I recently received this triple pack of so called Hawaiian Natural Tea from my parents so I decided to run it through the Cheap Eats ringer. Actually, it IS from Hawaii (company is from Honolulu). The flavors of the boxes were “Mango Peach”, “Pineapple Strawberry” and “Passionfruit Orange”. Sounds like typical flavors for Hawaii. I picked the Passionfruit Orange for a taste test.

First, I guess it is marketing, but what’s with the need to put “Natural” along with Hawaiian Tea? That makes me think there’s some Unnatural Hawaiian Tea which doesn’t sound very good indeed, especially since we are talking about leaves from a tree here. I guess they mean the other items in the tea are 100% natural, or perhaps that the tea is organically grown.

Speaking of that, the ancient persons (from China) who originally came up with marketing dried leaves in your hot water as a beverage is a genius. Yeah, I know there are tea-people (just as there are wine-people, coffee-people etc.) who only insist on the finest teas and can easily tell the origin and quality of a single tea leaf, but that’s not me. I will do Lipton as likely as I’ll do Oolong Tea grown from a single mountain in Taiwan (not kidding, we have some of this at home).

Anyhow, to the tea itself. There are 8 tea bags or packets in each box and they contain a mix of organic green and black tea. The side proudly proclaims “No Carbs, No GMO’s (genetically modified organisms, no kidding) and Rich in Antioxidants, Calories 1″.

That is a good start I guess, but for Cheap Eats we care about price. Tea is pretty expensive especially when you’re talking about dried up leaves. But if you go with either bulk bagged stuff or hand scooped leaves from specialty tea shops (there are many near me) instead of packets like this, I think it comes out much cheaper. I probably wouldn’t splurge on a 3 pack gift box like this one, which will run you about $8.00 or so for 24 packets.

So I brewed up a batch of the Passionfruit Orange tea. Interestingly, these tea bags don’t have the handy string, so you basically have to fish it out with a spoon or something. I guess it’s cheaper not to include the string… and more environmentally friendly. Which seems to be big with them – from the back of the box:

Peace of mind also comes from knowing our tea is earth friendly. Conscientious organic cultivation preserves nature’s delicate balance sustaining fertile soil, protecting against erosion and optimizing water conservation. Our packaging is 100% biodegradable. Even our staple-free tea bags are designed to reduce bulk waste by up to 20% compared to other tea bags.

I admit, this tea is pretty darned good. Unlike herbal teas which blast you with sharper and sometimes tart flavors, this tastes pretty mellow which was nice for me since I like my tea lighter in taste. I’m not exactly sure I could detect the “orange” as much as the “passionfruit” notes like a true tea snob might.

Afterwards, I tried making up a batch of iced tea with this. I just put hot water and 3 tea bags in a big container, let it brew a bit, and then chilled it with tons of ice cubes. This was really good too. Sort of tastes like the “Paradise Iced Tea” that they serve in cafes. A note, it is weird how many people from states other than California (especially in the South) are not used to unsweetened tea. When you order tea where I live, it often doesn’t come sweet. How do you take your tea?

So Hawaiian Natural Tea wasn’t too bad, and since it was free for me this beverage scores…

Cheap Eats Score: 9/10 (if received as gift)
Cheap Eats Score: 5/10 (if you splurged at the store)