Tazo Brambleberry

Aroma: This "herbal infusion" has a strong scent of honey. Oddly enough, there isn't any in it. Behind that aroma (probably coming from the apple and blackberry juices) is the faintest hint of the herbal blend, most notably cinnamon and peppermint.

Taste: This is an interesting combination of juice and herbal flavor, but the intricate accents of the herbs are largely lost in the potency of the marion (black) berry juice. The cinnamon and peppermint flavors do manage to rise up and get your attention every once and a while, but the juice is definitely the power-hitter in this one. And it looks like that's what it was made to be - it says on the label it's a "lively, full-bodied mouthful of sweet (juices)". I didn't read that part before tasting, so I was just expecting a lighter, more herb-centric flavor. The juice itself is quite tasty, and it lingers at the back of your throat for a good while to make sure you're doing OK. Now that's service.

Price: $1.45 at a local grocer. Available at stores nationwide.

Ingredients: An infusion of (water, hibiscus, cinnamon, peppermint, lemongrass, rosehips, orange peel, and natural lemon essence), cane sugar, concentrated apple and marion blackberry juices, natural flavors, and citric acid.

Other Comments: Wow, Tazo seems to be a little... how would you say it...full of themselves? There are TAZO-isms littered all over the label in every available place. I couldn't get halfway around the bottle without rolling my eyes at least twice. A sampling:

"Shake this bottle before opening to mix the real herbal tea inside in a swirling, joyous dance."

OK, I'm all for creative liberties in label making, but then look at this:

"TAZO BRAMBLEBERRY is (description of juices)... infused with hibiscus, cinnamon, and a pinch of amusement at the endless wonders in life".

Okaaaaay...
And another:

"Tazo is an enticing source of wonder, inspiration & antioxidants."

Come on, I know drink companies have to create a brand image for themselves, but this is getting a little crazy, don't you think? This is to the point of asking me to build a shrine to TAZO in my house. That better be some damn good tea.

Overall: If you drink it as a juice (which is how I rated it below), you'll probably be happy with it. If you drink it as a tea, you'll be a little disappointed. And if you're looking for a soft drink that guide you in the way of the Tao, evidently this is the one.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars.

-Danithius

***Review Rebuttal!***
The first scent I recognized was cinnamon, then the lemongrass and berry essences, but only got a faint hint of a honey smell.
This fantastic blend of apple, blackberry, and cinnamon conquered my taste buds in one fell swoop, leaving only a faint sour-berry taste that was not at all unpleasant.
Cinnamon can easily overwhelm the flavor of any beverage it is ‘infused’ with, but this one plays very nicely with its fellow ingredients, compliments rather than overtaking the flavors.
Overall, this is one of the best blended berry juices I have drank in a long time, and I believe I will be savoring this beverage again in the very near future.

Rating : 4/5 stars.

-WiseGuise

Ginger People Ginger Soother

Aroma: This drink proclaims that it's good hot or cold, so I tried it both ways. When cold, the drink has a pungent ginger smell, but oddly enough after it's heated up you only smell the honey. Interesting.

Taste: Let me tell you, the lemon and honey in this drink are hard pressed to keep up with the gonzo ginger juice. The cold drink had an initial honey lemonade flavor that was immediately followed by a strong, spicy ginger aftertaste. I like ginger quite a bit, but this was just a bit much for me.
Oddly enough, heating the drink seemed to unlock the ginger flavor even more. I was expecting a mellower flavor to match the mellowed honey-aroma of the warm drink, so I was caught completely off guard when the taste of ginger jumped right out and spin-kicked me in the back of the throat. It didn't even give the honey lemon flavor a chance. And this time the ginger-burn stayed with me for a while, too, like I had just eaten something spicy. I did not notice this effect with the cold version.

Price: $1.69 at Good Earth. Available nationwide and online at http://gingerpeople.com/order_soother.html

Ingredients: Filtered water, honey, ginger juice, lemon juice, natural flavor.

Other Comments: 21g of sugar per 8 oz serving. Each bottle has 19g of ginger. No kiddin'.

Overall: This is a great drink if you've got a cold. Heat that baby up and it'll plow right through your sinus cavity in no time. You'll feel the magic ginger juice make you all warm and tingly inside, to boot. It was too intense to add to my regular repertoire, but if you're just ga-ga for the flavor of fresh ginger, you'll probably love it.

Rating: 3/5 stars.

-Danithius

Honest Tea Pomegranate Red Tea with Goji Berry

Aroma: The smooth smell of the traditional South African red tea (organic rooibos) blends together with sweet hints of pomegranate to form a very pleasing overall aroma.

Taste: This tea has a very mellow but complex flavor that I really enjoyed. It's perfectly sweetened with a mix of cane sugar and the naturally sweet-tasting red tea. The slight tang of the pomegranate gives it a wonderful finish.

