Hello fellow iced tea enthusiasts and welcome to Spilling the Tea, a weekly blog where I, Antonio Carrero, iced tea fanatic and severely biased Brisk addict, will be rating various iced tea brands. In order to judge these iced teas several ground rules need to be set. To determine which flavor I will use for each brand, I will generally base it off of which flavor is most popular, for example, Brian’s easily biggest flavor is the classic yellow and blue colored lemon flavor. To see how good these iced teas can be, I will judge the best of what each brand has to offer, not what they offer in a specific category. This will hopefully make for a better tasting experience for me and will hopefully also make for a better reading experience. Beyond choosing the flavor, we need some criteria by which I will rate these iced teas. 

The first is the appearance of the container. Before one even opens the drink an opinion can be formed regarding how it might taste, so this part is more important than a naive individual might assume. 

After that is the smell. When the drink is first opened, a smell might start to flood out, pleasant or unpleasant, and this, like the visuals, can form an opinion long before the drink touches your lips.

Finally we have reached the taste, I doubt there is a need to explain why this category is important, so I will instead point out this category is worth double points for the overall ranking of iced tea. 

After the all important taste is how refreshed I feel after drinking it. Did I feel comfortable drinking it? Do I almost feel more tired or unsatisfied after drinking it? This rating partially goes hand in hand with taste but will distinguish itself over time. 

As for the final category, to the actual drink this is not relevant. I like to recycle anything I have when possible, and a part of this is crushing or otherwise reducing the size of the container the drink was in so it fits better into the recycling bin. This final rating simply rates how convenient and fun it was to do this. A bit of a joke category however all the same one I will be evaluating. 

Enough rambling, as the title indicates, this first week will be rating the Lemon flavored Brisk Iced Tea can. As stated I am very much biased toward this drink in particular, but we will move on through the ratings.

Appearance 10/10

I find this can’s appearance to be quite appealing. The yellow and blue color scheme of a very vibrant and graffiti like design makes it quite interesting to look at and establishes the brand of Brisk as something that is fun to drink. Easy 10/10

Smell 8/10

Brisk does not seem to have the strongest scent out of every iced tea, by no means unpleasant, it simply is a rather weak and underwhelming scent that just reminds me of the glorious drink I am about to experience, making it an 8/10 

Taste 20/20

I think this seemed rather obvious from the introduction, but I love Brisk Iced Tea. The lemon flavor is amazing and has zero flaws. If I had to give an anecdote to describe it, it is talking to your friends late at night right at the start of quarantine when there was no stress or fear of missing your friends. It simply felt like summer break during school. Playing video games, or reading a good book, or watching a good movie or show and being unable to stop smiling, to the point of pain in your mouth from it. Joy beyond what one can truly describe. Brisk, or maybe it should be called bliss? That is why I rate this a 20/20.

Refreshingness 10/10

Brisk goes down very easily and has an amazing mouth feel. I always feel extremely refreshed and am left wishing for more after I finish my drink. Glad that I did choose to drink it, sometimes maybe too much so, as I end up having to reach for another because I enjoyed it too much. 

Recyclability 10/10

Cans like the 12 fluid ounce one I chose to drink for this are always very convenient and fun to recycle, crushing the can for me is a vital part of drinking a brisk and tossing it into the recycling bin I have can become a game due to its material that makes it fly through the air well and make a satisfying crashing sound upon landing. I may not be Steph Curry but damn do I feel like it when I sink a brisk in my first try.