Teakoe

by Teakoe

Review: Teakoe Fizzy Teas

Posted: Oct 11, 2019 at 3:48 PM (Last Updated: Oct 15, 2019 at 11:10 AM)

Covers Products: Pear Garden Mint - Fizzy White Tea, Pineapple Lemon Myrtle - Fizzy Yerba Mate, Pomegranate Hibiscus - Fizzy Green Tea, Signature Cold Brew - Fizzy Black Tea

Teakoe Tea Supply Co. recently announced the launch of a four-SKU line of sparkling tea beverages. The products are packaged in 12 oz. cans and all four varieties contain 30 calories or less and 7 grams of sugar or less, thanks to the use of stevia.

These products are the sparkling counterparts to the still teas that we praised back in 2018 for their craft beer style design. 

For this line, Teakoe has launched with four varieties with each one using a different tea and flavor combination. The flavors include: Pear Garden Mint White Tea + Raw Honey, Pomegranate Hibiscus Green Tea, Pineapple Lemon Myrtle Yerba Maté and the flagship, Signature Cold Brew Black Tea.

When it comes to flavor, we think these products are largely a step up from the brand’s non-carbonated effort, at least in so much as they’ve done a better job working with stevia. This is especially true in the Pear Garden Mint White Tea and the Signature Cold Brew Black Tea thanks to the use of added raw wildflower honey. 

Here’s a rundown of the flavors:

  • Signature Cold Brew Black Tea -- This variety pairs sparkling cold brewed black tea with lemon, honey and stevia. It’s the simplest and cleanest flavor of the bunch.

  • Pear Garden Mint White Tea -- This is our favorite flavor of the four that we tasted. You can taste the mint, honey and white tea, and it works quite well with the carbonation.

  • Pineapple Lemon Myrtle Yerba Maté -- This one starts off with some really nice pineapple and maté flavor, but we think that the stevia notes that comes through could be improved. Additionally, we think that consumers will be expecting lemon flavor, which might actually be a nice addition in place of the lemon myrtle.

  • Pomegranate Hibiscus - While the aroma and first note of this product seemed a bit off, the pairing of hibiscus, pomegranate juice, lime juice and green tea works quite well. Plus, these flavors do a great job of masking the stevia, which is the only sweetener in the product.

On the outside, the line uses a gold top can and a matte finish sleeve wrap label that gives the product a clean and soft finish. 

From there, the label has a white backdrop with a dark blue cutout at the top that is presumably intended to be the Rocky Mountains. The hierarchy of the front panel is flavor name, tea type, nutritional highlights, and,at the bottom, the Teakoe logo. 

While the look definitely catches the eye, their choice of hierarchy, which requires the eye to jump around, is an issue for us. So are the number of variables that the consumer has to evaluate between each SKU: flavor, type of tea, caffeine content, calories and sugar. It’s just too much and it creates a situation where a consumer who might be open to trying sparkling tea might only be receptive to one of the flavors. 

Overall, Teakoe Fizzy Tea is one of the better tasting sparkling teas that we’ve sampled. However, we think that the approach to the flavor and tea combinations and the format of the label need refinement before this product is ready to truly reach its potential.


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