Every Peace Tea Flavor, Ranked From Worst To Best

Coffee gets a lot of attention when it comes to caffeinated beverages, but it's hard to deny the thirst-quenching power and gentle energy buzz offered by a cold glass of iced tea. There are many types of tea to choose from and endless ways to customize and elevate homemade iced tea, but when you are on the go, sometimes you need to grab a prepared iced tea. You could swing by a drive-through for a fast food iced tea, but when that's not possible, canned iced tea is a great, convenient option.

Peace Tea, which is owned by Coca-Cola, features bright designs and its signature two-finger peace sign on each can. To sample what the brand has to offer, I tracked down the five flavors featured on the company website, which was no easy feat, to see how they compared. As a long-time tea-lover and professional recipe developer, I have sipped on all kinds of tea, from fancy loose leaf to powdered tea, and infused it into everything from cocktails and baked goods to savory dinners. I have learned how important it is to balance the flavor of the tea with other ingredients, so that it is not overshadowed. This ranking was based on overall taste and how well the label represented the intended flavor of the drink.

This iced tea is described a blueberry-flavored white tea, though the ingredients are not much different than the other teas in this tasting. It simply lists "tea powder" as the base. As with all the other Peace Tea drinks, this is sweetened with cane sugar and sucralose. I have always found that blueberry is an elusive flavor to capture unless you are eating the actual fruit, and this tea proves that theory correct. 

Sno-Berry has a light golden color, which is very close to the color of apple juice. It tastes pleasantly fruity, but has a punch that's more a berry-grape-melon hybrid flavor than blueberry. Still, it doesn't veer into bubble gum, or worse, liquid medicine territory. There is a little bit of a dry aftertaste (which sometimes happens with tea), but you have to wait a few minutes for it to settle in. Is it bad? No! It's super light and easy to drink, but if you were in the mood for iced tea, you might be disappointed and a little confused by its predominantly juice-forward taste. This would be a great option for someone looking for a sweet pick-me-up who doesn't really care for tea.

Mango Mood is the only green tea in the tasting and it is also the sweetest of the five teas. It has a light-honey color but packs a big aroma. In addition to a strong mango smell, there is a bit of grassiness, presumably from the green tea, that I didn't detect in the other varieties. Different brands of green tea offer different levels of bitterness and earthiness, so I was curious how that would blend with the fruity mango.

Though I smelled mango, its taste was deceptive. At first, I picked up more on peach than mango. As I drank more, I was able to discern the difference, honing in on mango with some tropical notes of citrus and coconut as well. The mango flavor lingers and reminds me of my favorite dried mango slices, but it also made it harder to pick out the tea, let alone distinguish it as green tea. Like Sno-Berry, it drank more like a sweet juice than an enhanced iced tea. But, it ranked a little higher because of its identifiable mango flavor.

Iced tea and lemonade is a classic combination and Caddy Shack jumps on that blend with its take on a tea and lemonade drink. Homemade lemonade recipes call for just lemon juice, sugar, and water, but this canned version uses lemon juice from concentrate and citric acid for flavor and sharpness. Curiously, the tea also has apple juice from concentrate. It gave me pause, especially because some of the other beverages had a more juice-forward taste, but I held off on any judgement until I sampled it.

The clear, amber tea didn't have a strong aroma, but the first few sips I took had a clear lemony taste, subtle tang, and generous sweetness. The tea remained a soft background flavor, but it is there. Luckily, I did not pick up on any apple taste, so I can't say it took away from the lemon or the tea. The can does not say this is a 50/50 blend of the tea and lemonade, which is a good thing; it is certainly more about the lemonade. This variety ranked in the middle because the lemon is crisp and very present. But, if it were a little less sweet, the tea would have had a stronger taste and given the drink a better overall balance. 

Just Peachy, which is aptly named, is a peach iced tea. And it is absolutely bursting with a peachy taste and aroma. As soon as I popped the can, I was hit with a smell that reminded me of gummy peach ring candies mixed with ripe peaches baking in the sun at a farmers market. The tea was darker than most of the others and sported an orange tinge. 

Peach is the initial taste as well, but it's not as strong as the scent. This is great because, in theory, it leaves room for the tea flavor to be step up. However, similar to the other varieties already mentioned, the tea is subtle and takes a backseat to the fruit. After the peach and sugar have washed away, the tea taste remains on the finish. The sweetness of Just Peachy enhances the fruity taste, but it also takes away from the earthiness of the tea. The undeniably peachy flavor pushed this one ahead of the others and earned it the number two spot. 

Peace Tea describes Razzleberry as a raspberry-flavored iced tea, though the drawing on the front of the can looks more like a cluster of cranberries or very red grapes. Since only natural flavors are credited in the ingredients, it's hard to know for certain all that goes into the blend.

Razzleberry is the darkest Peace Tea by far. The deep brown color is tinged with a hint of burgundy that pairs nicely with the berry profile. When you pop the can, raspberry spritzes the air. It smells closer to a real raspberry than a candy. The taste is a little less specifically raspberry and more general berry, but this is easily overlooked because you can taste the tea in this drink. Though the sweetness and fruit is still at the forefront, it's not too sweet. The slightly tannic taste of the tea sets in quickly. The balance between sweetness, raspberry, and tea makes Razzleberry primed for the top spot.

I considered taste as the most important factor when I ranked these iced teas, but there were several points to consider under that umbrella. First, I assessed if the drink tasted like the flavor profile on the can or not. Then, I considered the depth of the tea flavor. Finally, I considered how well the tea and the fruit flavors worked together. 

I chilled the cans before drinking them, but did not taste them over ice because I did not want to risk any further dilution. I tasted each iced tea a few times over the course of two days, both through a straw and out of a glass. This sipping method allowed me to experience the aroma and taste of the tea at the same time.

I grew up with Canadian parents and Welsh grandmother, so tea time was taken very seriously, although iced tea did not receive the same care. As I moved around the country, I found each region had their own specific way to enjoy iced tea, including presweetened powders, intense, unsweetened sun tea, and syrupy sweet tea. Along with my culinary training and decades of recipe development work, I've learned that with iced tea, it doesn't really matter what type of tea is used, nor if it's sweetened or not. Rather, a good iced tea should highlight the tea, have a well-rounded and easy-to-drink taste, and always be thirst quenching.