Cane Sugar - 601 Reviews

To sum up this soda I give you The Decemberists' Valenica. It tells the tale of two star-crossed lovers, a man and his citrus of choice. The world couldn't accept their love, and it all ended it tears. What is not told in the song is that after the untimely death of his beloved orange, the protagonist of the tale collected her remains and used the juice they contained to create a soda that was worthy of praise.

He always found his love to have a wonderful dry humor, so he kept true to her memory, by not adding much sugar to ensure the soda would also be dry. The result fell somewhere between a sparkling water and soda pop as the world knows it. It was light yet still flavorful. With each sip our hero shed a tear for the love that he had lost, but yet regained in some form as a beverage.

Whenever I see that green, it usually means two things. Thing number one is that it is green apple. Thing number two is that it is going to be way too sweet and downright suck-filled. Was this any different? Eh, 75%. It was green apple but it lacked the uber-sweetness that other green apple pop has. In doing so, you can actually taste the drink itself, which, in and of itself, was not too spectacular.

I think that this flavor as a whole should go by the wayside. I've never had a green apple pop that I could finish an entire bottle of and I've never had one that I've wanted to take more than a couple sips. Kids probably love the stuff but as we all know, kids are dumb and will like anything that has sugar in it because they are mindless idiots. Yeah, I said it. You have been thinking it and I'm the only one who stood up and said it. I'm not afraid of a cavity ridden, hyperactive, pre-pubescent, pre-teen. Bring it on. I've been grizzled by life and am way smarter, wittier, and worldly than you. Enjoy your impending teens, suckers. They're going to suck.

I missed about five minutes of fireworks to make this? Why? Well the Keurig we have at work allows all sorts of sizes of cups. This makes it easy when it comes times to brew over ice. When you do not have adequate cup real estate, you have to improvise and I don't know if it was because it was late or I was too excited to see fireworks but it took me quite some time to come up with the rather obvious solution that I ended up with; brewing it not over ice and promptly pouring it over ice once brewed.

As far as lemon sweet tea goes, this is good if you don't expect a "Southern Style" sweet tea. Celestial Seasonings, makers of entry-level tea as far as I'm concerned, did an alright job with this. They didn't want to overshadow the drink with sugar so they didn't overload it. It's as simple as that. It's black tea with lemon lightly sweetened. It still has some bitterness and a decent lemon taste.

After all was said and done, I had a nice, tall glass of iced tea to enjoy while enjoying fireworks, something my two and a half year old could somehow care less about. I don't think he's human.

If you told me this was a simple tea with lemon I would tell you that Herbal Mist did a great job with it. I mean it's sweeter than I normally like, but I can't deny that it tastes great. It has a nice tea taste and the lemon is the way that I like it, you know the way it doesn't taste like cleaner, but like real fruit.

All of that comes tumbling down when you add the words yerba mate into the mix. Yerba mate is wonderful, it's one of my favorite types of tea, but like all of the flavors in their line, the tea doesn't taste like mate at all. It tastes like black tea with a little something extra in it. It doesn't taste earthy or like the woods though, and that is what I love about yerba mate when it is done correctly.

This is the last flavor we had to review and I will leave you with these parting words Herbal Mist: Keep the mate in the mix, but don't advertise it so boldly. As of now you're not following up with what you promised, but if I went into these teas thinking they were normal tea I would be pleasantly surprised. It's all about meeting expectations, and you need to aim a bit lower.

Up until I went to the UK a few years back, I had never put milk in my tea. I was strictly a honey man. Then when there, someone (ie everyone) made us tea and made it with milk and a little sugar. It wasn't how I would normally drink tea, actually I don't think I've ever made hot plain black tea at home ever, but it was enjoyable and it seemed fitting. I've still never added milk to my tea when on native soil but the couple times I've been back over seas I always drink it that way.

Cut to a couple of months ago when I was introduced to green tea lattes via the new Bolthouse Farms drink. It was great and tasted like melted green tea soy ice cream. I then got one at Starbucks and it was kind of gross. Okay it wasn't gross, but it just tasted like soymilk with a little green tea. It was perfectly drinkable, but just not what I was hoping for. Now Tea's Tea has released a latte line, and lo and behold there is a matcha one. Luckily it's much better than Starbucks, and closer to the Bolthouse side of things. I would prefer that it was made with soymilk, but for something that is mass-produced and doesn't need to be refrigerated this is more than okay. It's vaguely grainy (in a good way) with a strong matcha taste. It has all of the flavor of green tea without the bitterness.

