Look out! If you’re not careful, you could find yourself discarding your usual drink of choice in favor of a new selection. The beverage? Iced tea.
Junior Jocelyn Zadzi is excited for the new iced tea flavors that are becoming available.
“All the new flavors sound weird but end up being good,” Zadzi said.
Junior Eliot Fowler said that he has tried many of the new flavors of iced tea at his job at Cosi.
“I like raspberry iced tea, but I haven’t tried the raspberry white iced tea yet,” Fowler said.
Zadzi said that she doesn’t identify with any specific brand of iced tea.
“I just love the taste of it all,” Zadzi said. “I feel like it’s a good alternative to pop because it’s sweet and not bland like water.”
Junior Sarah Hecht has become a frequent consumer of Arizona Iced Tea due to its availability in the cafeteria.
“I always buy [Arizona] raspberry iced tea for lunch,” Hecht said. “Homemade iced tea and Lipton don’t have that raspberry flavor [available in the cafeteria]. But Arizona’s peach and lemon are really gross. It’s annoying when they only have those [flavors].”
Freshman Allie Habash also regularly drinks Arizona Iced Tea, but her motives are different from Hecht’s.
“[I drink] peach Arizona because it’s what we have in our house, and it’s very delicious,” Habash said.
Habash said that she thinks that the discovery of iced tea was somewhat accidental, but she is now a satisfied consumer of the drink.
“I gave up coffee for lent, so I’m drinking a lot of iced tea,” Habash said.
Assistant Principal Kristin Robbins began buying iced tea in the summer but now regularly drinks the beverage.
“I actually started drinking [iced tea] because I would meet a group in a coffee shop, and since it was summer, a hot beverage wasn’t an attractive option,” Robbins said.
According to the Snapple website, iced tea can result in many improvements to your well being through the various health benefits that the vitamins offer.
Athletic director John Morgan said that there are a lot of benefits to iced tea.
“In the green tea blends, they’ll often add ginkgo, antioxidants and herbs that contain benefits,” Morgan said. “I don’t pay much attention to the benefits. I’m just trying to stay away from the sugar you get in pop.”
Robbins agrees that lowering her sugar intake has been a positive effect of her iced tea drinking.
“Since it’s without the sugar and sweetener you get in pop, it’s a good choice,” Robbins said. “[However], people drink iced tea and they don’t think [about the] caffeine that is in it.”
Robbins remembers when she was first introduced to the bottled version of iced tea.
“The stuff in the bottle seems really sweet. I remember in high school when Snapple came out and I was like, ‘Eh,’” she said.
Sophomore Alexandra Oney feels that the iced tea choices available aren’t as tasty as she would like.
“I don’t like [iced tea] because it doesn’t have enough flavor,” Oney said.
Senior Emilee Sherman said that she thinks the taste is too powerful.
“I don’t like the taste; it’s really strong to me, especially when people mix it with raspberry,” Sherman said. “I’ve never tried the [Lipton] white tea, but I might since I see a lot of [people] freezing it.”
Senior Joe Luchsinger said that he doesn’t understand what the big deal is with iced tea and is slightly bothered by the freezing fad.
“I think [freezing the iced tea] is dumb,” Luchsinger said. “It’s kind of pointless because it takes a lot longer to drink.”
Fowler has been a fan of iced tea ever since he was introduced to it by his coworkers.
“I think iced tea is an excellent replacement for water, and everyone should drink it,” Fowler said.
Published March 2008. Digitized 2025.
