And the iced tea reviews wind down for the year …

With Labor Day almost here, it seemed like time to begin winding down my "iced tea" reviews for the year. When I stopped by Ingles this week to pick up my now-weekly purchase of that yummy Pineapple Coconut White Tea from Jimmy Buffett’s Island Tea, I also picked up the two remaining flavors I had yet to try, Tropical Citrus Green Tea and Strawberry Lime Black Tea.

There's no diplomatic way to say this, so I'll just cut to the chase. This one was awful! This "tea" is really a juice drink, with the green tea extract ranked after the apple juice concentrate, pear juice concentrate, and orange juice concentrate. But there's a weird and almost medicinal aftertaste that I just couldn't abide. I think this is one of the few bottled teas I thought was so bad that I actually threw away most of the bottle. (Sorry, Parrotheads. You know I *wanted* to like this!)

Happily, the Strawberry Lime Black Tea was delicious! Yes, I know it's really just like Kool-Aid for grown-ups, because the ingredients are fruit and vegetable juice, black tea extract, and stevia extract, but at just 50 calories a serving, I think it's fine for an occasional indulgence. And while this one was good, I remain a devotee of the Pineapple Coconut flavor. But with fall arriving, I'm ready to tuck all these bottled teas away and start thinking about the spicy hot teas of fall! Are you?