Honest Tea doesn’t really stand out on the convenience store shelves, which are cluttered with jumbo-size Rockstar and Monster energy drinks, plus a few juice drinks in bright, colorful bottles that are more sugar than anything else.

But Honest Tea does stand out once you compare ingredients. It is one of the few drinks out there that has health benefits and contains a minimal amount of sugar. Out of all their flavors, my favorite is the Pomegranate White Tea With Acai.

This is “a delicious, lightly sweetened blend of antioxidant-rich organic white tea, pomegranate and Brazilian Açaí.”

Your sense of smell is treated to a pleasant aroma, which is more like the fruit than tea. But the taste is the perfect combination of white tea and berry flavors. It actually tastes a lot like white tea I would brew from tea leaves at home, which is a good thing.

The slight pomegranate flavor is kind of like how you can get white tea with peach, pear, plum, and other flavors, except this time you’re tasting white tea with pomegranate and the acai. (I’ve had a few of those antioxidant drinks based on acai berry juice, so I think I know the acai taste… although it’s similar to pomegranate anyway…)

Overall, it’s very nice how that works out. With some pre-brewed teas, the fruit flavor is nonexistent, or it overpowers the tea. Honest Tea gets it right.

Honest has the perfect sweetness, too. This tea is sweet enough that it’s really good, but not overpowering. Any sweeter and it would taste like the crap other companies pass off as tea.

Being organic and natural, it’s just about as healthy as what you’d brew yourself. (Honest Tea white teas have 70-95mg of the antioxidant EGCG per bottle.) It uses organic cane sugar so it could possibly have more sugar and calories than how you’d drink tea normally (if you drink tea without sugar, that is,) but for most people this will probably be just right. Convenient, too.

I enjoy drinking this white tea, and I might even buy it sometimes when I’m on the run. What I don’t like though is anything that comes in 20oz plastic bottles. What a waste of plastic…

Sure it’s recyclable, but that requires that your city or town has facilities for that. My hometown only has recycling facilities for paper, aluminum, and glass, so plastic usually gets thrown out and ends up in a landfill…

So mostly I brew my own tea, and only buy these drinks if they’re on clearance sale or if there is no bulk alternative.

My final verdict is…

This is pretty good stuff, so if you like good tea, you should like this. I won’t be drinking it much, though, because I prefer to brew my own green and white teas at home. (Brewing your own tea is cheaper, fresher, and doesn’t waste little plastic bottles.)

So I will stick with just a few Honest Ades and teas on occasion and focus on brewing my own tea. But for tea drinkers who want real tea and prefer the convenience of a bottle, I can’t think of a better choice than Honest Tea.

Official website: honesttea.com (White Tea w/ Acai page)

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When it comes to healthy refreshment, one name that comes to mind is the Honest Tea company. They produce a variety of organic teas and other beverages, with one being Honest Ade (which is a great addition to their teas.)

The two flavors I’m testing today are Orange Mango and Limeade.

Both of these drinks are certified organic and contain just a few, all natural ingredients. You won’t find high fructose corn syrup, sucralose, or other garbage in these.

The ingredient selection also yields a mere 48 calories and 12g sugar per serving.

Honest Ade Orange Mango

The mango is such a delicious fruit and is probably one of the best flavors you can have for a fruit drink, and the Honest Ade Orange Mango does not disappoint.

This is a great compromise between something strong and sugary like Gatorade and the various flavored water drinks. It’s stronger than flavored water and tastes a heck of a lot better, too. The strong flavor is similar to Gatorade, although it’s definitely not as sugary. It just has a full, tasty flavor.

I’d recommend this to pretty much everyone!

But don’t forget the ingredients… take a look at this list and you’ll see that the great flavor is accompanied by great health benefits:

Ingredients: Purified water, organic cane sugar, organic white grape juice concentrate, organic lemon juice concentrate, organic orange flavor, natural mango flavor, mized carotene (for color), organic orange juice concentrate, organic mango blend, Vitamin C (asorbic acid.)

Plus it contains a small amount of Mangosteen for some antioxidants and a natural energy boost!

Honest Ade Limeade

“With twice the fresh-squeezed flavor and half the sugar, our organic limeade is sweetened the natural way.”

I’ve been drinking lemonade my entire life, and I know I’ve had limeade, but I don’t think I’ve had limeade that actually tastes like lime. Until now…

This Limeade from Honest Tea is the real deal - I could actually see the lime pulp settling at the bottom of the bottle!

But even then I wasn’t quite prepared for what I was about to taste. I don’t drink soda, but I am used to sports drinks like Gatorade while I’m riding, so I crave strong flavors. Limeade just didn’t have that strong flavor.

All the Honest Tea labels say “just a tad sweet,” but in this case, I’d say the limeade is “just a tad sour.” It certainly wasn’t bad, especially since I like limes, but it didn’t catch me as something I’d drink all the time.

So if you’re used to other fruit juices that aren’t actually fruit juice (but rather high fructose corn syrup with some added flavoring,) this flavor might seem odd. But have a few sips and you’ll probably like it, once your taste buds get past the lack of sugar.

If you’re an existing Honest Tea fan, though, this should be right up your alley. (Assuming you like lime.)

It seems like an acquired taste, because it grew on me as I drank more. By the end of the bottle, I was a full-fledged fan of Limeade! I’m sure I’ll drink it again, but I’ll still go for the mango most of the time.

As expected, the ingredients here are as simple as possible. It is basically water, organic cane sugar, and lime juice.

My final verdict is…

It’s a good bet that anything from Honest Tea will be healthy and taste good, and the Orange Mango and Limeade are certain winners.

I would recommend the Orange Mango (my personal favorite) to anyone. If you like the crispness of flavored water, this has it. If you like the robust flavor of Gatorade, this has that, too.

Hard-core fan of all-natural flavors? Try the Limeade - it’s as real as you can get.

Official website: HonestTea.com (or go direct to Honest Ade)