You thought the Arizona energy drink reviews were over, but no. There's one more Chan and I have yet to review, the Arizona Green Tea Pomegranate Lite. I've never known green tea and pomegranate to be a good combination, but perhaps they are. Maybe the earthiness of both blends well together. I don't know; I'm not the expert. What I do know is that I've seen the two flavors paired before in herbal teas and I suppose it's a common mix. What I'm wondering about is whether this drink will have pomegranate juice or rather is simply brewed with pomegranate. A quick scan of the ingredients reveals "pomegranate and apple juices from concentrate." I suppose that's a good thing, but it might mean less pomegranate flavor than straight pomegranate juice. I don't blame Arizona, however; pomegranate is not cheap. Above the nutrition facts, it reads 5% juice, which I'm thinking could be misleading since maybe that juice is concentrated. I'm interested in observing the pom flavor.
I popped the top open without haste and waited for a smell. The smell isn't the strongest I've smelled, but it's quite pungent for a tea. The smell is sweet, leafy green tea mixed delightfully with fruity pomegranate juice. What comes to my mind early is that this smells a bit too luscious to be pomegranate. It turns out the apple in the mix adds nicely to the pomegranate, making it smell much fuller. When I pour this out, I'm expecting a nice amber color with a tinge of pink, buy it turns out Arizona goes all out with a dark, rosy hue. The first sip makes me happy, being crisp and sweet and luscious, but not too sweet, which is a very good thing. It seems either the 18g of sugar is enough or there's some sugar in the pomegranate and apple concentrates, which I had never really considered. No matter, the flavor has lots of presence, tasting like luscious pomegranate-apple juice with no bitterness and a hint of woody green tea. I think it tastes better because of that nice rounded, yet crisp honey sweetness taste. Along with that, there's a small amount of carbonation that leaves the drink early on and the gumminess never becomes a problem. Though this tastes sugary, I know it's not, since 18g is nothing. I can call this a winner, since it's natural, tastes good for what's in it, and apparently is chocked full of antioxidants. If you're a fan of Arizona, I'd advise you to pick one up.
I'm not experienced with Arizona's energy blend, or their "performance blend," but at a glance, it looks pretty nice. 80mg of Caffeine per serving closely matches that of Red Bull, and the Taurine content is at the standard 2000mg per can. All else, including, Panax Ginseng, Inositol, Guarana, and Glucuronolactone is set at 100mg per serving, 200 per can, and it looks like Milk Thistle is thrown in at a measurement of 70mg total. As for vitamins, I'm not so impressed, seeing Calcium, Iron, and Vitamin A listed, but at 0% amounts, which is odd. Usually, you want to specify what is in your drink, not what's not. However, I see 100% total of your daily Vitamin C in the whole can as well as 200% total of Pantothenic Acid (Calcium Pantothenate, B5), Vitamin B6, and B12. The rest of the ingredients are Premium Brewed Green Tea Using Filtered Water, Sucrose, Pomegranate and Apple Juices From Concentrate, Orange Blossom Honey, Malic Acid, Vegetable Juice, Citric Acid, Monopotassium Phosphate, and Sucralose. This seems to be a slightly odd ingredients list. For the first time ever, I see "Vegetable Juice," which I certainly say is a good sign or bad. Also, I don't like to see Sucralose, especially in a tea drink. Though I didn't taste it in the drink cold, I now taste its presence and I feel it doesn't belong in this sort of drink. But no matter, with only 140 calories, it's a decent low-calorie choice tea energy drink. I'm not absolutely crazy about it, but it definitely is worth a try.
Taste: 7.8 - Favorable crisp, honey-like pomegranate-apple green tea
Kick: 7.2 - Nowhere near Monster, but gives some nice jitteriness and alertness
Overall: 7.8 - I can't say anything against this drink
Reviewed by: Jeff
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