Alongside their extensive range of teabags and loose leaf teas, Twinings has recently launched a line of sparkling teas. These ready-to-drink canned beverages are in the supermarkets and specialty stores (I picked up mine in Holland & Barrett) alongside the kombuchas and other functional beverages.
But really, there’s very little that’s functional about this sparkling tea. There’s barely any tea in it!
Nonetheless, I decided to purchase and review it to find out if it’s worth you buying and drinking it too. Despite the low tea content, this drink is packed with lemon balm, lemon and ginger – so it should pack a punch!
Twinings Boost Sparkling Tea at a Glance
Izzy’s Rating
- Ingredients: Carbonated water, fruit juices from concentrate, vitamins, flavourings, preservatives and a touch of black tea
- Flavour: Sweet and sour lemon with a refreshing tingly sensation
This is a very pleasant lemony beverage with a thirst-quenching quality that makes it ideal for the summer months. There’s just nothing tea-like about it.
Full Review – Twinings Zingy Lemon with Ginger & Lemon Balm
- Type: Ready-to-drink canned sparkling tea beverage
- Tea: Indian black tea infusion
- Other Ingredients: Carbonated water, apple juice from concentrate, orange juice from concentrate, French lemon balm infusion, ginger extract, natural flavourings, vitamin C, vitamins B6 and B12, potassium sorbate
- Caffeine Content: 7mg
- Flavour Notes: Sweet and sour, lemon, vitamins
- Aroma: Tart and sweet lemons, clean lemon balm
- Serve: Chilled or over ice
- Where to Buy: Twinings Official Store, Amazon UK, supermarkets and specialty beverage shops
After a night spent in the fridge to ensure it was nice and cool, Twinings Sparkling Tea Boost was ready for me to review. First, the aroma. It’s quite lemony with a tart-sweet scent and a bright, clean edge. The lemon balm gives it this quality and it’s very refreshing.
I poured it into a glass to take a closer look at the colour. It’s cloudy yellow and far too bright to be like a real lemonade. I imagine the orange juice from concentrate gives it that orange hint, as I can’t see any colourings listed in the ingredients.
After inhaling that lemony scent, my mouth was watering by the time I was ready for that first sip. Is there any better flavour on a hot day than tart-sweet lemon?
Well, the lemon flavour lived up to my expectations… but the rest was a disappointment. The overwhelming flavour is a mix of lemons and vitamins (like the slightly bitter flavour of a multivitamin tablet). It’s sweet and sour in just the right way. But that’s all she wrote. No black tea, no lemon balm, no ginger, and none of the zing Twinings promised me on the front of the can.
Though the tea lacks any warmth or depth, I will admit that it is super-hydrating. With a lightly tingling, fizzy texture and thirst-quenching quality, it was extremely pleasant to sip.
So Why Try Twinings’ Sparkling Tea Drinks?
If you want a sparkling tea then this drink isn’t for you. If you want a sparkling fruit juice that has a more muted and herbaceous flavour than most sparkling soft drinks, go right ahead and try it.
You can probably tell by this point that drinks that claim to be tea without any tea flavour really get my goat. They are the chupacabras of the ready-to-drink tea world. With Lipton’s iced teas, despite having only a smidgeon of tea extract in them, there’s an unmistakable tea flavour underneath the fruity sweetness.
But Twinings doesn’t even have that.
Looking at the ingredients, the black tea infusion accounts for 1% of the ingredients. The concentrated apple and orange juices account for 40%. And the ginger extract might as well not be on the list.
In reality, this is a sparkling fruit juice. Even ignoring the black tea element, without an infusion accounting for the majority of the ingredients (the lemon balm infusion is, again, just 1%) we can’t say it’s a sparkling herbal tea either.
Summary
Okay, let’s tally up the pros and cons for Twinings Sparkling Tea Boost. First the pros; great lemony flavour, low calorie, no added sugar, not artificial sweeteners or flavourings or colourings, and a super thirst-quenching mouthfeel. Then there’s the cons; no substantial tea or herbal infusion, no depth or gingery notes, and an over-reliance on concentrated fruit juices.
And yet, I would drink this beverage again. All Twinings have to do is re-label it as a low-calorie sparkling fruit juice and I’m all in. I guess I just don’t like the marketing lies.
Twinings, if you’re reading this, just know that you’re not fooling anyone. This drink isn’t tea.
Tea Recommendation
One failsafe way to get a strong tea flavour in your summer beverages is to ice your own tea. For summer 2025, I’ve been icing Tealicious Tea Room’s Lemon & Lime Tea. It features a green tea base with lemongrass, lime leaves and lemon peel. Delicious!