ZT Rooibos Teas

Product Type:Tea: Sweetened; Container: 16 oz glass
BevNET Review: From a taste point of view, this stuff has pretty accurate flavors, with ginseng and honey flavoring working well with the nutty flavor of the rooibos tea. On the other hand, we think that the target consumer might like it more if ginseng or honey were added rather than just flavorings. Either way, it’s an enjoyable tasting product to drink, assuming you like products that are big on tea flavor and light on the secondary ones. In this case, everything works well up until the finish, with something tasting just a bit off at the end. Reviewed on: 4/1/2009

Product Type:Tea: Sweetened; Container: 16 oz glass
BevNET Review: For a drink with only 10 calories, this product has a lot of flavor – and fortunately none of it comes from artificial sweeteners. In this product, they’ve used only five ingredients: water, organic inulin (for added fiber), brewed organic rooibos tea, organic clarified brown rice syrup (a low GI sweetener), and natural flavors. For the most part, the flavor of the red tea really shines, with the touch of sweetener adding to its nuttiness and naturally light sweetness. On the other hand, the lemon flavoring puts a damper on things, with an overly acidic note that clears the tea flavor from your palate. Instead, we’d like to see things be a little lighter or sweeter, which might add some much needed balance to the mix. Packaging is a 16 oz. glass bottle, the kind that’s so often used for bottled tea drinks, so we think that’s a wise choice for this one. Design wise, it’s clean but feels somewhat sterile, lacking the personality that many of its competitors have gone for. Overall, we’re fans of the taste, but cutting down the lemon flavor and punching up the branding would be good next steps.Reviewed on: 4/1/2009

Product Type:Tea: Unsweetened; Container: 16 oz glass
BevNET Review: The flavor of ZT Rooibos Red Tea’s “Unsweetened” variety is probably best compared to a mixture of green and black teas, but without the grassiness or acidity that you’d find by mixing the two. The raw flavor of red tea has a slight amount of nuttiness to it, with an almost floral like flavor to the finish. It’s a good interpretation of real brewed red tea, but in much more convenient form. They’ve also added inulin to the product, which adds 20% of your RDA of fiber. That’s a nice benefit for sure, but it seems hard to believe that fiber conscious consumers will start purchasing this product as a result. Packaging is good, but doesn’t yet stand out, with a clean front panel that feels a bit too plain. Placing the USDA Organic seal on it is good, but might not be enough with the strong competition that’s currently lining the tea shelf. Overall, it’s good, but we feel like they need a bit more oomph to succeed.Reviewed on: 4/1/2009

Product Type:Tea: Sweetened; Container: 16 oz glass
BevNET Review: The Vanilla flavored variety of ZT Rooibos Red Tea is one of the tastiest flavors of the lineup, but it could still use a bit of tweaking. Specifically the vanilla flavoring starts off pleasant but goes just a bit too far. We’d like to see the vanilla flavoring dialed down a notch, which would hopefully allow the drink to have more balance than it currently does. Otherwise, this product is on par with the other varieties in the flavor of the red tea, added fiber, and packaging. Overall, we enjoyed the Vanilla variety, but we’d enjoy it a whole lot more if there were a bit less of the vanilla flavoring.Reviewed on: 4/1/2009