At another message board I did a review of some drinks I tried back in September, and I thought I'd do the same here, but start out with some stuff I've recently tried.....
Pomegranate 7Up
I have no idea how long its been out, but its a limited edition. I found it by accident at the grocery store as they didn't have it where it should be (ie, with the normal 7Up or on a rack they set up for specialty\limited edition drinks), but with the Canada Dry ginger ale and with the weird stuff like Dr. Enuff, which aren't even down the same row as the soft drinks.
The taste was pretty good, but a little subdued\mild for my tastes. If you like pomegranates, and can actually find it on the shelves, give it a try. I've only seen it in 2 liter bottles, so far. I rate it a 7/10 (would be an 8/10 if they cranked up the flavor a notch), which is a bit better than another pomegranate flavored drink I'll be getting to later.
Various loose teas
For Christmas I got a special microwaveable teapot and some tea samples (I ordered the items, and someone else paid). Actually, the herbal starter set here:
http://www.adagio.com/misc/no_risk.html?SID=08fcb03b0d5b442d6175834e9c58af3d
The teapot is made of microwaveable food-grade plastic and holds 16 oz of water. It has a removable (and replaceable) infuser (filter) at the bottom that keeps the loose tea from getting into the glass. You microwave the teapot after filling it with water, then add the tea and let it steep for a few minutes, then place the teapot over a glass and the tea comes out of a special drain on the bottom of the teapot, so you don't have to pour it out the top.
As for the teas I got - each is a sample and comes with enough tea to make about 5 to 10 mugs of tea (depending on what size mug you use), and I drank all of them hot with about 1 and a half teaspoons of Splenda, with one exception that I did also try iced:
Gunpowder - a green tea that has leaves rolled up into little pellets which unfurl while steeping. It has a smooth flavor, with a kind of peppery aftertaste. I plan on ordering more of it. 8/10
Spearmint - Its Spearmint. If you've ever chewed Wrigley's Spearmint Gum.....`nuff said. 10/10....and yes, I'll be ordering more of it.
Blood Orange - Not a real tea, but actually an herbal infusion. It has other things besides orange in it, including apple pieces and rosehip. Can't really describe the taste, but its good. *May* order again eventually, but not anytime soon. 6.5/10
Rooibos - Rooibos is also known as red tea, or red bush tea. It comes from South Africa, and was used as a tea substitute during World War II when actual tea was hard to come by. I ordered it for that reason - historical purposes - and kind of wish I hadn't. The flavor is hard to describe, but the tea itself (and I mean dry in the packaging) smells awful. I didn't like it much hot, but it was okay iced. I give it a 5/10 hot, 6/10 iced. With more sweetener and a little lemon added, it might be better iced, and I may eventually try that so I can use it up.
I also have some Chamomile, but haven't tried it yet. What I actually ordered was a starter set, which came with the teapot, a book and the teas except for the Gunpowder, which I ordered separately, and I'm not a big fan of Chamomile, having tried the tea bag version from Celestial Seasonings once and not being too impressed.
I'll edit the review I did of some other drinks back in September at another board in later - 3 different flavors of Hansen's Natural Green Tea Sodas, which I got at Target; I've actually changed my mind about one of them since I did the initial review.
Two things I plan on doing reviews for - if I can get my hands on them:
Lipton now makes a loose tea, but the only place I've seen it is Wal-Mart and I didn't buy any but will get some when I go back.
Cherry Chocolate Dr. Pepper - if I can actually find it anywhere. I've checked the Wal-Mart, Kroger and Food City (I usually get my groceries at FC) near me, and none of them have it yet. I may check Target next week.
Wow! Pomegranate 7up? I have never seen that ever. I definitely want to try that.
Mind if I post one?
Mountain Dew Game Fuel: You don't have to be someone who has never ever played any of the far superior FPSs on PC aka a Halo fan to enjoy this tasty soda pop! The flavor is easily described in four words. LIQUID. FRUIT. STRIPE. GUM. Fruit stripe gum is of course THE most flavorful and delicious gum ever invented and it is easily justifiable to purchase it despite the flavor wearing off in less than thirty seconds of chew. The flavor of soda, however, doesn't go away after a few sips, that'd be weird! So Game Fuel is awesome to the max, better than Code Red and better than even Sunkist! 9/10! It would've easily gotten a 10/10 if it came with sweet zebra temp tats. And... WHAT? OH MY GOD IT WAS A LIMITED TIME!!? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No, I don't mind. In fact, if anyone else wants to add any reviews, go ahead.
On the Mountain Dew Game Fuel, I agree with you on the rating, and I hope that it sold well enough to justify them releasing it again (like they did with Livewire). For anyone who isn't familiar with the Fruit Stripe Gum BWPS mentioned, a close analogy would be that it tastes sort of like a cherry and citrus flavored soda, but not quite, with a heck of a delicious aftertaste. It makes Code Red look like Kool Aid.
Have you tried the Taco Bell exclusive Baha Blast? I like it, but Game Fuel is a LOT better; I give the Baha Blast about a 7.75/10.
(On, and I don't know about where you are, but here Game Fuel was only available in 2 liter bottles for about a month or two, but I saw it in the 20 oz bottles and the can fridge packs in stores here up until about two weeks ago or so)
I actually liked the Rooibos teas. I've some variations that were quite good. I recommend honey in it and perhaps a teeny bit of milk. As a general rule, I take Rooibos with some additional flavoring. More habit than anything.
If you like the Gunpoweder Tea then I suggest some Dragonwell Green Tea. Dragonwell has a bit of a nutty flavor to it but it's noot overwhelming. It's a nice alternative to the "Pearl Tea" that commonly is referred to as Gunpowder tea.
I get most of my loose teas from: Teavana http://www.teavana.com/ (http://www.teavana.com/)
Quote from: GhostMachine on January 18, 2008, 10:45:02 AM
No, I don't mind. In fact, if anyone else wants to add any reviews, go ahead.
On the Mountain Dew Game Fuel, I agree with you on the rating, and I hope that it sold well enough to justify them releasing it again (like they did with Livewire). For anyone who isn't familiar with the Fruit Stripe Gum BWPS mentioned, a close analogy would be that it tastes sort of like a cherry and citrus flavored soda, but not quite, with a heck of a delicious aftertaste. It makes Code Red look like Kool Aid.
Have you tried the Taco Bell exclusive Baha Blast? I like it, but Game Fuel is a LOT better; I give the Baha Blast about a 7.75/10.
(On, and I don't know about where you are, but here Game Fuel was only available in 2 liter bottles for about a month or two, but I saw it in the 20 oz bottles and the can fridge packs in stores here up until about two weeks ago or so)
I've tried Baha Blast, it is good, I agree with you. Taco Bell is the place to go for drinks and now that ANOTHER unfortunately limited time offer, the Cheesy Gordita Crunch is back, I have NO IDEA why I haven't been back there other than the wife has some weird thing against the poops.
lol @ BWPS. I went to the Bell a few days ago and got a Cheesy Gordita Crunch combo meal (2 of them and a drink - and yes, I got the Baha Blast) and a 7 Layer Burrito.
Mr. Hamrick, Dragonwell is already on my list of teas I plan on trying, along with Silver Needle, Ti Kuan Yin, and a few others (no black teas, though; I'm not a big fan of black teas). In fact, I almost ordered Dragonwell instead of the Gunpowder tea, but went with Gunpowder because it was cheaper (even though I wasn't the one paying for it).