourness in chewable vitamin C tablets. The ginger heat comes through in the aftertaste, bringing a warm and buzzy mouthfeel.
As a green tea, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this product. The green tea base is lost among the orange tartness and slight chalky consistency of the powder. However, I would recommend trying this out an alternative to fizzy, immune-boosting drinks. Green Tea +C is unique in that it is the first effervescent drink mix I’ve used that includes green tea in the ingredients.
At the end of a weekend, when I’m tired and facing another week, I sometimes feel like I need a boost, both mental and physical. That’s the time of day that I’d reach for something like Green Tea +C. The bubbles and tart orange flavor are energizing and zesty and I like the idea that I’m powering myself up with some Vitamin C, ready to face another Monday.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green tea powder
Where to Buy: Sencha Naturals
Description: We believe that nutrition should come from whole food ingredients, versus synthetic vitamins. Whole leaf green tea, acerola cherry, coconut water, and supporting herbs to help you stay well. Serve hot for a gingery warm and citrus-y bright cup of tea.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Rainbow Sherbet Iced Tea by Southern Boy Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Black
Where to Buy: Southern Boy Teas
Tea Description:
Creamy raspberry, orange and lime sherbet in an iced tea, from our Southern Boy Teas collection. This is a great blend of finely processed (CTC) Indian black tea blended with organic flavors and sealed in an oversized teabag. Each individually packaged teabag will yield 2-quarts (a full gallon if you re-steep) of the best iced tea you’ve ever had.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is my first iced tea of 2015! I tried this one for the first time last summer, and it was so good I went back straightaway for another pouch. I was a bit of a Southern Boy Teas doubter at first, because I didn’t see how tea could taste of ice cream or sherbet, jello or bubblegum. Somehow, though, they do, and this one is no exception.
I brewed this one up the way I usually do – the bag gets 2 minutes in 1/4 litre of boiling water, which is then topped up to 1.8 litres with cold water and put in the fridge overnight. I usually drink half a jug a day (so just under a litre), and as the tea bag is good for a second brewing, these teas represent great value for money. More important than that, though, is the flavour! This one is out of this world! The sherbet is creamy, fruity, and even a little effervescent tasting. I can detect flavours of raspberry, orange, lemon and lime by turns, although they’re not particularly distinct. Just tiny flashes that skip across my taste buds and are gone. Ultimately, the individual fruit flavours merge together into a generically sherbet-y taste. However it’s done, it’s truly amazing.
It’s also worth mentioning that the black base here, although remaining firmly in the background, is beautifully smooth, and neither too heavy or too light for the flavourings. It gives the tea a decent amount of body, so you know that’s what you’re drinking, but it’s never overpowering, and it’s not at all bitter of astringent.
To sum up my thoughts, then: this tea is magic. You need to try some.
