T2U

Product Type:Tea: Sweetened; Container: 16 oz bottle
BevNET Review: Rather than going with more Americanized lemon flavoring, this South Korean produced product has opted for citron, which has a more tangy citrus flavor. It blends surprisingly well with the green tea, adding some depth and also helping to cut the naturally grassy flavor of the green tea. They’ve sweetened the mixture with honey to the tune of 16g of sugars per serving, resulting in a flavor profile that’s sweeter than lightly sweetened RTD teas, but still light in comparison to the mainstream brands. The finish is, for the most part, quite smooth, but there’s a light grassy note that hits your tongue at the end. All in all, it’s quite enjoyable, especially if you’re someone that appreciates authentic Asian teas but ends up mixing them with sweetener. On the packaging front, the metal bottle has been decorated nicely, with vibrant graphics and colors that should make the brand stand out from its competitors. However, we don’t think that calling it “Citron” makes for the most marketable flavor name. Otherwise, it’s an intuitive product in the sense that you know it’s a tea drink, but then again, it doesn’t really speak to the consumer in terms of what its benefits are. For that, you’ll have to go to the back panel, which features a rather verbose explanation of how they make this tea. If they can manage to sum up the key points and better incorporate them into the brand, that might help this product along. Overall, T2U’s Citron Tea is an enjoyable tasting entry with eye-catching package design, but improving how the product communicates its benefits would be helpful to the product’s success.

Product Type:Tea: Unsweetened; Container: 16 oz bottle
BevNET Review: T2U’s unsweetened variety is a pretty good one, using a more mellow and less grassy green tea than you’ll find in competing products. It also lacks the bitter finish, instead delivering smooth flavor from start to finish. Of course, being an unsweetened tea product also means that the drink has zero calories, which is another nice selling point. On the packaging front, they’ve put the word “Organic” in place of the flavor name that’s found on the other two varieties, which means that it appears twice on the front label in addition to the phrase “all natural.” This seems rather confusing to us, especially since organic supersedes all-natural. In addition, bigger and better promotion of the drink’s zero calorie formulation would certainly help. Otherwise, this is one of the better looking imported Asian teas that we’ve seen, both in terms of the distinctive metal bottle and the polished and vibrant look to the design of the shrink label. Overall, a very enjoyable product, but it’s one that could be much improved with some slight changes to the product’s positioning.

Product Type:Tea: Sweetened; Container: 16 oz bottle
BevNET Review: At least from a labeling point of view, this is probably the most appetite whetting and most marketable of the T2U flavors. What’s inside the bottle is pretty good as well, having a tart note of pomegranate juice that has been added to T2U’s base of green tea. In addition to the juice and tea, the product is honey- and sugar- sweetened and has added flavors, vitamin C, citric acid, and color. The resulting blend is sweet (maybe a bit too sweet compared to the other two flavors), but smooth, with enough green tea flavor making its way to your palate to create a slightly grassy note to the finish. Compared with other sweetened RTD teas that are imported from Asia, this one definitely has a more natural taste to it and a more mainstream flavor profile, both of which are nice points of differentiation. Another point of differentiation is the bottle, which is a 16 oz. aluminum bottle with a rather narrow opening at the top. This makes the product shippable rather than chuggable, which is likely what they were going for. The label is very vibrant and clean, with bright colors and cleanly designed visual elements on a clutter-free front panel. And compared to the other two flavors of T2U, this flavor is most easily and quickly identifiable, thanks to the familiar image of a sliced pomegranate. Overall, T2U’s Pomegranate Green Tea is a well executed product that delivers nice points of differentiation in both flavor and packaging.