Any Dopers Drink Crystal Light Peach Iced Tea?

[jayjay]

I've been drinking Crystal Light Peach Iced Tea for at least five years now, and I love it. But! I think they changed the recipe recently, because I'm noticing that it tastes very different.

It's not just that my taste has changed...I've noticed the difference in the new larger canisters (the ones where one sleeve makes two quarts), but the smaller cannisters (1 sleeve=1 quart) still have the old flavor. I assume that there are more older small cannisters on the shelf and that the store just hasn't reached the point where they have to restock with new recipe smaller cannisters yet.

When I first discovered the difference, I thought maybe I just had mislabeled packaging, that they'd somehow accidentally sent peach packaging through some other flavor (the new flavor is much "thinner" (there doesn't seem to be as much depth to it) and tarter...I don't really like it anywhere near as much), but popping a second cannister and having it be the new flavor as well kind of put the kibosh on that.

So, am I going crazy? Or has anyone else noticed this?

[twickster]

Moved MPSIMS --> Cafe Society.

[Rushgeekgirl]

I drink it every day and I've noticed that it's weaker just in the past few weeks in the newer containers. I've been adding about a quarter less water. I thought it was just me!

Have you tried the canisters of Arizona peach tea powder? It tastes much more peachy and less sweet but it's about a buck more expensive so I usually settle for Crystal Light.

[Rushgeekgirl]

My SO just asked what was wrong with the tea too. He said it was sour and didn't taste like peach anymore. He thought I'd cheated and bought the generic brand.

[jayjay]

*sigh*

I was hoping there was just some mistake in that one production run. If this is the new recipe, I'm done drinking it. It really doesn't taste like peach (or tea!) at all any more.

[devilsknew]

I drink Wal-mart's Peach Iced Tea or Lemon Iced Tea. Sometimes enjoy walmart's bomb pop limeade. Their kiwi-orange-banana aid is pretty unique. Really superior pink lemonade.

[ecseas]

Lipton's iced tea is best, imo.

[cochrane]

I drink Wal-mart's Peach Iced Tea or Lemon Iced Tea. Sometimes enjoy walmart's bomb pop limeade. Their kiwi-orange-banana aid is pretty unique. Really superior pink lemonade.My pantry is stocked full of Wal-Mart drink mixes. I love the peach iced tea, as well as the straight peach flavor. And the orange-banana-strawberry flavor is da bomb.

[jayjay]

I asked if the recipe had changed on the Kraft message boards last night, and a moderator just answered it.

Hi jayjaybear,

I'm really sorry that you had that issue with our CRYSTAL LIGHT Peach Tea. I did some research and it doesn't looked like the product was reformulated recently. I'm going to pass your comments on to our product staff for their review. I really appriciate you taking the time to let us know!

So the semi-official answer is that they haven't reformulated. It's possible there was just a bad run. I'll let my fellow peach tea drinkers know if there's any follow-up.

[Rushgeekgirl]

That's really cool. I'm pitching mine because they're just that bad.
I'd considered writing to them myself, but honestly I'm just too damned lazy. :)

[Wallet]

I've been drinking Crystal Light Peach Iced Tea for at least five years now, and I love it. But! I think they changed the recipe recently, because I'm noticing that it tastes very different.


So strange - the last batch I made had a weird bitter taste to it. I thought I just hadn't rinsed the soap out of the container enough (to be honest, I actually thought it was because I had switched to Palmolive Oxi, and was used to the old taste of Dawn!)

-Wallet-

[amaguri]

I asked if the recipe had changed on the Kraft message boards last night, and a moderator just answered it.

So the semi-official answer is that they haven't reformulated. It's possible there was just a bad run. I'll let my fellow peach tea drinkers know if there's any follow-up.

I've noticed product changes for the worse in several brands and it seems to me they almost always deny they've made any changes. Once I noticed the list of ingredients was totally different and they still claimed it was the same formula... so I guess YMMV!

[jayjay]

If it helps any, I've found that the small canisters (where the individual sleeves make 1 qt.) aren't affected (yet). I can verify that any of those small canisters that have a sell-by date on the bottom on or before April 2012 are the old flavor.

[Lightnin']

Speaking of Crystal Light...

I like the stuff. No sugar, makes our crappy water taste better? Sign me up!

What I don't like, however, is that they apparently put tons of food coloring into their mixes. If you get that stuff on anything, even once it's diluted with water, you're never going to be able to wash it clean. I don't need anything neon-colored, thanks. I really wish they'd just stop artificially coloring their stuff.

[Rushgeekgirl]

Don't they have some sort of vitamin water type additive? I would have thought that would be clear. I see them in the store. They come in the water bottle size packets? I have no idea if they're clear though.