Califia Farms Cold Brew Salted Caramel

I bought this cold brew from a Target in Michgan near the Canadian border, for $2.69.

Taste

This cold brew has a heavy rum aroma with traces of caramel and almond milk. Don't be put off by the rum aroma because it doesn't come through in the taste, which is predominantly almond milk. The caramel doesn't come in until the finish and it is very modest compared to the heavy almond milk. The caramel opens up a bit more in the aftertaste, but you just don't get much of it while drinking. There salt comes as a twist near the end, so don't worry, this is definitely not a salty drink.

Energy

At 75 mg, the Salted Caramel cold brew has the least amount of caffeine out of all the Califia Farms offerings. Consider this when making the purchase.

The effects come moderately quick as it takes about 10 minutes to start feeling any sort of kick. I was very sleepy when I opened the bottle, but around the 10th minute I started to wake up and focus on what I was doing. A few minutes later I felt just the tiniest level of jitters, but that passed quickly. It took another 15-20 minutes to become physically energized and the kick lasted for a little less than 2 hours.

Scores:
Cost - $2.69
Taste - 7.8/10
Energy - 6.0/10

Overall - 13.8/20...a little light for my taste

Cabana Lemonade

These bottles were given to me courtesy of the good guys at Pacific Bottleworks. The beverages are available at multiple stores in the downtown Toronto area, but I am sure they can be easily found elsewhere.

Original Lemonade

It will be a crime not to start with the Original Lemonade to lay the foundations for these reviews.

The Original Lemonade is cloudy and some sediment is present at the bottom, so I made sure to follow the instructions on the label and to shake the bottle. Off the bat this smells like a fresh lemonade with a very intense and sour lemon aroma. The first sip seems a bit watery, but as soon as the liquid made its way along my tongue, I was hit by a wave of intense lemon flavors that stiffened up my jaw.

The taste is well balanced, because the sour intensity only lasts for a few moments and then comes the moderately sweet finish that's rounded off by its candy-like sweetness. The aftertaste is clean and dry with a gentle lingering lemon note.

Really refreshing stuff. Love it.

Taste - 9.2/10

Limeade

After the lemon comes the lime. It is only logical. Cabana's Limeade is hazy and filled with sediment that you need to shake up...that's from the 11% juice. The aroma is limey and creamy and moderately intense, while the taste is full-on intense. The taste starts off a bit watery like the lemonade, but even quicker, that sour and sweet lime flavor punches you. I like the way this one finishes on a fruity, sour, yet sweet and creamy note with a lot of lingering traces of lime. Very enjoyable and veeeery refreshing. Damn, I like this one more than the Original Lemonade.

Taste - 9.3/10

Strawberry Lemonade

Heavy strawberry aroma with tart lemon peel notes hidden behind it. The flavor comes at you in a very interesting way. You don't get much at the start of the sip, but then you get a hit of sweet and tart strawberries, followed by a subtle tart lemon peel, followed by a burst of lemon sour goodness right before the dry finish. Some strawberry creaminess comes in the aftertaste.

Great, refreshing lemonade with a creamy strawberry finish. Good stuff.

Taste - 9/10

Cherry Lemonade

The aroma is dominated by cherries with the lemonade providing a sour citrus backdrop making it seem like sour cherries were used. The taste is strong on the cherries and at first you don't taste the lemonade, but you feel its sour nature around the jawline, twisting and pulling your muscles back. After the muscle twisting comes the actual lemonade flavor, which blends well with the cherries giving you the sensation of drinking sour cherry juice near the finish. The aftertaste is clean at first, but moments later traces of lemon and cherries become noticeable.

I found this one to be the most sour one of the flavors, but combination of lemons and cherries wasn't something that I expected to be so good.

Taste - 9.3/10

Overall Notes and Impressions

There are around 45 grams of sugar in each bottle, but none felt overly sweet. The tart lemon flavors definitely keep the sweetness from building up, but even when you get a hint of sweetness, it has depth and roundness to it. It isn't just an overly sweet shock in your face. I love that.

Guayaki Yerba Mate Cran Pom

Here is another Guayaki Yerba Mate I haven't been able to track down, courtesy of the good people at Pacific Bottleworks. Thanks to these guys Guayaki's products are now available at a lore more places in the GTA.

