Runa Guayusa: Lemon-Lemongrass Guayusa Tea

As with most tea beverages, lemon and lemongrass are quite complementary to the slightly earthy flavor of Runa’s guayusa tea. Adding in a touch of sugar (14g per bottle), the product feels very much like an upscale and more exotic take on classic lemon flavored black tea. However, unlike black tea, guayusa packs a caffeine punch, with 90 mg of caffeine per bottle, as well as loads of antioxidants (the ORAC value is 2491). Visually, the lemons amongst the guayusa leaves makes the product whet the appetite and be easily identified as a lemon tea. However, if we’re picking nits, the upside down lemon is distracting (although we’re not sure what a solution is if they want to keep the same design). And, in the longer run, we wonder if the Runa brand would benefit from some more personality or youthfulness to it. Finally, we’d suggest simplifying the name to either “Lemon” or “Lemongrass” (if they want the drink to sound more exotic). The current name is a mouthful and somewhat redundant. Overall, despite these concerns, this is still our favorite flavor of the line.