I don't think I'll go and make this for myself, but it's a nice treat. I wonder if the folks of Britain drink their green tea this way, or if they are a strictly black lot.

I didn't realize yesterday was the first day of summer until someone on Facebook posted about it. Shows you how much I pay attention to stuff like that. I think the only people who know about that kind of stuff are those who work in offices with someone who just loves to bring little factoids like that up because they have nothing else going on in their life and don't know how to have a real conversation that isn't about yesterday's episode of the Maury Povich show (which they record on their programmed VCR because they can't be bothered to upgrade to a DVR like the rest of the world).

So yeah, I didn't know yesterday was the first day of summer. Does it really matter? Not really. It wouldn't have changed my day at all. I would have still gotten crappy news, and I still would have seen one of my favorite bands play at a new venue in town. Most importantly, I would have still drunk this lemonade because it's 1:30am and it's stupidly hot. I've been lying in bed thinking about what to do with my summer while watching The League and unsuccessfully sleeping. I felt parched and remembered I had this jug in the fridge.

Most people probably think of apples/apple cider when they hear the name Mayer Bros, but let me tell you they make a hell of a lemonade. Granted this is the first lemonade I've had this summer so far, but it's going to be hard to beat. It's tart and crisp and the perfect sweetness. Most importantly, it has that indefinable "pink" flavor that is just so good. Do yourself a favor and pick up a jug of this lemonade during the summer heat. You'll thank me later.

On this day, National Iced Tea day, I did intend on drinking only iced tea but promptly screwed that up. Who cares, right? It's just one day a year. I'm getting my iced tea in. You should be celebrating it stronger than us because we drink more than you. We don't like to drink old things and it is often hard to find new, specific drinks. Believe it or not, I only had this one iced tea at the office. Please allow me to review said drink now.

This is good. It's got a nice green tea taste and is substantially less sweet than Arizona although the taste is pretty close. I feel that they really hit the nail on the head with the quantity of honey because you can really taste it. I am no mathemagician but I can tell you it's about 50/50 sugar/honey up in hrrrrrrrr and I like it.

Now that you can add one more tea to your repertoire, find it and drink it. According to the Eastern time zone, you've got less than ten hours to celebrate!

Okay guys, which one of you pulled this prank on me? You know I take my protein intake seriously. I mean how else am I supposed to get ripped so I can be a superhero look alike on the street for tips? One of you jerks obviously emptied out my protein drink and replaced it with a melted McDonalds milkshake. There is no way that this is not a McDonalds vanilla shake that was left out of the counter, and then put in the fridge to cool it down. It tastes identical to that. So, not only have you denied me my crucial protein, but you've also given me the least healthy dessert beverage of all time. Thanks, jerks. Now I'll never get to look like Thor for $7 in tips an hour. I'm never going to be able to pay off my student loans for medical school.

Coffee coffee coffee. Enough, alright? We get it. The Keurig is the invention of the decade. I'm not even arguing it. Swarms of people who previously couldn't make a decent cup of coffee to save their lives are now regular baristas. You know, just writing this makes me feel bad for actual baristas. I bet Starbuck's, Tim Horton's, and Dunkin' Donuts sales went down since the invention of that thing. I imagine that if you even breathe the word "Keurig" to someone who works at a coffee place they just shudder and their hand involuntarily turns into a fist.

I'm not taking bread out of anyone's mouth with this guy, though. Half iced tea and half lemonade lightly sweetened. It's lightly sweetened. Did you hear me? Real sugar sugared just enough to still be able to taste the tea and the lemony lemons. It was pretty good. I've had two or three of them and intend on drinking that whole, what do K-Cups come in, 24? 16? Whatever. I'll drink all of them.

Starbuck's et al; you will be fine. Something will come out that says that there is a high content of fecal matter in the cups and everyone will come crawling back for forgiveness. That's when you use your foam skills to spell something lewd to which they deserve.

I just had a four-day escape to the woods. My friend Kevyn and I rented a cabin in the mountains and had a glorious long weekend of hiking, kayaking and heading to beaver dams at dusk to watch them work on their dams. It was exactly what I needed to just decompress. At one point we took a trip into town to get a couple of provisions and I saw this bottle of Bing. I had had the cherry version before, but blackberry was totally new to me. I was in the market for some juice, and I thought this would do just fine. It wasn't until after I started drinking it and started reading the packaging did I realize that it was actually a natural energy drink. It took me reading it to realize it was an energy drink, as it tasted nothing like one. I believe that is because it doesn't have taurine or any other chemicals in it to give you a boost. It's all B vitamins, caffeine, ginko biloba and ginseng. It really just tastes like sparkling juice.

