Green Tea +C Citrus Ginger

I’m coming off being sick and remembered I had this with my freebies from the SF Tea Fest. I taste strong citrus and ginger, feels good on my throat, even though it burns a bit. I don’t know how nice it would be if my throat weren’t a little sore, but it’s nice enough now.

This was in my freebie bag from the San Francisco International Tea Festival. My coworker is back to work after being out with strep throat, so I figure it’s a good time to start hitting the Vitamin C… especially since I woke up with a slightly sore throat this morning. This is a powdered tea mix that can be mixed into hot or cold water, so I opted for cold, since I usually drink my green tea iced these days, plus the whole concept of this stuff made me think of those Emergen-C packets, which I usually mix into cold water and down like a shot. I sort of regreted my decision to not use hot water as the mix was very clumpy (there was one very large “mass” of mix in a clumped up chunk and I wish I’d thought to break up the powder with the back of a spoon or something before dumping it into the cup!) so it didn’t dissolve really well… I had to really work at it with the spoon to try to break it up and get it all dissolved.

The smell was a bit like Emergen-C — powdery artificial tangerine? — and matcha. The flavor… tasted pretty much like that too, very much like the orange/tangerine Emergen-C packets, only with a lot more sweetness (these include stevia, which would account for that), and a bit of a slight spiciness that hits the back of the throat… and that actually feels a bit soothing on a slightly sore throat, I’ll admit. For as matcha green as the tea appears, I don’t taste any matcha grassiness at all, though.

I would definitely prefer this to an Emergen-C, since this tastes almost the same as the tangerine ones, but slightly better due to the added sweetness and soothing ginger on the back of the throat. But honestly, since I like hibiscus and rosehip, I’m more likely to just make myself a strong hibi-hip/ginger blended tea to get a quick infusion of Vitamin C anyway, which would be more cost-effective than either Emergen-C or these Green Tea +C packets, and (at least for me!) tastier, too. So final conclusion… these taste better than Emergen-C, but I still prefer to get Vitamin C in other ways than instant dissolve packets, especially considering the price.

Another freebie from the tea fest bag.

This is the same concept as Emergen-C but contains green (closer to brown) tea powder. I prepared it with room temp water and had to stir it a bit to get the clumps to break up, no big deal. It looks unappealing with a brownish-green murky tint – my mind went to algae-infested pondwater. That, combined with the very sour taste from the acerola cherry powder, made me down this as quick as possible. The warming ginger comes through in the aftertaste.

Meh. It tastes ok, but I prefer tea in a traditional way and wouldn’t purchase this because I think products like this are frivolous. If you’re a fan of Emergen-C packets and want some green tea, give it a try.