Arizona Green Tea Pomegranate Lite

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

Arizona Diet Green Tea Energy

Well, here I am with a somewhat popular tea making company's version of a diet energy drink. Way back when Canned Reviews first started, I found the Arizona Green Tea Energy drink, which I really loved, so I believe this one won't be bad. A diet energy drink obviously has no real sugar, but it does have sucralose, or in other words a fake sugar called Splenda as well as acesulfame potassium. As for this drink, I see "Sweetened With Splenda" at the bottom of the can which tells me what kind of sweetness I'll be getting. Arizona Diet has the same can design as the original, a Chinese village, some trees, and the trademark bold Arizona logo going vertically across the can, except the whole can is red. I've been excited about many sugar free energy drinks out there, but then have turned out disappointed and upset about it due to its lack of taste and such. Ok, well here goes nothing.

I open the can to reveal a similar green tea scent to the regular Arizona Green Tea Energy drink. So far so good. Out of the can, I see a translucent pale amber color, just like if you were to put caramel color into a Monster or Rockstar. Well Jeff didn't really enjoy this drink, and I'm about to experience it first-hand, so bottoms up! Well, it is lacking some needed taste, but it isn't as bad as many described it to be. It first hits the tongue with an odd sour citrus taste, most likely due to the fake sugar in the drink. Later on, the tastes buds pick up a mild and quite frankly weak green tea taste. It has no aftertaste because it's a sugar free drink but the sourness still lingers and forces you to crinkle your face in disgust. Jeff absolutely does not like this drink but I don't think it's terrible. It really could use some improvements, but still. I enjoy its extremely light carbonation, just like most tea energy drinks should be. I also enjoyed its amount of gumminess, which is obviously none. Towards the end of the can, this drink tends to get really bland and quite nasty. Even though I found this at the dollar store and most likely nowhere else it can be found, it's not worth the dollar.

As for the ingredients, Arizona Green Tea Diet premium brewed green tea as well as 'sugar' and taurine. Having taurine coming in at number three means a good boost right? Well I'm not sure, I'll have to wait it out. Only because I don't feel like listing all the basic energy drink ingredients, I'll just tell you that there's nothing real special in this drink except milk thistle and sucralose. Arizona Green Tea is for sure my favorite tea company, but I'm just a bit disappointed because I thought that Arizona could handle a sugar free drink. I'm still somewhat confused about why I could taste such a strong artificial citrus taste that ruined the whole drink. Perhaps it was the Splenda, or some green tea that was affected in some way. Per can, you get about 20 calories, the same amount as the Monster Lo-Carb (Which you're better off getting) and, oh, my bad, 6g of sugar. Well, it's close tho sugar free anyway. A usual 2,000mg of taurine is what you get in terms of energy. Caffiene is an average 160mg as well as guarana, ginseng, inositol, and milk thistle. Overall, where you find this drink, you're most likely to see the regular Arizona Energy, get that one.

Taste: 6 - A borderline drink, nearly making the Worst Taste List
Kick: 7 - Barely any effects thus far
Overall: 6.5 - I had predicted it to taste this disappointing

Reviewed by: Chan

Arizona Green Tea Energy

After a long day, I am glad to get home to a nice, cold Green Tea Energy Drink. This was picked up for only $1.00, a great buy. My perfect energy drink is a natural tasting drink with a hint of fruit. I am hoping that this will be a winner. If you've ever seen an Arizona drink, you know it says 'Arizona' vertically along the can with a natural-looking plant design. In the background, you see a Chinese village with Chinese writing everywhere, which I cannot understand. Anyway, I am eager to break into this can and drink its sweet nectar.

As I crack open the can, I smell a green tea aroma, similar to their original Arizona tea. If you've never smelled the Arizona tea, it smells like green tea with little sweetness. As I pour the drink into my glass cup, I notice a ginger ale-like color. Much like real green tea. However, this drink is clear with little carbonation, like the can said. Wow! This drink is perfect to my liking of tea. It enters your mouth and goes down smoothly. At first, you get a refreshing green tea flavor. Next, you get a sweet, natural sugary taste, most likely honey. However, this is not the type of drink that you don't want to drink because it is too sweet; it has the perfect amount of sweetness. Like it said, this drink has light carbonation and is great for chugging and/or taking big sips. There is only one bad part to this, I think, that is the amount of gumminess. Need I to further explain how much gumminess? If you answered yes, I'll tell you that it is a pretty extreme amount. I'm feeling a big amount of jitteriness and surprisingly, focus. Overall, this is a subtle, relaxing type drink that you would want after a long day of work or school, pretty good in my book.

Now time for the ingredients: Instead of carbonated water, the main ingredient is 'Premium Brewed Green Tea Using Filtered Water.' Next I see, sigh...HFCS. However, it wasn't too noticeable. Following that, I see Orange Blossom Honey, which gave it its natural sweet flavor, very tasty. Taurine, then comes in at number four, pretty cool. To make it more 'natural' this drink contains guarana, that makes it a better combination to go along with the green tea. Per can, you get 200 calories, which is standard for an energy drink, as well as 2,000 mg of taurine, another standard dosage. If you want a natural, sweet tea drink, head over and purchase this beast today!

Taste: 9 - Very pleasing drink, in my opinion
Kick: 9 - There was more jitteriness than focus
Overall: 9 - Worth every penny if you're into tea

Reviewed by: Chan