Introduction
Welcome to Eat This Not That’s 2021 ranking of the best and worst bottled teas in America! We’ve done the hard work of tasting and evaluating dozens of bottled teas to bring you the top picks and the ones to avoid. We’ve taken into account factors like taste, ingredients, nutrition, and price to determine which bottled teas are worth your money and which ones you should skip. So, if you’re looking for the best bottled tea to quench your thirst, you’ve come to the right place! Read on to find out which bottled teas made the cut.
The Best & Worst Bottles Teas in America in 2021—Ranked!
With so many bottled teas on the market, it can be hard to know which ones are worth your time and money. To help you out, we’ve rounded up the best and worst bottled teas in America in 2021—ranked!
The Best Bottled Teas
- Honest Tea Organic Peach Tea: This organic tea is made with real brewed tea and organic cane sugar. It has a light, refreshing flavor and is a great way to get your daily dose of antioxidants.
- Tazo Passion Tea: This tea is made with hibiscus, orange peel, and rose hips for a sweet and tart flavor. It’s also caffeine-free, so it’s perfect for an afternoon pick-me-up.
- Lipton Green Tea: This green tea is made with real brewed tea and has a light, refreshing flavor. It’s also packed with antioxidants, making it a great choice for health-conscious tea drinkers.
- Snapple Peach Tea: This tea is made with real brewed tea and real fruit juice for a sweet and refreshing flavor. It’s also low in calories, making it a great choice for those watching their waistlines.
- Arizona Green Tea: This tea is made with real brewed tea and has a light, refreshing flavor. It’s also packed with antioxidants, making it a great choice for health-conscious tea drinkers.
The Worst Bottled Teas
- Arizona Iced Tea: This tea is made with high-fructose corn syrup and artificial flavors, making it a poor choice for those looking for a healthy beverage. It’s also high in calories and sugar, so it’s best to avoid.
- Lipton Diet Green Tea: This tea is made with artificial sweeteners and flavors, making it a poor choice for those looking for a healthy beverage. It’s also high in calories and sugar, so it’s best to avoid.
- Snapple Diet Tea: This tea is made with artificial sweeteners and flavors, making it a poor choice for those looking for a healthy beverage. It’s also high in calories and sugar, so it’s best to avoid.
- Nestea Iced Tea: This tea is made with high-fructose corn syrup and artificial flavors, making it a poor choice for those looking for a healthy beverage. It’s also high in calories and sugar, so it’s best to avoid.
- Fuze Iced Tea: This tea is made with high-fructose corn syrup and artificial flavors, making it a poor choice for those looking for a healthy beverage. It’s also high in calories and sugar, so it’s best to avoid.
So there you have it—the best and worst bottled teas in America in 2021—ranked! Whether you’re looking for a refreshing beverage or a healthy option, there’s something for everyone. Just remember to read the labels and choose wisely!
We love southern sweet tea as much as the next person, but if we look at the most popular tea products on the market, how do they really measure up for our health?
Tea has a long-standing reputation, especially in eastern medicine. These earthy brews have many health benefits that go back hundreds of years! Tea is chock full of antioxidants, cancer-fighting properties, and immune-boosting compounds!
The trouble with tea products, particularly in the Western parts of the world, is that we load our teas with sweeteners. In doing so, we significantly degrade their nutritional value. Common sweeteners can vary from more natural to highly artificial.
The American Heart Association (AHA) suggests that women should consume no more than 25 grams of added sugar in a day and 38 grams for men. Most popular tea brands blow these numbers out of the water in just one serving!
When classifying the worst and best teas on the grocery store shelves, we specifically must hone in on the sugar content. The best products will be brewed simply and without many additives—just as tea was made to be consumed!
We know what you’re thinking; you can just buy the diet version! Well, yes. Of course, the diet tea options certainly have the competitive advantage of being lower calorie but they are sweetened artificially. While artificial sweeteners are generally recognized as safe for the public, they still are associated with many self-reported wonky symptoms like headaches, stomach aches, and increased sugar cravings!
So, the best choice for you might be a little more personal. Ranked from the absolute worst to best, here are the bottled and canned teas on shelves you should buy—or skip—next time you’re at the store. Then, be sure to check out our list of 112 Most Popular Sodas Ranked by How Toxic They Are.
