Quick #Review: Pure Leaf Sweet Tea #LoveofLeaves

I received this complimentary product from Influenster to test and to review.


Product: Sweet Tea from Pure Leaf
Product Description: Black tea leaves are hand-selected and brewed to create a fine fresh tasting tea. Real sugar sweetens this tea to perfection. All natural, brewed from real tea leaves.

Disclaimer: I'm not a big drink of any products besides water and fruit juice. I only drink tea either when I have a cold or when I am cold. I've tasted sweet tea before, but I'm not a connoisseur.

This beverage is REALLY sweet - 42-grams-of-sugar-per-bottle sweet. Granted, the bottle supposedly contains 2.5 servings, but I can't imagine anyone splitting such a small bottle (about 1 pint or 2 cups) into more than a few swigs-- it's not practical. A quick search showed that the American Heart Association recommends a max of 6 teaspoons (30 grams) of sugar per day for women-- so, one bottle of Pure Leaf's Sweet Tea contains nearly1.5 times the recommended daily allowance of sugar for women. Bad news.

My second complaint is that the bottle doesn't state how much caffeine is in the beverage; at least, it wasn't apparent to me. I'm assuming that the black tea isn't caffeine-free, but you wouldn't even need the boost of caffeine because of the sugar high you'd experience (did I mention the 42 grams of sugar?). An internet search for the product's nutritional facts shows there is 57 milligrams of caffeine per serving, which is less than a cup of coffee.

Bottom Line: Skip it. I don't know if high sugar content is expected when it comes to sweet tea beverages, but 42 grams of sugar per 18.5 fl oz bottle is unacceptable to me.