I Got an Early Taste of Sun Cruiser’s White Tea Variety Pack and It’s Good

At a time when it seems like most things in our society are moving in the wrong direction, one good thing is quietly happening: More and more brands are releasing more and more non carbonated, ready-to-drink alcoholic beverages. Finally! If you have a sensitive stomach and can’t slam a bunch of bubbles without getting an upset stomach, brands like Sun Cruiser and Surfside are here for you. The former, a brand known for both flavored hard teas and flavored hard lemonades in skinny cans, just released something totally new: a variety pack of uncarbonated hard teas made with white tea rather than the usual black tea or green tea.

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What is white tea?

Good q! According to Twinings, it’s actually made from the same plant as black, green, and oolong teas, but the leaves are picked and dried early, before they have a chance to oxidize. It has a more delicate flavor and it usually contains less caffeine.

Can white tea stand up to vodka in premixed canned drink? Is Sun Cruiser’s White Tea + Vodka variety pack worthy of your summer cooler? I tried all four flavors to find out.

New Product!

Sun Cruiser White Tea + Vodka

Pros: The 8-can variety pack comes with two cans of each of the four flavors: Peach White Tea, Berry Hibiscus White Tea, Passionfruit White Tea, and Blackberry White Tea. They’re all good, but I was partial to the Berry Hibiscus and Blackberry. They’re milder flavor profiles, so you can still taste the white tea; the peach and passionfruit are much stronger and they sort of overpower the mild tea flavor. Still, all of these disappeared from our fridge FAST. My favorite thing about Sun Cruiser’s drinks is that beneath the fun flavors, you can still detect vodka on the finish. It’s subtle, but there’s a really fresh, clean bitterness that makes these better than malt drinks, in my opinion. Plus, you’re looking at only 100 cals a can and 4.5% ABV.

Cons: Well, unless you’re a professional food taste tester with access to kind PR people, you can only get Sun Cruiser’s White Tea + Vodka drinks in Ohio, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Delaware, New Jersey, Florida, and Rhode Island at the moment. Everyone deserves to be able to try these sooner than later.

Credit: Liv Averett / Total Wine

Rating:

8/10

Sporks

About the Author

Howdy! I’m Gwynedd, Sporked’s managing editor. I live in Los Angeles and have access to the best tacos the U.S. has to offer—but I’m a sucker for a crunchy Old El Paso taco night every now and then. I’ve been at Sporked since 2022 and I’m still searching frozen mozzarella sticks that can hold a candle to restaurant sticks. Why you should trust me: I’ve been a journalist for 20 years (yikes), a consumer of food for 40-plus years, and I’m truly hard pressed to think of foods I don’t like (or that I can’t tolerate at the very least). Oh and one time I cooked my way through Guy Fieri’s cookbook and wrote about the journey through Flavortown. What I buy every week: Trader Joe’s Original Savory Thins. Fat free plain yogurt (usually Fage or Nancy’s). Honeycrisp apples. Sweet cream coffee creamer for my at-home Americanos. A frozen cauliflower crust pizza and some jarred mushrooms to top it with. Old El Paso Stand ‘N Stuff taco shells and Gardein Ground Be’f, even though I think “be’f” is a nightmarish contraction. Favorite ranking: Stouffer’s frozen dinners. I don’t own a microwave (I get my cancers the old fashioned way!), so I love taste testing things that I don’t really buy to eat at home. Least favorite ranking: Soy sauce. Don’t get me wrong, I love soy sauce—but consuming that much sodium in one sitting is probably illegal in some countries. Our frozen enchilada taste test was a close second; the smell of microwaved corn tortillas still haunts me.