Wissotzky's Masala Chai Green Tea

ויסוצקי תה ירוק צ'אי מסאלה 

For this winter Wissotzky has completely revamped the packaging on its full line of green teas. With the new green packaging and the name GREEN you really can't miss what this line is all about. While they were at it they added three new flavors to this line; Strawberry Green Tea, Litchi Green Tea and Masala Chai Green Tea.

Lipton's Pyramid Jasmine Green Tea

Now that autumn has officially begun and winter is just around the corner I started noticing a few more "wintery" products in the stores like a new Osem "cup 'a soup" (that I plan on reviewing soon) and some new teas. Today I'll review one of the teas, it's from a line of flavored Lipton Pyramid Teas.

I think I saw white teas and black teas in this Lipton Pyramid line but what actually caught my eye was the green tea. I may have mentioned in a past review that I'm not a coffee drinker but green tea is my hot drink of choice.

Nestea's Exotic Flavored Ice Tea with Green Tea

נסטי דיאט תפוח
 עם תה ירוק

Nestea has 2 new flavors on the shelf this summer. One is a Diet Apple with Green Tea and the other is being called Exotic Flavor with Green Tea. Both of the new ice teas are made practically with green tea and therefore have the many antioxidant benefits that green tea is known for.

If and when I want a hot drink I usually chose jasmine flavored green tea. I actually much prefer the taste of green tea to any other hot tea I have ever had. So I was happy to see these ice teas with green tea on the supermarket shelf.

נסטי אקזוטי
עם תה ירוק

I don’t particularly love the taste of apple in ice tea so I decided to try the "exotic" flavor, even though it sort of bothered me that they did not write which exotic fruits were used.

Even after I tasted the ice tea I still can't tell you what fruits were used to flavor this tea and "warrant" the name Exotic. I didn’t find it all that exotic but that may be a good thing because I often don’t enjoy thing that are too exotic.

Maybe it's just that I don’t have a well enough developed palate to pin point exactly what fruits they used to flavor this ice tea but to me it tasted very much like their popular peach flavored Nestea Ice Tea. I actually had one in my refrigerator so I did a little comparison. Yes there was a difference, mainly in the aftertaste but to me it wasn’t all that dramatic of a difference. The peach was a little bit of a more mild flavor and I thought it had a slightly less intense aftertaste. But I did not think the new Exotic Ice Tea with Green Tea "screamed" either green tea or exotic fruit flavor. It is possible that someone who doesn’t enjoy green tea may not agree with me and may really notice the green tea taste in this new ice tea.

The main issue I have with both the peach and this new exotic flavored ice tea is that they are way too sweet for me. I don’t know if the diet ones are less sweet but I would really like to taste these same Nestea Ice Teas with way less sugar. If Nestea really wants to join the "health trend" maybe flavored green teas with less/no sugar should be their next new item.

Nestea Exotic Flavored Ice Tea with Green Tea has no preservatives and no artificial food coloring.

Bottom Line: I didn’t think that Nestea's Exotic Ice Tea with Green Tea was all that exotic but it was enjoyable enough.  If I had to choose between this Nestea with Green Tea Exotic Flavor and the Peach Flavored Nestea Ice Tea, I may choose the exotic flavored one simply because of the benefits I might get from the added green tea but on flavor alone I would rather the peach one. 

In case you missed them, the other ice teas I reviewed this summer are Tapuzina's Herbal Nana & Lemon Infusion Drink , Vitaminchick's Peach Ice-Tea Mix and Wissotzky's Litchi Celebration Summer Tea.

1.5 Liter bottle – 6.49 NIS

Kosher  Rabbinate Ashkelon

Disclaimer: All items were purchased by me. No one is paying me for this review. All opinions are my own

Tapuzina Summer Herbal Infusion Drinks

תפוזינה צלול חליטת נענה ולימונים

Jafora, one of the leading soft drink companies in Israel, has 2 new summer drinks on the market from their Tapuzina line of drinks. Tapuzina Tzalul Drinks are an herbal infusion drink; sort of an ice herbal tea drink. These new drinks are being called "Tzalul" which mean clear or pure.

