I hear from many of my patients that they often struggle to drink enough water during the day. “I just don’t like it on it’s own” is a fairly common response towards tap water. Personally, I like to use frozen lime slices in my water. (Here’s a post on drinking water)
There are so many products available on the supermarket shelves these days to ‘jazz up’ your water – here I’m reviewing a ‘cold infusion’ tea bag I picked up this morning.
Product: Tetley – Cold Infusions (Strawberry & Watermelon)
Cost: $2.29/10 pack from Aldi (Also available at Coles Woolworths in different flavours, and in ‘multipacks’ with mixed flavours)
Directions: Add one bag to 300ml cold water, stir & infuse for 7 minutes (Instructions also provided for use in water bottles and large jugs).
Review:
Packaging & Origin: The box is cute and colourful, yet I’m miffed to open it and find 10 individually-wrapped teabags. I can see how this might be useful to throw one in your handbag/gym bag etc if you’re on the go, but it does seem like an excessive amount of plastic and waste. The pyramid-shaped bags are also not compostable…yet. The Tetley website (as of Feb 2021) states the following regarding the packaging:
– Teabag: Not recyclable. Not home-compostable. We are moving to an industrially compostable bag in the next 12 months.
– Pouch: Recyclable at REDcycle or soft plastics disposal facilities.
– Rectangular Carton: Widely recycled.
– Multipack: Widely recycled board. PET envelopes are not recyclable.
There is also some evidence that teabags such as this contain microplastics. If this is something that concerns you, you can read more here.
This particular product is Made in Poland and packed in Australia from imported ingredients.
Nutrition: The ingredients are basically dried fruit and leaf pieces, with ‘natural flavours’. There is no added sugar, and you’re looking at 40kj and 3g carbs (1g sugar) in each 500mL that you drink as prepared.
Taste: It’s fruity, delicious and refreshing without being overpowering, and I love that it’s not overly sweet. It actually tastes like an iced tea without all the sugar, which is just perfect. This flavour tastes like mixed berry to me, with only a hint of watermelon.
Final thoughts:At only 23c per serve, it’s not going to break the bank, but it will certainly start to add up if you’re drinking multiple glasses each day. I also found it a little bit annoying to wait the 7 minutes to drink it, but I’m impatient! The box does indicate you could prepare earlier and consume within 8 hours…if you’re more organised than me perhaps?! It’s nice for a change but the excess packaging concerns me, so I won’t be buying this regularly.
I think it would actually be nice in a large jug with fresh mint and lots of ice, served at a BBQ or social event to provide a non-alcoholic option (suitable for kids too as it’s caffeine free).
Have you tried cold infusions, or a DIY version at home? Let me know in the comments below!
