Green Tea hybrid Sodas

[jhlurie]

Okay, for the record... I really dislike Iced Tea. Warm, I'm an occasional Tea drinker, but cold... I just don't like it.

The idea of mixed iced tea beverages also weirds me out a bit, and I'm not usually the guy buying at the Seven-Eleven, trying every new variation Snapple or Arizona pumps out.

So why was I attracted to the display of Green Tea drinks in a back corner of the King's Supermarket in Fort Lee, New Jersey? I'm not entirely sure, but at least part of the equation was that they were SODAS and not the Tea/Juice hybrids I'm so sick of ignoring.

A whole selection of flavors was available from a company called Steap (name makes sense, eh?). The Steap website (click here) probably describes them better than I could. Out of that pack of flavors, I grabbed a bottle of orange--as yet untried.

The in-store stock of Steap didn't include the Cola flavor, but another manufacturer, Cricket Cola, was sitting right there on the shelf in its place. Like Steap, Cricket is a Soda/Green Tea hybrid, and sitting here drinking it I can tell you how surprised I am at how good it is. The Green Tea (maybe the sixth ingredient) really mellows out the usual bitterness of Cola, and makes it unbelievably smooth. I'm currently drinking the "regular" Cricket Cola, with Cane Sugar, but later on I'll try the Splenda version and report back on that. Here's the Cricket Cola website for those of you who care. Also, a very favorable BEVNET review, which I've only just read as I'm typing this.

Anyone else seen these things, or other brands of Soda/Green Tea hybrids? One important distinction seems to be that Green Tea is NEVER the primary flavor, so a Green Tea flavored soda, if such exists, might not count.

[JAZ]

The in-store stock of Steap didn't include the Cola flavor, but another manufacturer, Cricket Cola, was sitting right there on the shelf in its place.  Like Steap, Cricket is a Soda/Green Tea hybrid, and sitting here drinking it I can tell you how surprised I am at how good it is.  The Green Tea (maybe the sixth ingredient) really mellows out the usual bitterness of Cola, and makes it unbelievably smooth.  I'm currently drinking the "regular" Cricket Cola, with Cane Sugar, but later on I'll try the Splenda version and report back on that.

The diet Cricket is great. I, too, generally disdain iced tea blends. However, a few months ago, I was at the store I used to frequent on my lunch break and desperate for a cold caffeine fix. The store was out of Diet Coke, my usual choice, but I spied the Cricket and decided to give it a try. Not as carbonated as Diet Coke and not as bitter. Not so much sweeter as "rounder" and more mellow. I didn't realize it was made with Splenda, but that might account for the lack of bitterness.

[jhlurie]

Just tried my Diet Cricket. I can't rate it as highly as the sugared... but it IS pretty good. Bevnet's review claims that the Green Tea tastes more "medicinal" in the Diet, but that's not quite right. I think its more accurate to say that the sugared blends OVER the Green Tea a bit more and the diet reveals it a bit more. I seem to prefer it more in the background, for the way it softens the bitterness of the cola, so I like the sugared more. Somebody who is really fond of Green Tea taste might actually like the Diet Cricket more than the regular Cricket.

[jhlurie]

Tried the Steap Orange/Green Tea Soda tonight.

Not bad. Not bad at all. Like with Cricket Cola, with Steap the Green Tea is sixth on the list of ingredients... so its not THAT strong--the orange flavor is dominant.

I'm not sure the Green Tea is as necessary with Orange as with Cola (where it really took the worst of the Cola bitterness away), but its interesting. But one thing I notice with ALL of these Green Tea Sodas is that they have a more pleasant aftertaste.

[Cephalopunk]

I tried Cricket a couple of months ago. I normally dislike mixing green tea with anything, since it has such a subtle flavor that is easily lost, but I wanted a cola, and Coke doesn't cut it for me. If you look at the Cricket Cola bottle, you'll notice that it says something like "Drink Cold." They're not joking. Cricket Cola at room temperature is awful, vile stuff - sufficently chilled it's a decent soda.