Taste

The aroma is very similar to that of the Revel Berry, except there is a bit more of a sour undertone. The taste is very different, though. It starts off with a strong and tart cranberry note which quickly transitions to pomegranate and then back to cranberry near the finish, which is dry and almost completely clean. Some light cranberry and lemon notes linger at the back of the tongue, but for most parts, the finish and aftertaste are clean. The tartness hides most of the earthy yerba mate flavors, but some still come up here and there. 

This flavor drinks more like a regular fruity energy drink than a tea-based one, which I think will appeal to a wider audience that wouldn't normally enjoy the taste of yerba mate. I found myself liking it more than I thought I would with its hidden earthy tea flavors.

Energy

Surprisingly there are only 80 mg of caffeine in this can. The reason why I found it surprising is because I was expecting 120 mg in a 355 mL can which would make sense proportionally when compared to the other 473 mL cans of Guayaki. 

In any case, you still get a fantastic kick out of this can. I noticed the initial effects within 15 minutes of consuming the first half of the can. I started to perk up and concentrate more on the tasks at hand. I felt like a cloud has been lifted off my brain. There were no jitters, just focus which lasted for about 20-30 minutes. After that I felt a bit more physically energized and was ready to do some laps. The kick lasted for almost 2 hours before me feeling pretty normal...as in not wanting to run around.

Great kick, I just wish it kept the proportionality of its larger counterparts. 

Scores:

Cost - unsure

Taste - 9.5/10

Energy - 6.8/10

Overall - 16.3/20...amazing taste but wish it had just a tiny bit more caffeine

Rise Kombucha Rose & Schizandra

What the heck is Schizandra? According to Wikipedia, the word schizandra, or schisandra, stands for "five-flavor berry" and is a vine native to Northern China and Russian Far East. OK...that sorta fits the kombucha theme...I guess.

The aroma is far from inviting with a sharp fermented rose/schizandra/tea (I assume that's what that is) note. The flavor is equally sharp at first with a strong sour fermented tea start followed by a strong, flowery rose finish tarnished by the fermented tea. Once you have a few sips, the rose flavor is accentuated and you get more of the berry tones near the finish. The aftertaste becomes a bit funky at first, but fairly clean and refreshing after 30 seconds or so.

This flavor is definitely way more funky than the Hibiscus Rise I had a few months ago, but does reward you a little if you can get past the aroma and the first few mouthfuls.

Taste - 6.5/10...suck it up the first few mouthfuls to be rewarded with a pleasant rose flavor

Steaz Iced Green Tea Peach

Whenever I want Steaz, I cannot find it anywhere. When I don't care about it, I keep running into it. So, I have decided to just buy whatever Steaz I see and just stockpile them at home for when I want one. I found this Iced Green Tea Peach today at the local Sobey's for only $1.19. Not sure why it was on discount, but I made sure to just buy and not ask questions.

This Steaz has a cloudy, light yellow color with an obvious peach aroma. The flavor hits you hard and lasts through each sip, but quickly dies in the finish. The flavor is well done and the beverage reminds me of eating not too ripe peaches. Some tartness emerges in the form of lemon juice but it is not until the finish and gives the aftertaste some cleanliness. 

The label is correct - the beverage is lightly sweetened and the sweetness doesn't take away from the peach flavor. Thanks to this, there is no sugary build up and you are not forced to have a glass of water after you consume this can. The light sweetness also offers the green tea a chance to compliment the peach and not get lost completely.

Very refreshing drink on a hot day and the price is right.

Taste - 8.8/10

Lipton Sparkling Iced Tea Lemonade

Guys, I found the Lemonade! The missing piece to my Lipton Sparkling Iced Tea reviews puzzle. I bought this one from a WalMart somewhere in Maryland when I was down there a couple of months ago. I think I paid $0.99 for it.

This iced tea looks like an iced tea (color and all), but pours like a sparkling beverage (duh). Once the carbonation dies down you get a helping of freshly brewed tea aromas with a sweet lemon undertone.

The flavor starts off on a typical Lipton brewed tea base, but a medium-sour lemon comes in slow at first and then fast to take over. Initially the lemon is subtle, but it very quickly builds up a sour spike before giving way to the sweetened finish.

The finish is sweet at first, but the earthy tea notes help keep the sweetness from building up. Some lemon is also present adding some depth.

