Granny Squibb's

by The Granny Squibb Company

Review: Granny Squibb’s Charlie’s Cranberry

Posted: Apr 11, 2019 at 1:15 PM (Last Updated: Apr 11, 2019 at 2:08 PM)

Covers Products: Charlie's Cranberry - Sweetened, Charlie's Cranberry - Unsweetened

Granny Squibb’s latest flavor is Charlie’s Cranberry, which comes in both sweetened and unsweetened varieties. These two flavors joint the other four SKUs that are part of the Granny Squibb’s lineup.

If you’re not familiar with Granny Squibb’s, the brand’s mission is to create “astonishingly delicious” tea products. All of the flavors are USDA Organic and use simple, premium ingredients.

These latest two flavors very much follow that trend. Both flavors feature cranberry and lime juice concentrates, black tea, and mint flavor. The sweetened variety features cane sugar while the unsweetened does not.

The taste of these two products are probably best compared to a raspberry flavored iced tea, but with a bit more tartness. They very much have a “classic” RTD iced tea flavor, with a black tea base, a note of fruit flavor, and a slightly acidic finish. The cranberry isn’t very strong or pronounced, which we think could be improved upon. The sweetened variety, which features 30 g of sugar per bottle, was our favorite of the two as it has a smoother finish than the unsweetened variety.

On the outside, this product uses a stock 16 oz bottle with a label wrapped around the middle. It’s very much the tried and true format for the category and they’ve also decided to use a stock (rather than custom) cap. The design of the label has a Rhode Island theme to it, complete with a sailboat, while the layout of the label has elements coming at you from almost every portion of the front panel.

While one could certainly question whether or not it’s a good idea in 2019 to launch an organic beverage with 120 calories and 30 grams of sugar per bottle, package  design is our biggest concern for this product. It’s cluttered, has a hierarchy that’s out of order, and there’s a disconnect between the Granny Squibb branding and the use of a sailboat. Honestly, we think taking a fresh approach to this is probably the best course of action right now as tweaking the current look probably won’t help much.

Overall, these are some decent mainstream organic teas, but the lack of cohesion and polish on the label is hard to look past.


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