Steaz Green Tea Soda has a lot going for it – good taste, organic, green tea, and the bottle looks attractive. Steaz sodas come in impressive variety of flavors, such as ginger, grape, raspberry, and lemon, just to name a few.
When I first saw Steaz Green Tea Soda, I really wanted to like it. What is there not to like? After all, it is advertised as, “Finally, A Reason to Drink Soda…” – I will drink some green tea to that.
But is there a reason to drink Steaz Green Tea Soda? The magazine ads proudly state that all flavors contain a full cup of green tea. Then, they go into many health benefits of green tea, and the fact that Steaz Green Tea Soda is made with organic ingredients.
On the website, they go into even more details about green tea benefits. They also explain why they would never sweeten Steaz Green Tea Soda with high-fructose corn syrup. You would think that a “healthy” soda would use a healthy sugar substitute, but no.
Steaz claims that cane juice is superior [healthier] than a regular sugar – that is why they use it. In fact, according to the list of ingredients, cane juice is listed on the label in second place.
The first ingredient [water] makes up the largest portion of Steaz Green Tea Soda; the second is cane juice, which means that by volume, it is the second largest ingredient in this soda.
The one ingredient [green tea] that allegedly makes this soda so healthy is on distant 7th place! So what’s up? Well, it is simple. Yes, it is true that green tea has some amazing health benefits.
However, to attain these health benefits, one would need to drink anywhere from 5 to 10 cups of green tea – not just any green tea, but the one with a certain concentration of polyphenols and catechin – these compounds are found in green tea and thought to be responsible for its health benefits.
While it is also true that cane sugar contains some trace amounts of nutrients that are not found in table sugar – all credible experts agree – it is no different from a regular sugar. Unfortunately, Steaz claims that cane juice “is the key ingredient” to making Steaz Green Tea Soda “so naturally refreshing“.
In essence, Steaz Green Tea Soda is a pretty bottle filled with sugary water.