Ito En - 17 Reviews

Dark green tea. Sometimes the title says it all. When it doesn't, it can be co-labeled as a bottle of lies. This is a dark green tea. It's nicely bitter but bold and flavorful. It's unsweetened so all you babies can go cry in the corner like you hit your brother and mom caught you in the act because this is not taking any crap. Green tea isn't for everyone but should be. It's a wonderful drink that is better for you than even the dietest of pops. That's right. Dietest. You know what I mean. Long live Ito En. Long live green tea. Long live Jethro Tull.

Ahh tea: The drink of the gods. Sure, some people might say that it's wine but they are wrong and simultaneously dumb. Tea is the drink of the gods. It comes from the earth and goes back in. Cycles. It's all about cycles.

This tea is not like black tea and it's not like green tea. There is a certain maturity to Oolong tea that you don't get with a basic black or a green. It somehow tastes aged or weathered or something. This tea in particular is good. You know, Ito En knows what's up. They really nail it on their unsweetened teas. When Thirsty Dudes is inevitably bought out by Rupert Murdoch, I will spend the $45 that Jay and I have split from the $90 that he offered us that we idiotically accepted with no counter offer on iced tea. It's the only just thing to do. This tea though, man. It's good. It's a dark flavor that can only be acquired by way of trial and error. It's good. Rupert, buddy, we're waiting for your check and if you tell us "it's in the mail...well, we'll probably believe you."

I've drank a lot of tea. I drink it all day. I could tell the difference between a black and a green all day. I think I could probably tell the distinguish a rooibos tea, too. Oolong, though. I could easily get this confused with a green tea. It's bitter, light Maybe that's the difference. Oolong might be lighter than green tea. It's really good and I wish that it was a gallon larger. I bet this is small for a reason, like people aren't supposed to handle that much caffeine or something. It's good though. Size aside, this is wonderful. I wish I had time to ponder and sit and mull it over but there are thousands of lines of code to write. Maybe some other time, Ito En. You will not be punished for my hectic, busy life. I wish I could enjoy you. This sounds like an awful breakup. It's not you, it's me. Go. Be with someone who can appreciate you.

This is just green tea, a nice, bitter green tea. Leave this cat in the fridge for a while and just drink it up. It's good for you. It tastes great and is just what a nice iced green tea should be. No additives or sugar or anything. Bare bones, baby. This is what all green tea should be based off. No terrible aftertaste and it's not too strong that someone who isn't fully acclimated to the world of green tea can cut their teeth a little bit on. Ito En rarely leaves me disappointed. This is just another tick in the "W" column.

Over the past couple of months I have been brewing gallon vats of tea, chilling it in my fridge and enjoying my own unsweetened iced teas. 99% of said tea has been green tea, and it feels like it's been forever since I just sat back and enjoyed a nice black tea. This Teas' Tea perfectly satiated my taste buds.

It tastes like a traditional southern sweet tea with some peaches thrown in the mix. It really is a nice refreshing change of pace when you can actually taste that a company uses cane sugar. It almost gives the drink it's own texture. There are subtle hints that it should be gritty, but without any actual grit at all. I could go for a slightly stronger peach taste in this, but the level that it is currently at is not a deal breaker by any means. The label says it's a “classic” and who am I to argue. With the heat and humidity that Buffalo has been having lately I feel like if I was out on my porch sipping this I could close my eyes and be transported to the backwoods of Georgia. Where I can only assure horrid things would happen from the stories my friends who used to live down there have told me.

Dear Grandmammy,

I've missed you. Ever since I moved to the big city, I haven't seen you. Let me tell you a little bit about the city. There are cars all over the street and people walking around and tall buildings. Everyone wears hats, which is a little strange, but it happens. To move from the country to the city was quite a feat. I mean, sure, I only had a few things; button down shirt, one pair of shoes, a pad of paper, and some toiletries. One suitcase is all I ever need.