The two flavors are "Sage & Citrus" and "Nana & Lemon". I tasted the Nana & Lemons Tzalul Drink

Nana, in case you're not familiar, is a variety of mint, which is very popular here in Israel and other parts of the region. (Wikipedia: The cultivar Mentha spicata 'Nana', the Nana mint of Morocco, possesses a clear, pungent, but mild aroma and is an essential ingredient of Touareg Tea.)

I thought Tapuzina succeeded in making the drink they set out to make, it lived up to what they advertised it to be. The drink was a "clean" and clear refreshing nana herbal ice-tea drink, with a touch of lemon flavor.

It seemed to me that there was more nana than lemon in the drink. Nana was clearly the dominant flavor. Actually I would have liked the drink to have a little more lemon flavor in it, for me it was missing a little "tanginess" that I expect from a lemon flavored drink, but it was still an enjoyable and refreshing summer drink.

I did think that they could have gotten away with less sugar but it wasn’t overly sweet. I know many people do like their drinks to be somewhat sweet so I'm guessing that they did kind of get the sweetness level right for the majority of their customer base.

The Tapuzina Tzalul Drinks have no artificial food coloring and no preservatives. 

Bottom Line: Of the three summer "tea type" drinks I have tasted and reviewed, so far, including Vitaminchick Peach Ice-Tea and Wissotzky Litchi Celebration Summer Tea, for me, this "Tapuzina Tzalul" Nana & Lemon Drink was the most enjoyable and closest to what I anticipated it to be; a refreshing, clean nana flavored herbal infusion(tea) summer drink. Even thought I would have liked to taste the tanginess of the lemon a little more than I did I still enjoyed this limited edition summer drink.

1.5 Liter Bottle – 6.99 NIS

Kosher Badatz

Disclaimer: All items were purchased by me. No one is paying me for this review. All opinions are my own.

Wissotzky Litchi Celebration Summer Tea

A few days ago I reviewed Illy's Cold Coffee so today its ice-tea's turn.

ויסוצקי חגיגת ליצ'י

Every summer Wissotzky introduces a new herbal tea that is intended to be enjoyed either as a hot cup of tea or cold as an ice-tea, this year's addition is called Litchi Celebration.

The others in the summer "Magic Garden" tea collection are; wild berry, passion fruit-mango, lemon-nana and cranberry.

Since the Vitaminchick Ice-Tea Syrup, I recently reviewed, didn’t impress me much and it had a tremendous amount of sugar added, I was interested in trying this Wissotzky Litchi Celebration tea. Partly because I have complete control over how much, if any, sweetener I added to my ice-tea and because I don’t think I have ever tried a litchi flavored tea, so it intrigued me.

At first I followed Wissotzky's instructions; I poured some boiling water into a cup added the tea bag for 3-4 minutes then poured cold water and ice into the tea (they suggest 5 tea bags for 1 liter of water).

In my opinion this litchi ice-tea was simply awful. I dont know why but it somehow tasted like cardboard. I thought maybe it was because of the "paper" tea bag. Many teas I've tasted recently like the Wissotzky's "Exotic Love Leaves" Tea  come in a satin-like/mesh tea-bag so I thought maybe I'm picking up on the "taste" of the regular tea bag and not on the tea itself.

So I opened a few tea bags and poured the content into a tea pot with a filter and tried again. I have to admit it was just as bad in my opinion. Something about this mixture of ingredients just did not work for me as an ice-tea.

I did give the tea a try as a hot tea as well, it wasn't awful but it was not all that good either. I didn’t hate it or particularly enjoy it but I didn't think it tasted like cardboard when it was hot.

I'm not really sure why Wissotzky chose to call this tea Litchi Celebration, the ingredients lists natural litchi flavor as the second to last ingredient after apples, rosehip, hawthorn berries and elderberries but before citric acid. I guess litchi sounds unique and inviting so they picked that name even if it's not near the main flavor of the tea.   

All the herbal teas in Wisotzky's Magic Garden collection including this Litchi Celebration tea are solely based on fruits, plants, flowers and natural spices. They do not have caffeine, preservatives or calories and are suitable for young and old alike.

Bottom Line: Hot or cold this tea did not impress me at all and as an ice-tea I thought it was simply terrible.  

