Arizona Oak Brewed Tea Lightly Sweet

The folks at Arizona are preparing for the worst. No, they are not in financial straights (at least as far as I know), they are simply doing what every smart company does, and that is prepare for the worst and come up with an exit strategy. Some companies figure out how they could sell all of their assets, and what they could get for everything if the worst finally hit. Others, more likely in less legal pursuits, bury bags of money random places so that they have something to fall back on in case they need to go fast. Arizona has forgone all of the traditional routes and has purchased a surplus of oaken barrels. They have chosen to ride the iced tea wave until the end, and if that leaves them homeless and penniless, at least they won't be naked and will show their sense of humor, by going the classic editorial cartoon route of wearing nothing but a barrel with shoulder straps.

While these barrels were originally bought as a joke, some quick thinker on the R&D team realized that until the day came when their last tea leaf was brewed and all of their clothing was sold off to the Richie Richs of the world, these barrels could serve another purpose; they could be used to brew a special blend of tea. You see if you brew the tea in the barrels some of the oak's flavor is absorbed into the tea giving it a more refined taste. The same method is often used in making wine, except with the tea it doesn't taste like death and rot, it tastes sophisticated. Add a little honey and maple syrup to that brew and you're good to go. Make sure you don't add too much though. Those are strong flavors that could easily distract one's taste buds from the oak notes. Luckily Arizona got it right on the nose. You can taste the tea, the oak, the honey and the maple and none of the flavors are fighting for dominance. This lightly sweetened version of this tea has a little sugar added as well (8g per serving, 20g per bottle). There's more sugar in here than I would expect in something that is lightly sweet, but to me it does have the perfect amount of sweetness for when I'm not looking for a straight tea, no sugar.

Unfortunately for the future of Arizona, some rookie, smashed up the barrels and brewed the chunks in the tea. Sure it has the same results on the flavor, but what about when the market falls out? What will the employees wear?