With the summer heat it is difficult to give up a good iced tea. Undoubtedly the best is the one prepared at home starting from the sachets or better still from the loose dried leaves, but sometimes it happens that you have to buy a ready-made iced tea: how then to choose a higher quality product?
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With the summer heat it is difficult to give up a good iced tea. Undoubtedly the best is the one prepared at home starting from the sachets or better still from the loose dry leaves, but sometimes it happens that you have to buy iced tea ready: how then to choose a higher quality product?
As always, making an informed choice is advisable read the labels imprinted on the packages to understand exactly what are the ingredients with which the tea is made.
Iced tea should only contain water, tea, sugar or other sweetener and lemon or peach juice. In many cases, however, we note the presence of other ingredients used to preserve or make the drink less bitter and more palatable.
Even in the case of iced tea, we advise you, whenever possible, to prepare it yourself at home. In this way you will be sure of the quality of the tea used, of the water but you can also better dose the sugar or sweetener chosen, perhaps adding fresh lemon juice, peach, other fruit or aromatic herbs that will make your drink tastier. Find below some recipes from which you can take inspiration:
- COLD TEA: 10 RECIPES TO PREPARE IT AT HOME
- COLD TEA: HERE'S THE SECRET TO PREPARE IT AT HOME
Let's now compare the best known and most used iced teas, the ones that you probably also have at home or have ever bought.
Index
COLD TEA, COMPARING LABELS
Estathè classic lemon - Ferrero
ingredients: Infusion of tea (water, tea), sugar, dextrose, rehydrated lemon juice powder (0,2%), flavor enhancer (ascorbic acid), flavors, acidifier (citric acid).
Peach tea - San benedetto
ingredients: natural mineral water (80%), Sugar, Fructose (0, 5%), Flavors, Acidifier: citric acid, Tea leaf extract (0, 1%), Peach juice (0, 1%) from concentrate, Antioxidant : ascorbic acid, Sweetener: sucralose, Any deposit on the bottom is due to the presence of the tea extract
Beltè zero with lemon - Nestlè
ingredients: Natural mineral water (93%), Sugar, Lemon infusion (0, 6%), Acidifier: citric acid, Flavors, Tea extract, Antioxidant: ascorbic acid, Sweetener: steviol glycosides
Lemon tea - Guizza
ingredients: water, sugar, flavorings, acidifier: citric acid, tea extract (0,1%, lemon juice (0,1%) from concentrate, sweeteners (E952, sucralose), antioxidant: ascorbic acid. Gluten free
Lemon tea - Santàl
ingredients: water, sugar, acidity regulators: citric acid and potassium citrate, tea extract (0,1%), lemon juice (0,1%), antioxidants: ascorbic acid, natural flavors.
Santhé - Sant'Anna green tea
ingredients: water, sugar, green tea infusion (water, green tea), peach juice, dextrose, lemon juice, antioxidant: ascorbic acid; flavorings, salt.
Green tea with lemon - Lipton
ingredients: water, sugar, acidifier: citric acid, green tea extract (0,14%), concentrated lemon juice (0,1%), acidity regulator: trisodium citrate, flavorings, antioxidant: ascorbic acid, sweeteners: steviol glycosides .
Green tea citrus – Nestèa
ingredients: water, sugar, fructose, green tea extract, citric acid acidifier, orange juice (0.1%), lemon juice (0.1%), flavorings, acidity regulator, trisodium citrate, antioxidant ascorbic acid, sweetener steviol glycosides.
Light peach tea - Fonte Ilaria
ingredients: Product that contains a source of Phenylalanine, Water, Acidifier: citric acid, Tea extract, Peach juice from concentrate (0, 10%), Sweeteners: aspartame and acesulfame-k, Antioxidant: ascorbic acid, Colors: E150d, Flavors
Organic Beltè with green tea infusion - Beltè
ingredients: 98% natural mineral water, 1,2% green tea infusion, natural green tea flavor, natural flavor, acidifier: citric acid. * from organic farming
Peach bio tea - San Bernardo
ingredients: Natural mineral water, Grape sugar *, Peach juice * (2%), Lemon juice * (1, 5%), Black tea extract *, Natural flavors, *: From organic farming
White tea with lime - Probios
ingredients: infusion of white tea (water, * white tea leaves), * agave juice, acidifier: citric acid, natural lime flavor. * organic.