The reason that I am writing you is that the city is stocked with some fancy teas. Not just black tea with milk and sugar for me, gram gram. They've got this stuff that is rose flavored green tea. It reminds me of you because it smells like you. I mean that in a good way. It's bitter, which is what green tea is supposed to taste like, or so I've been told. The taste is like I'm drinking this newfangled green tea through a bed of roses. It reminds me of that stuff daddy brought back from his trip to India for work except it was way tamer.

So I guess what I'm saying is that I don't need you anymore. I've grown up into a man and have replaced everyone I know with stuff from around the city so I'm not so homesick. I've met some kids around town that ride motorcycles and has a lot of tattoos and I think that I'm going to start to run with them. They seem like nice enough sorts.

Love,
Travis Tuffguy (formerly known as Travis Sprinkles)

When I'm at work I am at the height of being a "thirsty dude." The amount of beverages that I drink borders the insane. I don't know if I'm really as thirsty as I think I am, or if it's just a way to pass the time. I used to just drink whatever was on hand, but I got to a point where all the sugar was too much for me. After that I turned to mostly water. Even when I'm not working I drink nearly a gallon of water a day. Water is delicious, refreshing and cleansing. Now that I've discovered these huge bottles of Teas' Tea, everything else is out the window. They are water, tea and ascorbic acid. 0 calories and 0 sugar means that I don't have to feel guilty about drinking a two liter of it a day. On top of that it tastes great. It tastes like perfectly brewed tea that has been cooled down. If you have any interest whatsoever in unsweetened teas this line is something you need to check out.

So the Teavana ad keeps popping up when I load our site. I have to say their tea is delicious. Possibly the best I've ever had. To be fair I haven't had much loose-leaf tea in my life, but the types I've had from there are over the top good. They have tea that has been picked by trained monkeys (Okay I think it was just a story about a monkey picking tea, but for the sake of the review let's pretend it's their tea that is monkey picked). Having a trained monkey would be pretty rad. At first I think I'd have him run errands for me, but eventually I would probably just hang out with him and play Uno or something. If I were ever in Japan I'd sure as hell have that little bugger pick me some tealeaves.

The leaves Teas' Tea uses may not be picked by monkeys, but it is pretty pure tasting. It's all natural and unsweetened. It's water, green tea and ascorbic acid (vitamin c). In the world of unsweetened green tea it doesn't get much better than this. Lucky for us Big Lots got a bunch in and they are blowing them out for $1 a bottle (they are normally about $4). I will be drinking this all day at work for weeks to come. Now how do I acquire a monkey, and then how do I train it?

Question: Did I just eat a GD apple?
Answer: No, you stupid idiot. You just drank iced tea.

Question: No. Seriously. What is happening to me?
Answer: Well that's a bit vague, don't you think? I did notice that you're getting grays in your beard.

Answer: Yeah, and it's awesome. You can't tell me it's not going to make me look distinguished.
Question: I guess it will, but don't you think that it will make you look older?

Answer: Who cares? I look young anyway. I think I could grow an all gray beard and I would look rad as heck.
Question: Should we address this iced tea more?

Answer: What's to say? It's awesome, not terrible for you, and tastes like a friggin' apple. It might taste more like an actual apple than apple juice.

You, over there with the bad hair! Bring that wheelbarrow of sugar to me. You, with the floral sundress, bring that 50-gallon drum of cherry syrup. You two kids with the hair that's too long for your own good. Yeah, you. What, are you parents some sort of hipsters? Get a haircut but before that, bring those two buckets of corn syrup to me. Don't get your stupid long hair in it, either. This is a sterile environment.

Excuse me, sir. I work for Ito En and I was wondering what you were doing with all these additives. Adding them to this drink? No sir, I don't think so. We won't need any of this. Here, let me take care of this crowd-based assembly line. Pardon me, the little madame with the mini skirt and argyle sweater, could you bring over those green tea leaves? Thank you. That's all. That's all we need to make such choice tea. Put it on ice and you've got a nice drink. It's suitable for all occasions and all ages: All sexes, creeds, religions, colors, and so on and so forth.