Per 18.5 oz. bottle: 240 calories, 0 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 5 mg sodium, 64 g carbs (0 g fiber, 64 g sugar), 0 g protein
This fan-favorite takes the title for the worst tea we could find on the market. With an emphasis on the extra, this product lives up to its name with 240 calories and 64 grams of sugar.
Related: One Major Side Effect of Eating Too Much Added Sugar, Says New Study
Per 18 oz. bottle: 250 calories, 0 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 0 mg sodium, 62.5 g carbs (0 g fiber, 60 g sugar), 0 g protein
A close second, this product is also 250 calories per bottle with nearly 60 grams of sugar! Talk about a sugar crash, you’re only going to get empty calories here.
Here are the Side Effects of Eating Too Much Sugar, Say Dietitians.
Per 20 oz. bottle: 225 calories, 0 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 0 mg sodium, 57.5 g carbs (0 g fiber, 57.5 g sugar), 0 g protein
Wowzers, this product is proof that marketing can make a brand appear deceivingly healthy. With 225 calories per bottle, this choice is not much better than the rest before it. One redeeming quality is that it’s crafted with non-GMO cane sugar.
Per 15.5 oz. can: 210 calories, 0 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 10 mg sodium, 54 g carbs (0 g fiber, 52 g sugar), 0 g protein
Yikes! Green tea with honey sounds so healthy; but when we flipped the can around to look at the nutrition label, we discovered it contains 210 calories per can and 52 sugars—the majority of which come from high-fructose corn syrup. This product is not much better than your average soda.
Per 18.5 oz. bottle: 190 calories, 0 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 0 mg sodium, 48 g carbs (0 g fiber, 48 g sugar), 0 g protein
This bottle of tea is found in nearly all grocers and convenience store options. It’s a solid middle-of-the-road choice with 190 calories per bottle and 48 grams of sugar—still too high in our book.
Here’s One Major Side Effect of Drinking Sweet Tea, Says Dietitian.
Per 16 oz. bottle: 190 calories, 0 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 10 mg sodium, 45 g carbs (0 g fiber, 45 g sugar), 0 g protein
Snapple has nailed their flavor profiles, but their nutrition facts leave much to be desired. This product contains 190 calories and 45 grams of sugar per bottle—more than the recommended amount per day by the AHA!
Per 16 oz. bottle: 160 calories, 0 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 10 mg sodium, 40 g carbs (0 g fiber, 40 g sugar), 0 g protein
This American favorite is still a little on the sweet side, but it’s an improvement from the worst. With 160 calories per bottle and 40 grams of sugar, they crafted a tea that is moderately sweet without compromising on flavor!
Per 1 can: 160 calories, 0 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 0 mg sodium, 40 g carbs (0 g fiber, 38 g sugar), 0 g protein
This brand is certainly trying to win some favors with its sugar-reducing tactics. They use apple juice, cane sugar, and sucralose to sweeten their product. This combo is still not cutting it as their tea clocks in at 160 calories and 38 sugars per can!
Per 16.9 oz. bottle: 140 calories, 0 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 0 mg sodium, 35 g carbs (0 g fiber, 35 g sugar), 0 g protein
With 140 calories and 35 grams of sugar, this green tea is still ultra-sweet. It’s not the worst, but it’s certainly not the best.
Per 20 oz. tallboy: 130 calories, 0 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 0 mg sodium, 33 g carbs (0 g fiber, 31 g sugar), 0 g protein
For your half-lemonade-half-tea fix with a fraction of the sugar content of the traditional option, this can does provide. But with a high amount of sugar (31 grams), it’s best to split this can between two.
Per 20 oz. bottle: 110 calories, 0 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 190 mg sodium, 29 g carbs (0 g fiber, 29 g sugar), 0 g protein
These classic cans of tea clock in at 110 calories per bottle, but are primarily made of high-fructose corn syrup—certainly not my first choice for a sugar option!
