Tea of a Kind

Product Type:Tea: Sweetened; Container: 16oz Plastic Bottle
BevNET Review: Tea of a Kind’s Peach Ginger Black Tea might look like a fancy bottle of water, but it’s actually a beverage where the flavor (and other ingredients) are dispensed from the cap at the time of consumption. We’ve tested plenty of drinks like this, but Gizmo probably has the most discreet look of any product to feature a cap dispenser (most have a large sports top). Using the cap is relatively easy, with a turn to dispense and another turn to remove the cap. This specific cap appears to use condensed air to force the ingredients into the liquid, which makes shaking generally unnecessary. This is definitely an improvement over other caps that we’ve tested. However, in some of the samples we tested, the cap didn’t fully dispense and/or let out of burst of air (and colored concentrate) after the cap was removed. This is a kink that would certainly frustrate any consumer. In terms of flavor, it’s just okay, with a sugar and stevia sweetened formulation that tastes like your basic quality diet iced tea. We didn’t really find any one particular flavor to be better than another, which is why we’re only reviewing the Peach Ginger flavor. Their emphasis on the word “brewed” seems a bit strange. While the tea might have been brewed to make the concentrate, we think that the consumer who cares about that will be thrown off by the fact that they are staring at a clear bottle of liquid on the shelf. Further on that, it’s the packaging and branding that really need the biggest improvement. Not the bottle, which is perfectly fine and has a premium look, but the labeling and positioning. For starters, the label has no brand name, instead relying on a neck hanger and tiny text on the cap. That’s something that absolutely has to be fixed if a serious effort to commercialize this product is going to be made. Fortunately, their web site shows an updated label, which may address that in the future. Otherwise, a larger description of how to use the cap as well as a bigger callout that this is a cap activated product would be helpful. Finally, we don’t think that emphasizing the quality of the tea is a smart idea. It seems like a slippery slope of trying to lure in premium tea drinkers, who simply aren’t going to want stevia sweetened tea that comes from concentrate in the cap. Overall, a nice looking bottle and a cap that’s very easy to use, but this product still needs work. Reviewed on: 11/2/2012