Box of 25 tea bags - 15.99 NIS

Kosher Parve Mehadrin

Disclaimer: All items were purchased by me. No one is paying me for this review. All opinions are my own.

Vitaminchick Peach Ice-Tea

ויטמינצ'יק תה קר

Keeping kids hydrated on a hot Israeli summer's day without giving them highly caloric, junk filled drinks can be somewhat of a challenge. That’s where Vitaminchick tried to step in and be the answer you're looking for. Vitaminchick is a fruit flavored syrup, with added vitamins, intended to be mixed with water to make a fun flavorful drink for kids, that is both enjoyable and still "good for them". The only problem is Vitaminchick really isn't all that good for them, considering that the first ingredient in the syrup is sugar.

Vitaminchick's two new flavors are Mango Ice-Tea and Peach Ice-Tea. I tasted the Peach Ice-Tea.

If I'm not mistaken these are the first two ice-tea flavors for them. They already have raspberry, grape, pineapple, lemon and apple Vitaminchicks. So although mango or peach ice-tea doesn't seem to me to be a "go to" flavor for kids I think Vitaminchick is just trying to branch out and add more flavors.

According to the packaging each 1 liter bottle of Vitaminchick syrup can make about 45 cups of ice-tea, but I used way less than the suggested 1 cup of syrup for 8 cups of water and I thought it was still more than enough flavor for me. At this rate the bottle I have will last me "forever"!

Even with the small amount of syrup I used I could clearly smell and taste that I was drinking a peach flavored ice-tea. Although I know it's made of all natural ingredients and has no artificial food coloring or preservatives the Vitaminchick still somehow seemed to have an artificial taste and flavor that I really did not enjoy.

It might taste better frozen; as peach ice-tea flavored ices, but as a drink I didn't find it as refreshing and enjoyable as ice-tea made from real tea or herb and fruit infusions. It wasn’t awful but for me it wasn’t a winner either.

The vitamins added to the ice-tea mixture are B3, B5 and B6 which I understand help with healthy growth and development in children as well as give them a boost of energy. The syrup also has B12 vitamin added, which among other things, is known to help carry oxygen more efficiently to the body.

Bottom Line: When compared to other drink options on the market for kids these days, Vitaminchick does have a few benefits but for me it wasn’t tasty enough to "put up" with its "downfalls". So I can't see myself buying Vitaminchicks Ice-Tea syrup again.

1 Liter Bottle – 11.99 NIS

Kosher Badatz

Disclaimer: All items were purchased by me. No one is paying me for this review. All opinions are my own.

Wissotzky's "Exotic Love Leaves" Tea

I was curious to taste Wissotzky "Exotic Love Leaves" tea, a limited edition tea from their Leaves Collection.

In the box there is a silver bag that had 16 pretty, triangle, satin-like/mesh tea-bags in it.

When I opened the package, the first thing that hit me was the amazing aroma! It was more like a potpourri then a tea. It has a wonderful rose and fruit scent. I would be happy for my closets to smell like this tea, but I think it's a little too expensive to be used as potpourri.

The box says "for best results leave in water for only 2 minutes" possibly because of the large size of the tea-bag or, maybe because of the mesh cloth it's made of, the boiling water turned into tea really fast, seemingly quicker than other tea-bags. I didn't need to leave the tea in the water for the full 2 minutes to get the medium strength tea I prefer.

The tea is made of all natural ingredients; blended Indian, Ceylon & Indonesian black tea, rosebuds, candied pineapple bits, Citrus peels, candied papaya bits, mullein flowers; coconut & piña-colada flavors.

I know a major part of taste is the sense of smell, with this tea the aroma was stronger than the taste, so much so, that I actually found it interfering. It took me some time to notice the piña-colada and other fruits, because the rose seemed to be dominating .

Overall it's a slightly sweeter tea. I did like it ,to some degree, but I enjoyed the aroma more than the taste.

Bottom Line: It’s a nice way to end a romantic meal, even if I don’t drink it, I may brew some up just to have the aroma fill the room as we eat dessert.

Kosher Parve- Rabbinate Lower Galilee

16 tea bags 2.5 grams each - 25.99 NIS

Disclaimer: All items were purchased by me. No one is paying me for this review. All opinions are my own.