Okay, to be fair the sugar in it makes it taste more like a soda than sparkling juice, even though there are only 8g of sugar in this can. It's a mixture of blackberry and cherry juice, and each sip is heavier on one over the other. It's a crapshoot for which one you're gonna get, but both are great, so it doesn't matter.

Unfortunately they felt the need to add sucralose right at the end of the ingredient list. Even though there is such low amounts you can still taste it a bit, and it distracts you from the flavor. Other than that this is great, and if you want a natural energy drink this is the way to go.

There aren't a whole lot of non-dairy coffee drinks on the market. Asian markets usually have some, but they are just black coffee with nothing else in them. I drink my coffee with soy/almond/coconut milk and a little sugar. For this reason, I was excited to find this carton of iced coffee in the dairy cooler today.

It was hard to decide which to get first of the three flavors they are offering: vanilla, mocha, and caramel macchiato. The latter seemed like it would be the most exciting, but I decided to go with the classic vanilla to start. As I expected, it's heavy on the almond milk. This reminds me more of coffee milk than actual iced coffee. It's really sweet, but also has sea salt in it to give it a nice kick. I wasn't expecting that but I really like it.

Now if you'll excuse me, Arrested Development season 4 isn't going to watch itself.

It is a well known fact that it is more important to have core strength rather than strength in just your extremities. Imagine having a weak little torso, but huge bulky arms. That is just ridiculous. I would like someone to draw a caricature of me looking like that. I will pay you one American dollar for it.

It is a lesser known fact that the best way to increase your core strength is with chocolate milk. Okay that is not exactly true. You do need to do some exercise and the like, but afterwards a properly placed chocolate protein drink will work wonders in building muscle and in being less hungry.

This tastes like a ridiculously good chocolate milk. It's slightly gritty, but it doesn't seem to be in the whey protein way. It's more of a “we didn't completely shave this chocolate down to nothing when we made this drink” kind of way. Just think of them that way; as tiny, miniscule little chocolate flakes. Doesn't that make the drink even better?

Most protein drinks you have to take with a grain of salt, and expect something to be a little off with them. This does not fall victim to that taste-wise and I could pound this all the livelong day. Sure, I would probably be a lard since I'd be ingesting so much protein, but my taste buds would be happy.

Did you know that white tea helps to promote healthy skin? Well the internet tells me it does, and the internet never lies. Armed with this knowledge I would like to suggest that Celebritea partners up with Courtney Love for some publicity. Sure she appears to be an absolute nut job, but if this video is any indication she'll up for promoting companies.

Oh you don't know what Courtney Love has to do with tea? Well, her band has an album called Celebrity Skin. Get it? Celebritea Skin. The ad campaign would focus on the positive effects this drink can have on your skin, and of course we would use the same song as the NJOY commercial.

I don't know why she wouldn't agree. This is a tasty tea, especially for having stevia in it (as well as cane sugar) to cut down on the sugar. It's got a classic white tea taste with mellow blueberry and acai overtones. You get a bit of stevia in the end, but it's not too terrible. So get her on the horn and make this happen. You can send me my 10% when you get everything sorted out.

This is the perfect coffee for me. I like the smell of coffee but the taste is too strong and bitter. It's just something I can't manage. I drink drinks with chunks in it without blinking and drinks hotter than the fires of hell but coffee I just can't handle. You can call me a baby. I don't give a rip. This though, this smells like a strong coffee, which worried me at first but at first taste I fell in love with it. It somehow keeps the scent but the sugar, which is pure cane I should add, smoothes out the drink to a delightful place that I could spend all day in. Oh chubby Famous House mascot. If you could come to life and sit down with me, I would treat you to a can of this. Why I'm treating you to a drink that your company makes seems dumb since you could probably manage to get free cases of the stuff but nonetheless, I am thanking you for making such a good drink. You should feel honored having your pudgy face on that can.

Can you guess what I'm going to say about this tea? Oh perhaps it's that it's so sweet with a high concentration of fruit flavor that you can't taste the yerba mate that is supposed to be the base of the drink.

This drink is 100% natural, yet it tastes like it should be some random drink you find at a gas station. You know you go in and see a weird iced tea you've never tried and when you drink it you're in disappointment city because it just tastes like a sugar drink. Okay, that was a bit harsh, this is a lot better then that, but I so badly want this to have a strong yerba mate flavor that is nowhere to be found. Instead I'm left with a whole lot of sugary mango and the slightest notion of some tea.

