Heart of Tea

Product Type:Tea: Sweetened; Container: 14oz Glass
BevNET Review: If there was ever a beverage that’s straightforward and easy to understand, Heart of Tea’s Peach Tea is definitely it. This product’s minimalist glass packaging is almost instantly identifiable. Inside the bottle, the straightforwardness continues with a blend of black tea, peach flavoring, and sugar (along with citric acid). The resulting blend has a relatively bold black tea flavor, is moderately sweet, and has peach flavoring that should be familiar to anyone who has ever had peach flavored tea. Considering all of these things, we have somewhat mixed feelings about this product. On the one hand, the packaging is super clean and there’s obviously a proven market for sugar sweetened peach flavored tea. On the other hand, this product doesn’t really offer anything new. The one thing that is unique, albeit buried on the back of the bottle and with no further explanation (neither on the bottle or company’s web site), is a call out that the company “believes in sharing 30% of profits with the community.” That’s certainly noteworthy if they can back it up and give it more emphasis. Overall, a solid entry, but it’s hard to see where this product fits amidst the massive sea of RTD teas that are already on the market. Reviewed on: 1/4/2013

Product Type:Tea: Sweetened; Container: 14oz Glass
BevNET Review: Like the Peach flavor of Heart of Tea that we also sampled, the Pomegranate Orange flavor is very straightforward and enjoyable. The flavor of the drink is quite good, with a sugar sweetened base of black tea that pairs nicely with the pomegranate and orange flavoring that has been utilized. The fruit flavors are pretty accurate, although the orange flavoring definitely seems like the star of the show. Regardless, we think it’s a pretty nice blend and one that certainly is a marketable offering. On the outside, we like the super simple look of the product. The name “Heart of Tea” is innocuous sounding and could, at least in the mind of the consumer, mean any number of things. The 14 oz. glass bottle has a minimalist look, which is a nice contrast to some of the more design heavy offerings that are out there. As a result, we think this product will be identified as a premium offering. However, the smallish size could be an issue as it is likely to be competing with products that are 16 ounces or more. Still, we like what they’ve created. The execution is solid and it definitely offers something unique from a visual perspective.Reviewed on: 1/4/2013