Bottled Tea Drinks: Money for Nothing

  

Do you know why bottled tea drinks are so tasty?  Simple — sugar and the addition of as little tea as it takes to still call the drink tea.  That’s right, it’s mostly tap water with some flavoring and a label proclaiming how healthy for you it is.  It’s the wording on bottle labels that lead us to the conclusion that we’re drinking an unadulterated antioxidant super drink. The reality is that we’re drinking flavored water and sugar (and a sip or two of tea).  A Washington Times article out this past Monday says what I think most of us already intuitively know, namely that these drinks aren’t as healthy as we’d like to think they are.  In order to make money, the big companies that produce and distribute the drinks have to make them taste good to lots of people.  Considering that most people have taste buds which prefer soda, it shouldn’t be surprising that people are unwilling to consume actual healthy drinks.  When’s the last time you’ve seen a really obese person ask for water?  

Business dictates that you give people what they want, and people, generally, do not have patience for acquired tastes.  Unsweetened, unadulterated tea is an acquired taste.  Tea catechins are bitter.  The only way to make tea palatable to the masses is to remove the very thing that makes it healthy in the first place.  Here’s the scoop:  20 bottles of a typical tea flavored bottled concoction has the antioxidant equivalent of just one cup (not bottle) of home brewed green or black tea.  Let that sink in for a second.  You could spend 2 dollars on a single bottle of “tea” or you could spend 6 dollars on a 50 count box of Twinings Earl Gray from Walmart where each tea bag has 20 times the healthful properties of single fancy bottled tea.  Why waste money?    

No Regulation:    

Bottled water is regulated by the FDA, not the EPA which has much higher standards. Also, the FDA has authority over only the bottled water that is subject to Interstate Commerce laws.  Therefore, local brands that are sourced, bottled and sold within one state, are not subjected to any federal regulations at all. Your tap water, however, falls under the jurisdiction of the EPA which has much higher standards.  Thus, there really isn’t anything stopping bottled water from being less salubrious than your municipal water.  Bottled tea, along with the water from which it’s made, likewise, is considered a food product.  Antioxidant claims in foods are not verified by the FDA.    

Alternative:    

Tea is cheap, folks.  I know it has a reputation for being a drink for snobs, but the truth is that it can be either outrageously expensive or downright cheap depending on the brand, blend and rarity of it.  I buy my tea from Harney and Sons.  I purchase 1lb bags of whatever is on sale at the moment I need tea.  1 lb (usually 150 servings) of quality tea can commonly be found for as little as 25 bucks.  Look here for yourself.  Tea is a product whereby you can be as snobby or as down to earth as you’d like and still get the same health benefits.  When I had money, in the distance past, I was a big fat snob about my tea.  But then I got poor, sniff sniff.  I still drink as much tea as ever, and I’m no less healthy than I was.  I just don’t buy the fancy stuff anymore.  Trust me, go get some tea and save yourself money, and make yourself healthy.    

You can read more about tea in these articles: Tea: 10 Interesting and Informative things to Know, Brewing Tea (Video), Starting to Get Fit: Hydration, Make Great Herbal Tea With Frozen Fruit, 10 Foods Parents Shouldn’t Skip, Celestial Seasonings Tour, How to prepare Matcha (video).