Sweet tea. I've spent too much of my life critiquing it. I won't let it go either. It's the simplest thing to make. Anyone can make it. Black tea. Sugar. Done. I've modernized it a little bit by adding Monin syrup but it's only concentrated cane sugar so it's the same thing just cleaner than cups and cups of loose sugar. As soon as someone wants to add anything, even something that is a tea like yerba mate, can throw it off. I have had a couple versions of yerba mate, too and this is strange mix. It's not a very good yerba mate as it has close to no bitterness. If you are going to call it one thing, deliver it on that one thing. It's as simple as that. As a sweet tea it's pretty close. You can tell that it's good sugar and good tea. It's a little "softer" than I would like a tea but it's good. If I went to a restaurant and they gave me this in a glass, I would be stoked because it's not garbage fountain syrup tea. If I had a handful of ice and a glass next to me, I would serve this to myself ice cold. This is good. I wouldn't be mad if they removed "yerba mate" from the line all together because this is my second one and I feel it's been lacking. Jesus I love sweet tea.

I've had chai lattes. I've had yerba mate latte. I've even had a straight up black tea latte, but never in my days have I had, or even thought about a green tea latte. The idea of adding a cream substance to green tea just seems completely foreign to me. The taste of green tea is so specific in my mind that I couldn't fathom it being creamy. I just looked it up and apparently this is a normal thing in coffee shops. Guess I've just been unobservant as always.

This is basically just soy milk, matcha green tea and cane sugar, and it's wonderful. It tastes like what I would imagine vegan green tea ice cream would taste like. Now that I think of it, I have had green tea ice cream in the past, so I guess I have had creamy matcha. It definitely tastes like a culmination of its ingredients and it's wonderful. This was my first time seeing this in a store, and I hope it becomes available in the big bottles, because I love it and it makes me feel sophisticated for some reason. Looks like I'll have to break on the monocle and spats.

As Mike loves to point out, I am not the largest supporter of lemons. When I get water in a restaurant, I never ask for them. If they get put in anyways I always take them out without giving them a squeeze. This makes my ladyfriend happy, as she loves them and doubles up in her drink. I also prefer my iced teas sans lemon, which according to “big tea” is unheard of. They are always putting lemon juice in their teas, and I think a lot of the time it is distracting, and I would just rather taste the tea.

Even though I have a general disinterest in lemons, I will always have a soft spot for decent lemonade. I think my problem is that in most drinks there is either just a little bit of lemon that makes it annoying (I would rather have the flavor be strong) or they use some weird lemon that makes the beverage taste like cleaner. Lemonade suffers from neither of those things. When done properly it is tart/sour with a nice pleasant sweetness to it. It sounds like those are conflicting things, but I'm sure you all know what I mean.

Calypso makes lemonade the way I like it. They concentrate on a great tasting base that could stand on it's own as a quality lemonade. That is a very important concept that many companies overlook. They cheap out on their lemonade or tea, and just expect the extraneous flavor to work overtime. Calypso starts with a great lemonade and adds great flavoring on top of that. In this specific flavor they add mango puree concentrate, so it actually tastes like mangos and not fake.

As your drink doctor I must insist that if they temperate is ever over 90 degrees that you drinks lemonade, and specifically Calypso when it is available.

There is a certain specialness that comes along with yerba mate tea. It has its very own earthy flavor that you just don't get with normal tea. When you get a drink that tastes this way, and you know exactly what the flavor is, you feel like you're in the inner circle, and all the dullards are on the outside looking at you slack jawed. In that moment, you know tea and you understand it completely.

Unfortunately you don't get to be in that moment with this iced tea. It is made yerba mate, but it's blended with black tea and 55g of cane sugar. The glorious taste of mate is nowhere to be found. It tastes like a slightly upscale, regular raspberry iced tea. There is nothing wrong with the flavor per say, I just feel a little disappointed that I didn't get to be all snooty while drinking mate.

I am ashamed to admit how long it has been since I've had iced tea. I could blame it on the weather, since, as we all know that iced tea tastes better in the spring/summer. Or I could blame it on Mike and Jay, as they are iced tea fiends and review most iced tea as soon as we get them. In reality, I don't have a valid excuse.

This is a pretty basic green tea. I wish they wouldn't have used grape juice concentrate, but it's not the end of the world. The grape compliments the green tea nicely and doesn't overpower it, which is nice. This is one of those classically "middle of the road" iced teas.