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.
Flavors: Artificial, Citrus, Ginger, Orange, Spicy, Sweet
I like this better than Emergen-C since it doesn’t taste like pure vitamins but not something I’d ever purchase, either. I can’t see how this would be marketed to sell besides as an impulse buy at the grocery checkout.