Honest Tea (Glass)

Product Type:Tea: Sweetened; Container: 16 oz Glass
BevNET Review: Tulsi tea, which is also known as “Holy Basil,” is an herbal tea that represents a new caffeine-free offering for the Honest Tea lineup. Like many of Honest’s other flavors, this variety is “just a tad sweet” and is also certified USDA Organic. The flavor of this product is extremely easy to like, with a mellow blend of rooibos, lemongrass, tulsi, lemon peel, and lemon myrtle making up the herbal blend used to flavor the drink. They’ve also added a touch of lemon juice and lemon extract to the mix. The flavor that results has a light note of rooibos, some floral notes to it, and a very unique citrus undertone that is present from start to finish. Fortunately, the lemon flavor isn’t very strong, so it doesn’t overpower the rest of flavors in the drink. The use of cane sugar gives the product a very mild level of sweetness, with it complementing rather than competing with the other flavors in the drink. All in all, we really like the flavor that they’ve created with this product and we bet that mainstream consumers will prefer it to straight rooibos or other caffeine free offerings. On the outside, this product looks just like the rest of the Honest Tea line, almost to a fault. That’s because at this point, spotting a new flavor in the Honest Tea line is somewhat difficult with only text and the backdrop on the “T” used to differentiate each flavor. So, unless consumers look very closely or are intimately familiar with all the Honest Tea “T” designs, it’s somewhat easy to miss. And that would be a real shame – this is truly a standout formulation.