Pure Leaf Tea – Refreshingly delicious for Summer and Year-round!

*I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Pure Leaf. I received product samples to facilitate my review and a promotional item as a thank you for participating.

It is HOT here. We are in the midst of a long heatwave (100+ for about 6 days!). I have been drinking my fair share of water, to keep hydrated, but water gets boring after awhile. It is also too hot to drink coffee in the afternoons, so I have been enjoying iced tea! Not only is it refreshing, but it tastes really, really good and completely quenches my thirst.

I was recently introduced to Pure Leaf Tea (the timing couldn’t have been better – seriously), and I am really loving it. I have tried so many iced teas over the years, and they are not all created equally. Some are very bitter,some too watery, and some simply lacking flavor, but I am very happy with Pure Leaf tea (and their convenient on-the-go bottles too!). Pardon the neck brace, and no makeup in the picture below, but I did recently have neck surgery!

What is so different about Pure Leaf Tea? Well for starters, they don’t contain any preservatives (love this!), and they use the freshest ingredients – their tea leaves are picked when they are perfect, and come from various places including South America, China, Africa and India. Oh and the leaves are hand picked! Now I see why this tea is so unique – lots and lots of care and quality goes into each bottle. In fact, Pure Leaf is Rainforest Alliance Certified™ for sourcing their tea sustainably!

And if you still need more to love, Pure Leaf uses sustainable packaging. Because of the square shape of the bottles, and the type of plastic (PET), they can fit more bottles per pallet, which means they are using less fuel during delivery. Neat, right? PET plastic is 100% recyclable, as well. I love companies that care about our environment as much as I do.

Pure Leaf is widely available (good news!), and comes in 18.5-oz. plastic single serve bottles ($1.66-$1.79 ARV) and 59-oz. plastic carafes ($2.49-$2.69 ARV)

I am delighted that Pure Leaf has so many tea flavors to choose from. I like to mix things up a bit, and trust me, this will never get boring. I received several varieties including Lemon, Unsweetened, Peach, Honey Green Tea and Sweet Tea.  It has been so fun to try a new flavor each day, especially after coming home from the hospital, I look forward to my refreshing, tasty beverage each afternoon.  I actually enjoyed my last bottle of Pure Leaf yesterday, but I added them on the grocery list, so I shouldn’t have to do without for long 🙂  Although I enjoyed every flavor, probably the Lemon was my favorite.  Lemon and tea just kind of go together, and Pure Leaf combination worked perfectly without overdoing it on the lemon (which also tasted fresh to me, not artificial).

And yet, even more to love – low calories! I can enjoy my iced tea without having to worry about pesky extra calories. Pure Leaf Teas range from only 45 to 100 calories per bottle (with the exception of the Extra Sweet Tea which has 110 calories – still not bad).  The Pure Leaf  Tea with Lemon, and with Raspberry are also available in diet – the diet teas have zero calories!

Here are descriptions of all of the flavors available, so you can pick the perfect Pure Leaf Tea(s) for your family!

• Not Too Sweet Peach Tea: A lighter version of the classic, the natural tangy-sweet flavor of peach mingles with the bold, refreshing taste of all-natural black tea leaves. (45 calories per 8-oz. serving)

• Not Too Sweet Honey Green Tea: The delicate flavors of green tea and honey pair perfectly together to make a light and refreshing iced tea. (45 calories per 8-oz. serving)

• Unsweetened Iced Tea: Hand-selected black tea leaves are freshly brewed in water until the drink achieves the perfect flavor. (0 calories per 8-oz. serving)

• Sweetened Iced Tea: Black tea leaves are hand-selected and brewed to create the finest tea flavor, which is sweetened with all-natural sugar. (70 calories per 8-oz. serving)

• Extra Sweet Iced Tea: Reminiscent of a Southern sweet tea, the all-natural sugar is the highlight of this drink. Bold in flavor, this iced tea strikes the palate with sweetness and black tea. (110 calories per 8-oz. serving)

• Iced Tea With Raspberry: A bold tart berry flavor meets the smooth character of black tea leaves. (80 calories per 8-oz. serving)

• Iced Tea With Peach: The natural tangy-sweet flavor of peach perfectly mingles with the bold, refreshing flavor of all-natural black tea leaves. (80 calories per 8-oz. serving)

• Iced Tea With Lemon: The natural flavor of lemon mingles perfectly with the traditional taste of fresh brewed black tea leaves. (70 calories per 8-oz. serving)

Pure Leaf has partnered with Ted Allen (from Chopped) to highlight some truly different and unique food & beverage pairings for just about any meal. Since Ted Allen loves entertaining (kind of like me!), he seems to be the perfect fit for creating some fun and delicious tea beverages.

After looking over the beverage recipes, I have decided that I just HAVE to make the Pomegranate Mar-tea-ni. Doesn’t this look refreshing?  I just might be serving this at our next Summer get-together!

Ted has some really helpful tips for your Summer festivities! One of my favorite tips is when you are hosting a party or BBQ, prepare the dishes that don’t require heating ahead of time. Pasta or potato salad is the perfect side dish that can be made ahead, which will allow you to spend more time with your guests! One fun idea that he suggests is a Labor Day party. Since this is typically the time of year when we are advised to put away the white clothes, how about throwing a White Party? Serve fun and festive foods that fit with this theme, such as White Beans, White beers, and maybe even white cupcakes with white frosting. The possibilities are endless! For other parties, you might serve different flavors of Pure Leaf Teas with a variety of different fruits. Let your guests have fun doing their own pairings!

I love that Pure Leaf Teas can be used in so many beverage recipes. Honestly, I never would have really thought about adding tea to my Summer drinks, but it makes perfect sense!

I hope you get the chance to pick up some refreshingly delicious Pure Leaf Tea for your friends and family…I believe you will enjoy them as much as I did!

Make sure you connect with Pure Leaf on Facebook to learn about new product offerings, promotions, recipes and more!