PRODUCT: Lipton Bottled Tea

June 10, 2011 at 8:50 am · Filed under Beverages, Kosher Nibbles

The new Lipton tea flavors, in 100% Natural
and Diet. Tray and place mat from PacificMerchants.com.

While we’re environmentalists and like to brew our own, America loves its bottled tea. (We like it, too: We’re just focused on reducing our environmental footprint.)

Today is National Iced Tea Day, an appropriate day to note the move to “100% natural” in bottled teas.

“Natural” in tea means no artificial colors, flavors, chemical preservatives* or fabricated products such as high fructose corn syrup (see details). Natural-ingredients foods have become increasingly popular with health-focused consumers.

There are natural food preservatives: alcohol, ascorbic acid, citric acid, salt, sugar and vinegar. Ascorbic acid is vitamin C, sourced primarily from lemons. It is found in varying amounts in citrus fruits and some vegetables. Citric acid is also found in citrus fruits and some vegetables, but it has less nutritional value than ascorbic acid. Citric acid, which does not contain vitamin C, is most famously used in sodas, in large enough quantities that it can erode the tooth structure of heavy soda drinkers (details). Ascorbic acid can do the same, but it is added to foods only in small amounts.

Lipton’s 100% Natural bottled teas are available in four flavors: Green Tea with Citrus, Iced Tea with Lemon, Pomegranate Blueberry and Green Tea with Passionfruit Mango. The latter two are new flavors. The products, in 20-ounce bottles, are made of tea, water, real sugar, stevia and natural flavors. Stevia is a very low-calorie natural sweetener, made from the leaves of a South American plant. The result is a reduction in calories—50 per eight-ounce serving—and a taste that’s even better, in our opinion, than a pure sugar recipe. They also make good cocktail mixers (just add your favorite white spirit).

For diet tea drinkers, new Diet Green Tea with Watermelon joins Diet Green Tea with Citrus flavor. Sweetened with sucralose and acesulfame potassium (Ace-K), they are not all-natural. We hope that Lipton is looking at a switch to stevia.

The teas retail for $.99 to $1.59 per bottle. The line is certified kosher by OU.

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