I love this lemonade. It is refreshing, has just the right amount of sweetness and the lemon/tea combo is a great one. Will definitely buy again from the US.

Scores:
Cost - $0.99
Taste - 9.5/10

Rise Kombucha Hibiscus and Rose Hips

Love, love, love the look and feel of this bottle. I don't love the price, though - $3.89.

The Rise Kombucha is quite carbonated, which caught me off guard. Its aroma is quite typical for a Kombucha but does have some unique rosehip and hibiscus notes.

The flavor is on the sour end with a trail of tart hibiscus and slightly more sweet Rosehips. Though there are only 14 grams of sugar in the entire bottle, the tea seems perfectly sweetened. Thanks to this there is just enough candy sweetness from the raw cane juice to give the tea depth. The aftertaste is long with hibiscus and a lingering, very distant note of rosehips. The nasty Kombucha flavor that I am normally not a fan of is kept to a minimum so I really enjoyed this tea.

Taste - 8.2/10

Blu-Dot Protein Tea Orange Pineapple Green Tea

Wow, what a long name - Blue-Dot Protein Tea Orange Pineapple Green Tea...you see the redundancy in the name there?

Well, the Blue-Dot tea is available at many places around our neck of the woods (Toronto) and I got mine from the local Loblaws for $2.99. Being a protein tea, the bottle contains 12 grams of protein and 6 grams of fibre.

This Blue-Dot has an amazing orange aroma with just a bit of tangerine. The flavor is on the lighter end of the spectrum at the start of each sip, but after the initial tongue hit, the flavors emerge. Orange is predominant and the pineapple doesn't come until well into the finish. The green tea? Well, that can be felt at the back of the tongue in between sips...so yeah, not very strong but there. Unfortunately, because this is a sugar-free beverage, the artificial sweetener (stevia) is way too heavy for my liking and I think it ends up taking this down a few notches. The added protein tends to dry out the aftertaste which I found counter-productive to the whole "orange-refreshing" image this bottle seems to broadcast. It also adds a soy-heavy note, which like the "stevia", I do not like.

I found this to be refreshing while drinking, but once you stop and let the artificial sweetener creep up, it knocks the beverage down a bit.

Taste - 6/10

Lipton Sparkling Iced Tea

Got a few of these new Lipton Sparking Iced Teas from Buffalo when I went down there for the weekend a few weeks ago. I kept seeing these in gas stations and grocery stores around the city so I will go ahead and assume that they are available everywhere. Each one will set you back $1 and yes, there is a bit of caffeine in each can...but nowhere near enough to classify these as energy drinks. There are only 2 flavors out so far.

Raspberry

The aroma is a blend of subtle, earthy black tea and light, sweet raspberry notes. The taste is damn good. It starts off with a very well executed raspberry flavor, followed by sweetened black tea with some very subtle earthy notes. The sweetness adds a candy-like character to the tea flavor and does tend to build up ever so slightly. The aftertaste is sticky with a hint of iron from the black tea and just a very light hint of raspberries.

At the start of the can, I thought I could finish the entire can and have another one, but about 2/3's of the way through, the sweet aftertaste got to me. Though there are only 18 grams of sugar in the can, it just felt a bit too much. Maybe most people are OK with 18 grams, but I think 10 or 12 would have been perfect for me. Other than the sweetness build up, I cannot find any other flaws.

Taste - 9.1/10...if it was just a bit less sweet

Peach

The aroma of this one is quite the opposite of the raspberry one - the peach is the dominant note while the sweet black tea takes a backseat. The taste is very similar with the peach flavor, which is pretty darn well done, the dominant one of the two. The sweet, earthy black tea flavor is present but subdued by the peach for most of the time. In the aftertaste it comes out a bit more and lingers for a long time.

Like with the raspberry, the peach flavor suffers from a sticky sweet finish that will make the consumption of multiple cans a difficult task. The same 18 grams of sugar are present, but they need to be reduced just a tiny bit.

Taste - 8/10...again, if it was just a touch less sweet

Energy?

Since black tea is used as the base for these teas, there is a bit of caffeine in each can - 14 mg. To achieve the same effects as a small can of Red Bull, you would have to consume almost 6 cans of the Lipton Sparkling Iced Tea. The effects can be assumed to be negligible if you are used to a cup of coffee in the morning.