17258 Tasting Notes
Gonna be honest, out of Liquid Death’s iced tea line this is the flavour that I really expected not to like since it’s essentially just a straight green tea. However, I actually liked it quite a bit! Though I would not describe the flavour as bold or “intense” I do think it was stronger than Dead Billionaire which was kind of shocking to me. The sweetness level was very gentle and natural and I thought it provided a very nice natural lift to the fresh, grassier notes of the green tea. There was also a very subtle citrus-y fruit note to the undertones. Very clean, crisp and enjoyable. If it wasn’t such a hassle getting my hands on Liquid Death products here in Canada I would almost certainly buy this again.
I absolutely love Liquid Death as a brand – I think the can designs are incredible, and the market strategy impeccably executed. They’re one of a handful of RTD brands that I follow very, very closely…
They’re also REALLY challenging to find here in Canada, so whenever I’m in the US (like when I was in Vegas for WTE) I try to always get my hands on their new products. A little while back they put out a line of iced teas, and I have been DYING to get my hands on them. I nearly lost my shit when I went to one of the import stores I love (they mostly sell “exotic” candies imported from different part of the world) and they’d just brought in a shipment of all the teas. I of course bought one of each flavour…
I’m starting with this one because I just think the story here is so interesting even though the flavour is very classic. Basically, this is Liquid Death’s version of an Arnold Palmer (50/50 iced black tea and lemonade). Originally it was called Armless Palmer, but the Arnold Palmer estate sent Liquid Death a cease and desist for using the name so they renamed it to Dead Billionaire. Love it. It’s so on brand, and also a nice middle finger. In my opinion a drink name like Arnold Palmer has become so commercially recognized and iconic that it’s grown past the person it was named after. Like, when you can walk into a random cafe in the middle of any rural OR highly suburban city and see an Arnold Palmer on the drink menu then the name belongs to the people now. It would be like trying to restrict usage of a drink name like a Shirley Temple…
Anyway! As for the tea… I was surprised how mild the flavour was!? It’s not that I expected the taste to be intense because, despite their branding, that’s not really Liquid Death’s MO. But it was very thin tasting and a little more like a mildly lemon flavoured water than an actual tea. I found it refreshing, and I definitely appreciated that it wasn’t at all sweet but I just wanted a bit more intensity. Sadly, I think it’s one of the less memorable tasting products I’ve had from Liquid Death even if I’m obsessed with the name/story.
The last time I ordered groceries for delivery I noticed several new tea related RTDs on the app I use – I had added one of each new flavour into my cart but I guess my shopper couldn’t find them because instead of three different RTDs he gave me three of this specific flavour of Brisk…
That’s unfortunate because, as it turns out, I don’t like this flavour. I think it’s by far the most sweet and candy-like Brisk tea I’ve ever had and, like, I have a pretty high tolerance for sweet drinks but this was like drinking strawberry cocktail syrup to me. Very, very cloying and not at all tea-like in any account. I’m sure there’s a customer for it, but it’s not me.
…and now I have two more cans to drink through.
I feel like Brisk has had a lot of new flavours lately but maybe that’s just me? Or maybe the passage of time is sneaking by faster than I’d care to admit…
Honestly, I really like this one. Like pretty much all Brisk drinks it’s fairly sweet and a little more like a juice than a tea – but I do think this was more restrained than other Brisk flavours I’ve had as of late (looking at you, Strawberry). It also has that deeper and almost more red fruit-like note that I feel like I associate specifically with Blood Orange so bonus points for accuracy to namesake in my opinion.
Would consider buying this again, though there are 100% many more RTD options out there that are more tea forward.
Cold Brew!
Trying this one tonight while I work on catching up on tasting notes. I love banana teas so much so when I was placing my order this was top of the list out of the newer blends for me to add – even with the green tea and chamomile inclusions.
The dry leaf smelled very good – super intense and sweet banana in that way that rides the line of banana taffy and the delicious banana flavoured medicine you’d get as a kid. For sure not for everyone, but it had me salivating!
The cold brew is… interesting. It does start off with that banana medicine sort of flavour albeit a lot less sweet than you’d think it would be, and there’s even an undertone that’s a bit chocolate-like. However, the finish is, like, actually medicinal. Not in the fun penicillin way, but in the more bitter and unpleasant.It’s not as bad as it could be (I’m drinking through it), but I wonder how much of that is because this is a cold brew and this style of brewing tends to really scale back bitterness and astringency. I also really hate the inclusion of chamomile. In general I feel like it’s a dumb ingredient to add to caffeinated teas, but it’s musty floral note also isn’t helping with this finishing flavour IMO…
I think I need to try this again hot to really decide how I feel. As of right now, it’s not living up to my expectations but I have this sneaking suspicion it might be one of those teas with a learning curve where you have to get your brewing just right.
Drinking a mug of this currently and it’s… okay? To be fair I am drinking it lukewarm since I got distracted by writing other tasting notes and kind of forgot that I’d brewed this up, so maybe it would be better if it was hotter. However, the peach and mango combination is giving me really strong feelings of deja vu and I’m not exactly sure why. They’re a little bit creamy in nature, but also have a slight floral undertone and a bit of an overall “artificial” taste. I think it’s the floral and artificial combo that’s not landing for me. Not half bad, but nothing to write home over either – and I’d probably reach for a lot of other peach or mango teas over this one.
Cold Brew!
This was pretty good! Light to medium bodied and fairly white tea forward, but with a refreshing and mild addition of different fruits. It’s supposed to be blueberry and starfruit which I think is so clever for an R2-D2 inspired blend. I mean, the starfruit pun is just inspired! I do taste the blueberry here, and it obviously works really well – the white tea and blueberry pairing is borderline classic at this point. The starfruit kind of just adds a very light and more ethereal “tropical” undertone though – it’s not strong or distinct enough to really read as anything specific to me. However, I enjoyed that it gave this otherwise very predictable combo a bit of its own little flair and twist.
Made myself a GIANT mug of this because I was so confident from the dry leaf aroma that I was going to love this tea. I was right, and really it was actually the raspberry note in the blend that sold it for me. Very jammy and cooked down in a way that evoked lots of memories of different raspberry pastry fillings or even the jelly in a raspberry jelly filled donut. The chocolate notes were very ganache-like, and had a decadence to them without needing to be super heavy and cloying. I liked that it was raspberry and chocolate without cream, as well! I think not having that note to smooth everything out only added to the richness – especially since there wasn’t much high note sweetness either.
Steeped this up last night! I noticed I got quite a lot of cardamom in my scoop, and this was reflected in the taste as well which was highly aromatic with that beautiful spice note. It was really complimentary with the maple, which came through at the perfect sweetness level with that amber sort of feeling richness. Not as much “nut” in this brew, but it was delicious nonetheless.
Sipdown (2611)!
Drank this last night before heading to bed. As far as chamomile forward blends go I do think this was on the more palatable side, since that’s a flavour I’m not a fan of and also a bit more sensitive to because of that. The vanilla and honey notes helped a lot. I definitely tasted more honey than vanilla and the aftertaste was a little cloying to me, but overall not half bad. Definitely a complimentary note!
