I’ve got mixed feelings about Green Tea. It appeared on my radar about ten years ago when some of my female acquaintances near enough gave up the blessed taste of PG Tips in favour of the swamp tinted health benefits of a cup of the green stuff. Never one to be left behind on the drinks bandwagon I tried it, found it to taste of little other than herby water and resolved to leave it be. Something kept nagging at me though… I kept wanting to get into it. Kept waiting a year, trying it again and arriving at the same conclusions. Sometimes the Emperor’s New Clothes just don’t fit.
As a result, it raised a smile when on unwrapping a present from my sister last week, I pulled a mystical green bottle from the wrapper and started laughing. Sodastream Green Tea: Pomegranate & Peach flavour, glowing out its green intentions with a green tinted bottle awash with a green splash design. My sister was laughing too: “I wanted to buy you the weirdest flavour I could find” she said, “and I’m looking forward to seeing a particularly scathing review”. I tucked into my pizza and put it it to the back of my mind, nestled with thoughts of carbonated drinks and the ghost of Christmas past, present and to come.
So anyway, a week on, I’ve made a batch up and poured myself a healthy slug and I’m ready to rip it, but sitting here, gazing out of the window awash with aromas of peach cascading down my parched throat, evoking memories of the middle of summer as the rain lashes the window, I’m struggling to find the words.
You see, this drink isn’t half bad. Great peach scent. High fizz potential and maximum sweet refreshment, it’s ticking most of the boxes on the SodaStream review scale. A little bit like a fizzy peach sweet, but with added water. A hint of lemonade, but without the boredom. A taste of peach melba put through the blender. A pomegranate without the seeds. Colourings of apple juice mixed with lime cordial. An aftertaste of lavender. Fresh cut grass between your toes as you sprint over the field, reaching for a difficult frisbee catch, get called back to the picnic blanket and satiate your thirst on the taste of distilled sunshine.
Well, I digress, but yes, essentially it’s good. Refreshing, original and dangerously sweet, but fizzy enough to avoid being cloying.
My first criticism would be that one glass is definitely enough. Too much of this stuff could leave a person a little over their saccharine allowance. My second is that I don’t quite get the Green Tea element. Does Green Tea taste of nothing and that is why I can’t taste it? If so, is it even there? Why did they need to combine Green Tea with peach? Which young SodaStream executive cutting their teeth on the cut-throat corporate world of beverage conception came up with that combination?
So my advice would be: forget about the tea element. Put that right out of your mind. Don’t get hung up on anti-oxidants and fictional health benefits. Just drink. Drink your fill of peach goodness, and raise your glass my friends, because better weather is just around the corner.
The Green Tea: Pomegranate & Peach flavor is one of my favorites. I’d give it 4 and a half stars. Great website by the way… definitely a great hangout for other Sodastream lovers! :)
Hi, nice website to discover new sodastream flavours. Is it possible to review some of the new natural range?
Glad you like. Yes, it’s about time I ordered some more flavours to review… a lot of new ones have launched recently, so I’ll certainly aim to pick up a couple from the Natural range.