So sir, as you can see, those fixins might be necessary elsewhere, but not here. Ito En Oi Ocha needs nothing but water and green tea. It's refreshing, quenching and a wonderful all around drink. I do have a question for you though, sir. Where are we that everyone looks this ridiculous? Aside from the people we've hired to help us make this drink, there is a man over there wearing a Cosby sweater, cargo shorts, and boots. Over there are twins both wearing shell toes, carpenter pants with accompanying hammers, and mesh football shirts. Where are we?

So I'm back in Buffalo. That means Taco Tuesdays are back on. Okay, we get burritos, but Burrito Tuesdays just doesn't have the same ring. For some reason I love drinking unsweetened tea with burritos. I have no idea why, but I think they really compliment each other.
Last night when we were eating our burritos, I decided that I wanted to feel like I was at a Chinese restaurant while I ate my food, so I grabbed a jasmine green tea. I'm fairly new to the world of jasmine tea. I don't know why I never got it in the past, but I absolutely love it now. It strangely tastes like the clean hippy girls in high school smelled. You know the ones that weren't so dirty that they had to douse themselves in patchouli. After rereading that, it makes this sound disgusting, but I'm sticking with it, because that's what it makes me think of and I still think this tea is delicious.

Sugar? Who needs it? This tea sure doesn't. It's a light green tea with no bitterness and the nice, cool aftertaste of real mint. It's pretty great. I know that Ito En sells larger 60oz versions of this baby-sized drink so if you like it, feel free to enjoy it economy sized from here on out. I know you won't be disappointed and you will have a delicious, healthy tea for many meals.

After a long, or even moderate bike ride to work, I usually chug about one and a half bottles of water. Yes, it comes from a container and not individual bottles. What, do I look like a savage to you? Anyhow, today I decided to change it up with some iced tea. Now normally, once again, I would never drink anything with sugar this early in the morning. You know when you brush your teeth and the last thing you want to do is ruin it with something? Who cares today? I feel like I can trust Ito En not to destroy my efforts to have nice teeth by always and consistently producing lightly sweetened drinks and this is no different.

This drink is clearly a black tea due to the lack of bitterness that a green tea, regardless of company, produces. It also has a fresh lemon taste, as if someone made a very light sweet tea (because it's black) and then squeezed some lemon in it. It tastes authentic and not produced, from concentrate, or just plain fake.

Is it my favorite Teas' Tea? No. Will I get it again? Probably. Do I recommend it? Yes.

As I may or may not have stated previously, I don't like blueberries. I know, I know, I should, but I don't. That being said, I do like blueberry flavored drinks. This is no exception. I enjoy a nice bitter green tea, but mixed with the subtle sweetness of the cane sugar and blueberries, this is a nice, light drink. It doesn't feel too sweet and you can still tell at the end that it's still a tea. I'm endlessly pleased with Ito En's rendition of everything blueberry. Keep up the good work.

I have probably drunk cases of this stuff in my life. I don't really like blueberries but this tea is great. I love the bitterness of the blueberry and tea together. The cane sugar really makes it not have that undesirable aftertaste. My team and I will review the whole line of Ito En Tea drinks in due time. Also, for $1.50, it's not breaking the bank and this drink goes well with everything.

This is supposed to be an energy shot. The energy it supplies comes solely from the yerba mate and green tea, which are pretty much the only ingredients in the drink. If you are a fan of strong unsweetened tea and are looking for a little kick of energy, this is the drink for you.

This is a straight forward iced tea. It tastes like someone brewed some oolong tea, very lightly sweetened it, and let it chill in the fridge. It's a nice refreshing drink for those times when you don't want something overly sweet. My only complaint is that it is obviously mildly flavored with something, but I'm hard pressed to describe it as tasting like mango.