Love caffeine but don’t have the same affinity for coffee? There’s a tea for that. You shouldn’t be tied to the same brown liquid every morning just to get your buzz on, and luckily, Zest Teas agrees. Promising nearly three times the levels of caffeine as traditional tea, 155 mg of Zest Black Tea actually promises more of a caffeine rush than 125 mg of coffee. So if you’re looking to turn your morning cup of Joe into a morning cup of green, black, or even flavored tea, this is your chance.
While Zest Tea ought to wake you up with its heavy dosage of caffeine, it also promises to help you keep your alertness levels at that same high thanks to the addition of an amino acid called L-Theanine. This, the team says, helps prolong your energy and alertness levels, while simultaneously reducing the jitters and crash often associated with caffeinated products.
Key to Zest Tea’s powers is what the company describes as an “innovative proprietary blending method that enhances the caffeination levels,” according to the company website. “The blending is similar to traditional tea blending methods, but with flavoring that increases caffeination levels,” the team added. And for those with dietary restrictions, know that all of Zest Tea’s blends (there are currently four) are gluten free and, when brewed, sugar free as well.
As it stands, the four blends are Blue Lady, which features “sultry Orange Pekoe black tea with an aromatic mix of orange, lemon, passion fruit, and hibiscus”; Pomegranate Mojito, which promises a blend of “Young Hyson green tea, peppermint, lime, and pomegranate”; Earl Grey, which blends Orange Pekoe black tea with bergamot essential oil; and finally, Cinnamon Apple, which has bits of real apple and cinnamon in Orange Pekoe tea.
The bases of these teas originate from the Nilgiri region of India and the Anhui province of China, so while the company itself calls Baltimore home, you can rest assured that your tea is coming from more exotic locales.
The teas start at $12.75 for a tin of 16 tea bags, or if you wish, you can get all four flavors for $45