Sorry, Trader Joe's... you lose

[susandennis]

I love iced tea. Unsweetened, no lemon, just good iced tea. I've tried all of the home ways - bags, leaves, tap brew - you name it, I've tried it and I've never been able to make >good iced tea. A while back, I discovered that some restaurants have excellent iced tea (not all, by any means) and I started researching.

It appears they are using concentrate. hmmmm I finally found some at Trader Joe's and DAMN! That was the secret. So so so good. So in Summer, that's mostly what I drink. In Winter, I drink Diet Dr. Pepper.

But, Diet Dr. Pepper, in small bottles is hard to get delivered and I'm getting too old to haul it. So a couple of weeks ago, I decided to switch to iced tea. Off to Trader Joe's I go.

NOT SO FAST. Turns out, Trader Joe's has turned their tea concentrate into a seasonal item and, yep, this ain't the season.

Buggers.

Hey, Amazon? You've got tea concentrate? Of course you do.

I ordered up some Luzianne Unsweetened Tea Concentrate and it arrived this morning and it is FABULOUS. I'm in iced tea heaven. Plus, I know Amazon is not going to make it seasonal.

Next quest: A nice, pleasant to drink out of 12-16 oz glass/tumbler not glass and does not sweat. I've learned the hard way that even Amazon lies about the sweating part.

But I'm ok with it - still riding my ice tea high.

Comments

[mtbc]

I was so surprised to discover that white chocolate is seasonal in Trader Joe's that I forgot to ask which the appropriate season would be.

[river57]

Tervis Tumbler - tons of choices, too.

[susandennis]

you are right. i just don't like the feel of drinking from them. but i generally go back to them because they really do not sweat.

[greghousesgf]

I like Trader Joe but one thing I DON'T like about them is their habit of discontinuing products I love. There are like 300 things they've pulled this with, including their cinnamon vanilla tea. I have not been able to find a similar tea anywhere else and I loved that cinnamon vanilla tea! I like Bridgerton Queen's Cake fruit and vanilla tea by Republic of Tea but that tastes very different.

[mtbc]

I think my largest annoyance with them so far is when they were insisting on paper bags only (been a while now since I went, though). It was raining and the bags they packed me made it barely a few hundred yards before disintegrating before I even reached the outbound bus stop. I assume that they cater just to car drivers who park in the lot. Since then, I just took a backpack and didn't buy much at a time.

[greghousesgf]

Life caters just to car drivers. :(

[sambuca_smile]

I love iced tea too. Something refreshing... mm... :-)

[ringsandcoffee]

Check the acrylic tumblers at Costco, usually sets of 4. My sister has a ton of those, and I don't think they sweat, but I can't guarantee it.

[legalmoose]

I usually have iced tea on hand during the warmer months here. I've found that a freebie Yeti tumbler I got for an alumni donation works well both on the keep it cold side and the no sweating side. Grippy enough on the outside not to slip, but still pleasant to hold onto. You could use it with or without the top, but since I'm usually hauling it up stairs the top helps keep me from spilling it all over.

[susandennis]

i have a swag yeti that i actually use (from goodwill). i don't love it but it does not sweat, for sure. and the lid works well when julio decides it needs to go from table to floor

[fbhjr]

As someone who spends a LOT of time trying to prevent moisture from building up on things, I must sadly tell you that the main driving forces of if something with sweat are the temperature difference between the tumbler and the air, and the humidity of the air.
Amazon probably tested theirs some play drier than where you live…

[susandennis]

ohhhh excellent point. and, since my air is now controlled and constant (temperature and humidity), I'll bet sweating won't be nearly an issue. thanks!

[mdlbear]

Contigo makes good mugs and tumblers. Stainless steel, double-wall, with a press-fit lid. (I strongly prefer press-fit lids because the edge is thinner and smoother, which makes them more pleasant to drink from with the lid off.)

Tumblers are unstable in the presence of cats; I use a cup-holder attached to the edge of my desk.

[susandennis]

Interesting. I don't think I've tried Contigo before. Thanks.

But...

a cup-holder attached to the edge of my desk

FUCKING GENIUS!!!

[arlie]

I'm glad you found a tea concentrate you like, that you could actually get.

I'm not entirely sure that Amazon won't make the tea concentrate seasonal, particularly if it's a subscribe-and-save item. Or if not seasonal - which would at least be predictable - erratic. I find I'm lucky to get an average of 2/3 subscribe-and-save items delivered as subscribe-and-save, though the ones they couldn't supply that way are often available again within a week - at full price, of course.