Wood You Rather?

AriZona Unveils Fine Oak-Aged Iced Tea

Some real vintage tea.
Some real vintage tea. Photo: Courtesy of AriZona Beverage Company

The folks at AriZona, fine beverage specialists that they are, will now try to fancify black tea for bodega-going “connoisseurs” by steeping it in American oak rather than, say, the easier route of just going 100 percent orange pekoe. It’s opted for wood chips over increasingly costly barrels, as many wineries do these days, though authorities as esteemed as Robert Parker regularly appreciate tea notes in oak-aged wines, so there’s that, only now those are tea notes also in tea. The Unsweetened, Lightly Sweetened, and Lemon flavors come in “one-of-a-kind” barrel bottles with “rivets” down the side, so it’s possible the container takes longer to make than its contents took to age. [Official release]

AriZona Unveils Fine Oak-Aged Iced Tea