Iced Green Tea: The New Coke?
Green tea is renown for its healthful properties. Coca-cola, however, represents the epitome of sugary soft drinks.
I compared the ingredients of a 'reputable' tea product with Coke... and to my surprise discovered they are almost the same.
Lipton is a popular tea brand owned by giant corporation Unilever. Their tag line is "100% Natural Tea". Their website is covered with bold and glitzy health claims - such as the Lipton "Live Well Challenge" or the benefits of naturally protective antioxidants and so on.
Our green tea is full of clean taste, vitality, and great flavor. Plus, LIPTON Iced Tea provides protective flavonoid antioxidants.
Let's compare Lipton Iced Green Tea with Coke:
| Coca-cola Classic | Lipton Green Tea with Citrus |
| Ingredients: Carbonated water High fructose corn syrup Caramel color Phosphoric acid Natural flavors Caffeine  |  Ingredients:Water High fructose corn syrup Citric acid Green Tea Sodium hexametaphosphate Ascorbic acid Honey Natural flavors Phosphoric acid Sodium benzoate Potassium sorbate Calcium disodium edta Caramel color |
| Nutrition Per 8 Fl Oz: Calories: 97 Carbohydrate: 27g Sodium: 33mg | Nutrition Per 8 Fl Oz: Calories: 80 Carbohydrate: 21g Sodium: 70mg |
If that's not enough - Lipton actually offer a "diet" green tea version sweetened with aspartame and ace-k. It's an oxymoron - enjoying pure green tea is all about enjoying the very subtle flavor.
Is it not possible to drink anything without copious quantities of sweeteners?
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87 Comments
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Created / Updated: November 9, 2011
Pile on the sugar! That's what makes us Americans!
ReplyPile on the sugar! That's what makes us fat. Pile on the Fat! That's what makes us American.
ReplyLaziness is what makes you fat.. The Body Keeps What The Body Wants... Pile on the sugar
ReplyIt goes without saying that food products coming from large corporations are almost always going to be crap. Making your own iced green tea has 0 calories and all the antioxidant benefits of green tea. Or, maybe, just drink water?
ReplyHi, I'm a really good cook but for some reason I stink at making "ICED TEA) It comes out too weak, too bitter etc. Do you have any tip's?? A good recipe?? I would really appreciate it!! Thank you, Take Care!!
ReplyJacky, here is how you make ice green tea or ice regular tea the easiest way:
Put 8 cups of water in a pitcher. Add 8 teabags. Add 2 lemons or 2 limes or 1 lemon and 1 lime in slices. Cover it and leave it in the fridge for 18h. Remove the teabags and the lemon slices, and sweeten it to taste (I tend to use 8 packs of sweetener, 1 per cup). It is ready to drink.
If you wanna drink it on ice later, for really hot days, make it all stronger - add 1 more lemon or lime, and 4 more teabags.
ReplyWhat's up with Lipton Tea company adding all that CRAP like high fructose corn syrup and other ingredients I can't even pronounce! I'd rather make MY OWN iced tea! Thank you.
ReplyGreen tea has calories. You're mis-informed
ReplyI can't undertand this iced tea .Tea should be drunk hot.So should green tea.I drink green tea without sugar.
ReplyTea should be drunk however the drinker wants it. I'm drinking cold Trader Joe's green tea now, investigating how to make my own COLD green TEA!!
ReplyI am guessing you have never been in the State of Texas in middle of Summer. I doubt you would want a nice hot cup of tea then. Hell in Houston on Xmas isnt exactly a day you would want a hot cup of tea.
ReplyThere are 39 grams of sugar in a can of coke and 41 grams in a can of pepsi. That amounts to about 7 teaspoons or 13 lumps of sugar in each can. Way too much sugar!
ReplyThrow a few green tea bags in a jar in the sun for a few hours. Place in fridge till cold. Drink copious quantities of tea without a hint of high fructose corn syrup or caramel color (not to mention sodium hexametaphosphate).
And before I come off like some kind of uber dirt hippie who makes my own granola and enjoys sun tea, I will note here that I couldn't make it through life without the holy nectar of Diet Coke. Sometimes you just gotta love a glass full of chemical yumminess. But it perplexes me that they create all these chemical filled substitutes for products that at their core are just natural, normal foods.
