Beverage of the Week: Spindrift's teas are fine. Except one, which is a waking nightmare

Welcome back to FTW’s Beverage of the Week series. Here, we mostly chronicle and review beers, but happily expand that scope to any beverage that pairs well with sports. Yes, even cookie dough whiskey.

I’m not a seltzer guy. But I am a tea guy, so when Spindrift expanded its lineup of bubbly, fruit-flavored drinks, I perked up. Sure, the idea of a carbonated iced tea was weird, but Spindrift is the brand that saw La Croix’s complete lack of flavor and decided to do something about it. This gave me some hope — and led me to give it a try.

It turns out, yep, it’s still mostly a seltzer experience. The bubbles are dense and there’s never a doubt you’re drinking a sparkling water. But the tea is there as well and the flavor is powerful enough to stand out.

That works … unless it all falls apart. So read on to figure out which flavors are solid and which feels like one of those trick Jelly Belly flavors your friends hand out in an effort to convince you to stop spending time with them.