COLD TEA, COMPARISON TABLE
Now let's compare specifically in the different iced teas: the quantity of sugars, la type of sweetener used, the presence of flavorings or other ingredients. The following comparison table will make it easier for you.
Inside we have also included the teaspoons of sugars per 100 ml of product which, at first glance, might seem few. However, we must consider that often of iced tea if you drink 250 ml or more, if you think of a portion, therefore, you must at least double the quantity indicated.
To enlarge the table click here
Also read the other comparisons on the products we have already made:
- FRUIT YOGURT: WHICH AND HOW TO CHOOSE?
- ICE CREAM IN A PAN WITH CREAMS: WHICH AND HOW TO CHOOSE?
- COMPARING RED ORANGE FRUIT JUICES: WHICH AND HOW TO CHOOSE?
- HAZELNUT SPREADABLE CREAMS: WHICH AND HOW TO CHOOSE?
- HOMOGENIZED FRUIT: WHICH AND HOW TO CHOOSE?
- JAMS AND JAMS: WHICH AND HOW TO CHOOSE?
- COMPARING COOKIES: WHICH COOKIES AND HOW TO CHOOSE?
- DARK CHOCOLATE: WHICH AND HOW TO CHOOSE
- BREADSTICKS: WHICH AND HOW TO CHOOSE
- READY PASTA PASTA: WHICH AND HOW TO CHOOSE?
- READY PESTO ALLA GENOVESE: WHICH AND HOW TO CHOOSE?
- VEGETABLE NUT: WHICH AND HOW TO CHOOSE? VEGETABLE NUT: WHICH AND HOW TO CHOOSE?
COLD TEA, THE EXPERT'S OPINION
We asked Ornella Di Geronimo, Specialist in Food Science, to give us some advice on choosing an iced tea of higher quality. Here's what he told us:
“Hot and in bags in winter, fresh and often bottled in summer, tea is one of the best-selling drinks. Considered a drink with multiple beneficial properties: it acts as an antioxidant thanks to the polyphenols able to counteract the free radicals responsible for cellular aging; helps regulate blood pressure and circulation, thus exerting a preventive action against heart disease; it is a natural antibacterial; it is a drainage. On the market we find many varieties and in multiple formulations. With the arrival of heat, the consumption of bottled tea increases: fresh, tasty, thirst-quenching. But will this drink really contain all the benefits of leaf tea? And how to choose it? In this case, a great help is given by nutritional labels. First I would like to mention that for all commercial products a fundamental rule applies: the fewer ingredients, the better! Of course this also applies to bottled teas in which unfortunately there is little or no tea leaves, since they are mainly tea-flavored drinks ”.
What do these drinks contain?
"Let's better analyze the ingredients that we can find on the label: water, tea, sugar or sweeteners, citric acid, ascorbic acid, flavorings and often even dyes. The main ingredient should be tea often made from an infusion or extract. Better the first, more similar to leaf tea as a method of preparation. In any case, its percentage in these drinks is very low. The second component is water, the characteristics of the water used to obtain these teas are often not reported. We can then find a series of ingredients that serve to modify the characteristics of the tea: aromas that modify its taste, preferably natural; citric acid which in addition to being a preservative serves to regulate its acidity and give that lemon-like flavor; ascorbic acid which acts as an antioxidant by blocking its degradation and enhancing the taste of tea; dyes, such as E150d, which serve to darken the drink and not give the impression that it is too light, but which is potentially carcinogenic. Also, have you ever noticed that bottled tea is very tasty? It does not have the bitter taste of homemade tea. This is because it is deprived of polyphenols, responsible for the bitter and astringent taste. But if we drink tea for its benefits, given precisely by polyphenols, what sense is there in choosing a drink in which the concentrations of these substances are reduced? One more point to keep an eye on: they are drinks rich in sugars or in any case rich in sweeteners... to be avoided or consumed in very small quantities ".
So what do you recommend to our readers?
“For all the reasons listed above why not do it at home… after all it's easy, fast and also very healthy! ”.