Price: $1.45 at Good Earth. Available nationwide and online at http://honesttea.elsstore.com/.
(Although the site was a bit confusing. For this flavor click on "glass variety" and then go to page 2.

Ingredients:Purified water, organic cane sugar, organic honeybush, organic pomegranate juice concentrate, Fair Trade Certified organic rooibos, organic blackberry leaves, natural pomegranate flavor, vegetable juice extract (color), citric acid, goji berry.

Other Comments: This is an herbal tea with high antioxidant levels and no caffeine.

Overall: This is a great drink for sipping while contemplating the mysteries of the universe. I just tried it for the first time today and already I feel my cosmic understanding beginning to expand. I'm not usually a tea-head, but this one has made my list. The only drawback I can think of is the price, but for all the organic matter going into it, it's understandable. Plus, you have the peace of mind of knowing what's in this bottle probably won't kill you, so I guess that's worth 50 cents more than a soda.

Rating: 5/5 stars.

(Just FYI, I will rarely give a 5 star rating to anyone. It was a pretty big coincidence that my very first new product review on this site got a 5, but I was genuinely impressed with this product.)

-Danithius

Ethos, Logos of Better Libations (Pathos is for losers)

Welcome to Better Libations. Our mission is to deliver frequent fresh reviews of 'healthier' drinks, or as we like to call them, Drinks that probably won't kill you(™). Why? Because we like you. And we'd hate to see you die so young.

Here are our basic criteria for drinks to be reviewed:

1. Non-alcoholic. (That's a whole other ballpark, and there's already plenty of wine connoisseurs to fill it.)
2. NO high-fructose corn syrup, unless there's a bloody good reason to turn a blind eye to it. (HFCS is the trademark poster ingredient for Big Soda. Evidence shows it ain't the healthiest thing to be putting in your body, but it's cheap and easy, so they use it like it's water. Fight the Machine!)
3. Must be available on the internet or widely distributed.
4. It needs to be a specific brand. It can be a bottled/canned drink or a drink mix, but it can't for instance just be "green tea".
5. Independent smaller companies are preferred over large international behemoths. (I'm looking at you, Coke.)
6. NO artificial sweeteners, i.e.; sucralose/phenylalanine, aspartame, acesulfame potassium, crystalline fructose, etc. Fructose, sucrose and anything with 'cane' in it is probably okay.

To submit your favorite drink for review consideration, simply send the name and where it's available to drinkme@betterlibations.com. You can also post it as a comment.

Please note that we are not health Nazis, and we won't tell you to throw away all your Coke and come live on our Vegan commune for a detox ritual. However, if you are drinking 64 ounces of soda or more (diet or not) every day, please understand that you will die an overweight, strung-out, diabetic shell of a human that has contributed to the downfall of America and the rise of the Soda Regime. That is all I'll say on that.

I can already hear you all saying, "So, why you be hatin' on Pepsi so bad?" Well sir, let me lay it out for you. The big soda companies out there are huge. Like, build-your-own-island-nation-just-for-the-hell-of-it-huge. And when you get this big, sometimes the power gets to your head. Sometimes the money starts talking louder than everything else. Whatever the reason, Big Soda has done some things we don't agree with. We could go on and on about the high-fructose corn syrup thing, we could talk about Big Soda paying to get into public schools in order to establish brand loyalty from the first grade (all the while trumpeting their heartfelt charity for said schools), we could talk about the massive increase in the average person's soda consumption and it's possible link to massively increasing waistlines in America and around the world...the list goes on. As need arises, we will address these in new posts. For now, just know that Big Soda will always respond to market pressures. If we give in and drink their nutrient-void sugar-water, they will continue to make it. But if we rise up and demand better, healthier products and start going elsewhere to get them, they will respond.
Or die.
Either way.

In fact, they already are feeling the pressure. Recently Coca Cola and Pepsico have been grabbing up small nutrition-focused beverage manufacturers left and right in a hurried attempt to meet the market's demands for drinks that won't kill them. (Seems like a modest request, no?)

We at Better Libations strive to be the gadfly on the underbelly of Big Soda to further this revolution in the beverage market. We will always give some preferential treatment to the independent companies out there raging against the machine, but we will review some healthier products that the big guys release as well. Money talks, and higher sales of their "healthy alternatives" will make them sit up and take note.

Friends, no longer must we be confined to the cookie-cutter cola! There is a vast, glorious world of tasty wonder out there just waiting to be discovered! The revolution has begun, and we will not stop until the streets flow with the syrupy, high-fructose remains of our enemies, and the flag of nutritious freedom flies proudly for all to see!

(OK, maybe just a little pathos...)

-Danithius