ReplyI think we should lesson cola consumption for our bones not for losing weight.
Reply"Is it not possible to drink anything without copious quantities of sweeteners?"
Apparently not! And it's really sad. I don't believe the "100% Natural" label on anything unless it's coming from a health-food store (and definitely not from one of the major food manufacturers). High fructose corn syrup isn't healthy, and neither is aspartame or any of the other artificial sweeteners.
Replyno kidding eh! i was watching this tv show on the health check symbol, saying and proving it means nothing... really! it proves that they are not chosing the healthiest products, and some times even chosing products that are no way good for you.
Replyand the most astonishing thing is that the health check receives money from the products that wear their symbol!
this just shows how alot of the companies are using the term healthy to sell more eh
Being Japanese and having moved to the US in October last year, I was surprised that they had green tea available at a Dunkin Donuts. I was even more surprised and horrified to find that my green tea came back with cream and sugar in it. Ugh! I took one look at it and shuddered. I asked the lady if I could get another one just plain. She looked at me like I was nuts.
As for the argument of drinking it hot or cold. Even in Japan it's pretty common for plastic bottles of green tea to be sold out of vending machines and grocery stores cold...Especially during the summer. However, those would never, EVER have any additives to it though. Just the product of leaves boiled in spring water...I miss it...
Replyjj,
when i was young, like 8, my parents made tea like that. They called it 'Sun Tea' They also grew their own mint and put it in to brew with the tea. It was so good.
I cant stand teas, especially green, with sweeteners It just kills the flavors.
ReplyI only like tea that I brew myself. I dunno, the bottled stuff just doesn't do it for me. I drink green tea just about every day...hot in the winter and iced in the summer. I usually drink it with a bit of lemon or mint in it, but that's about all. I try to avoid high fructose corn syrup whenever possible. That stuff is diabetes waiting to happen.
ReplyI don't drink tea. Well I drink herbal tea.
ReplyA lot of things claimed as healhy aren't.
I'd rather the diet soda.
oh noooooo, dont tell me that, I have become addicted to the diet green tea. Yeah I know its not that healthy with all the stuff in it, but I thought it was better than diet coke, with the extra health benefits and flavonoids. I guess I just need to stick with plain old water....
And to think, I thought I was expanding my horizions....
ReplyReaders: This tea (diet in particular) is STILL healthier for you than soda (yes, even diet). It contains LESS caffiene, and does have 72mg of flavanoid antixidants per serving. Not as healthy as pure boiled tea leaves, true. But a step in the RIGHT direction!
ReplyAmericans want their sugar and at the same time to think they are doing something healthy.
ReplyI have a question about that. Does diet pop really hurt losing weight if it has no calories and why? Please help me with this question as it has been on my mind for a long time.
ReplyIt seems weird that no-cal pop could make you gain weight. However their have beenr recent studies done that say the artificial sweeteners can mimic sugar in your body. So your body make think you have ingested sugar. Also,just drinking the pop will make you crave sweet things in the future. Everybody's body will react differently though. And of course, if someone is normally drinking a lot of full sugar pop, and switches to diet, they will probably lose weight.
ReplyI think that the bigger concern with the artificial sweetners is that they contain excitotoxins (not sure if I have that exactly right) that actually "trick" your brain into thinking that things taste better than they do. Aspartame (Nutrasweet) is alledged to have this behavior, just like MSG (monosodium glutamate) does. This stuff makes the other things that you eat taste better, meaning that you eat more even though you are on a "diet" drink. So you have omitted the calorie content from the drink, but your brain chemistry tricks you to eat more calories from other foods anyway. Doesn't seem fair, does it? I think that Splenda and Stevia do not come with this same "baggage" so maybe more "diet" drinks will be made with those ingredients instead Aspartame in the future.
Reply"Is it not possible to drink anything without copious quantities of sweeteners?" Certainly; just make your own. I like herbal tea, made with next to no effort. I throw a few bags in a container of cold water and place in the refrigerator overnight. Great stuff!
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