Per 15.5 oz. can: 100 calories, 0 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 20 mg sodium, 26 g carbs (<1 g fiber, 26 g sugar), 0 g protein
This South American staple has made its way to the U.S. market. Luckily, it measures up pretty well when compared to traditional brands. With only 100 calories per can, this choice focuses on high-quality ingredients with organic tea and organic cane sugar.
Per 16.9 oz. bottle: 100 calories, 0 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 180 mg sodium, 25 g carbs (0 g fiber, 25 g sugar), 0 g protein
While this option might look like an improvement due to having only 100 calories for the whole bottle, the majority of these calories are coming from high-fructose corn syrup—yikes!
Related: 23 Surprising Foods That Contain High Fructose Corn Syrup
Per 14 oz. bottle: 80 calories, 0 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 0 mg sodium, 20 g carbs (0 g fiber, 20 g sugar), 0 g protein
This organic choice is a turning point on the list with double-digit calories! Only 80 calories per bottle here, but this option still packs a sweet punch with 20 grams of sugar.
Per 16.9 oz. bottle: 70 calories, 0 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 200 mg sodium, 18 g carbs (0 g fiber, 18 g sugar), 0 g protein
With 18 sugars per bottle and added sweetness from stevia, this product is extra sweet without the extra calories.
Per 16.9 oz. bottle: 70 calories, 0 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 0 mg sodium, 16 g carbs (0 g fiber, 16 g sugar), 0 g protein
This fun option is lightly sweetened with peach puree and organic agave syrup. With 16 grams of sugar per bottle, it is definitely an upgrade from conventional peach tea!
Per 12 oz. bottle: 70 calories, 0 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 0 mg sodium, 16 g carbs (0 g fiber, 16 g sugar), 0 g protein
Caffeine-free and organic, this trendy option is a step up from the rest of the pack. With 70 calories and 16 grams of organic sugar, this floral option really outshines the others so far.
Per 14 oz. bottle: 60 calories, 0 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 0 mg sodium, 15 g carbs (0 g fiber, 15 g sugar), 0 g protein
This product offers the lowest calories yet with only 60 calories per bottle. Made simply with black tea and sugar, this option is lightly sweet and hard to beat.
Per 16 oz. bottle: 10 calories, 0 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 15 mg sodium, 1 g carbs (0 g fiber, 0 g sugar), 0 g protein
This bottled tea has a conflict of interest. On one hand, it offers a great, low-calorie option for your sweet tea fix. On the other hand, it is brewed with aspartame which is not our first choice for an added sweetener.
Per 16 oz. bottle: 0 calories, 0 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 170 mg sodium, 0 g carbs (0 g fiber, 0 g sugar), 0 g protein
This option looks too good to be true as a zero-calorie choice! The antioxidants in green tea will give you a boost here; but again, we are not huge fans of aspartame as the sweetener of choice.
Per 18 oz. bottle: 10 calories, 0 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 10 mg sodium, 11 g carbs (0 g fiber, 1 g sugar), 0 g protein
This product is giving black tea a run for its money. Sweetened with erythritol and stevia, this choice is way ahead of the tea industry with only 10 calories per bottle!
Per 16 oz. bottle: 25 calories, 0 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 0 mg sodium, 6 g carbs (0 g fiber, 5 g sugar), 0 g protein
Sweetened with agave syrup and brewed with hints of lemon, orange, and lemongrass, this product is a close tie for first place! The only thing holding it back is those 5 grams of sugar from the syrup—but that’s a measly amount when you consider more traditional tea products on the market.
Per 18.5 oz. bottle: 0 calories, 0 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 15 mg sodium, 0 g carbs (0 g fiber, 0 g sugar), 0 g protein
Picking a favorite is hard, and this runner-up doesn’t make it any easier. This product offers the antioxidant benefits of green tea without the sugar rush! We love this refreshing, no-calorie option for a simple afternoon pick-me-up.
Per 16.9 oz. bottle: 0 calories, 0 g fat (0 g saturated fat), 8 mg sodium, 0 g carbs (0 g fiber, 0 g sugar), 0 g protein
Zero calories, zero sugars—it’s easy to understand why this is the winner! You won’t even miss the sugar in this product, because it is perfectly balanced with mint. You’ll get your thirst quenched without the empty calories or added sugars.
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