A review of Riddles alcoholic ice tea

That’s two new experiences today! I’m just back from Edinburgh’s Kiltwalk and appropriately shattered. One new experience. What could help bring me back to normality in time for the day job tomorrow? Time for new experience two in the shape of Riddles Lemon Ice Tea, lemon tea mixed with Tequila.

It’s as good and as refreshing as I had hoped! I had high hopes as when Riddles sent me a sample, I started with the Mango Ice Tea blended with Rum. That was delicious. In fact, I’ll call the rum and mango tea my favourite.

Disclaimer time! Also, a pairing! I didn’t pay for my two boozy (4%) cans of ice tea; Riddles provided both for free to review. Please, if you drink, drink responsibly.

Where can I get Riddles hard ice tea?

From this weekend, you can get Riddles exclusively at 103 Sainsbury’s supermarkets. Okay, you can buy online straight from Riddles, and it looks like something was available via Amazon previously, but there’s nothing there now.

Ha-ah! Can you get Riddles ice tea from any Sainsbury’s in Scotland? We’ve all had to deal with Scottish gotchas on offers before, right?

Short answer: yes! I can see five EH postcodes in the snippet Riddles’ agent sent me, and they are…

• Cameron Toll (EH16)
• Blackhall (EH4 2EB)
• Straiton (EH20)
• Murrayfield (EH11)
• Livingston (EH54)

I know! Livingston isn’t Edinburgh, but the EH postcode definition was working until then! I can also see AB, G, KA and ML postcodes in the Scottish list. There may be others.

What does Riddles ice tea taste like?

Dangerously, Riddles tastes of fruit, not tea, and certainly not booze. The Mango ice tea tastes like potent but delicate mangos, like the fruit was actually something fragile and carried carefully by swirling eddies of spring water. The lemon tea, a more familiar taste, isn’t bitter nor too sweet.

Both are more subtle than a screwdriver, though, as the orange in that highball is far stronger than either the mango or lemon. I suspect the hint of the booze in the Riddles is stronger than the clues of vodka in the screwdriver (at least, after the first!) but I’m resting temptation to buy orange juice and vodka to check!

In both cases, I’ll admit it: it’s a shame it’s a damp September weekend as these are summertime drinks! Bring a pack of these cans to a BBQ, beach or picnic, and you’ll be the Most Valuable Guest at the party.

Cocktails in a can for around 99 kcals? Count me in! I imagine you could put in a fancy glass, add some mint or a slice of lemon and level up the experience. I drank straight from the can. Hey, one had rum in it; that’s a pirate drink, and I’ve been catching up on One Piece.

If you don’t know the anime, now a Netflix hit as live-action, the hero is a friendly pirate. Luffy would probably prefer tea and a picnic to a fight, and that’s the Riddles vibe.

I should have used the high-tea iced-tea excuse to photograph the refreshing drink with the crumpets and scones it feels it should be drunk with. Once again, though, I failed and used a rumpled Riddles shirt and some team ER wall art as backdrops instead.

Nigerian Moringa tea

As it happens, all these images of pirate rum and English high tea aren’t that suitable for Riddles.

Charlie Odunukwe, the brain behind the blend, is a London-based and Lago-born entrepreneur. Riddles is Nigerian.

Riddles describes itself as a pre-mixed alcoholic moringa tea. Wikipedia has several suggested tree matches, and Morgina is a genus of tree families, 13 in total, and most used in herbalism and health goods.

Riddles calls the morgina tree a superhero of plants and talks about amino acids, proteins, vitamins and minerals while suggesting it helps nourish skin, hair, and reduce high blood pressure.

Hmm. The can cites 0% dietary protein, which is a shame. I’m not giving you health advice; I don’t think Riddles should be doing either, but WebMD does list Moringa, debunking some of the health claims (asthma, diabetes) but confirms the plant’s role as an antioxidant and gives it a ‘might’ rating for reducing inflammation.

It helps that Sainsbury’s are on board. Riddles is part of the Thrive with Sainsbury’s project which helps support Black founder-led food and drink brands. It’s clearly working here as Riddles is very tasty, thank you, and I’ve tried two new blends and discovered morgina.

In my press pack, Charlie Odunukwe, Founder of Riddles, said;

It was during my 2016 trip home to Nigeria that my mother passionately declared, “Charlie, moringa is the answer, I consume it daily. It is the future”. This got me thinking about how little was known about the moringa tea plant, often referred to as the “miracle tree”, outside of Nigeria and I decided it was time to change the face of ice tea forever.”

Silika Shellie-Manso, Director of Innovation for Grocery at Sainsbury’s stated;

We’re thrilled to be exclusively launching Riddles Ice Tea in Sainsbury’s. The brand has come a long way since completing the Thrive with Sainsbury’s programme and we’re so excited for them to start their journey with us. Innovation and inclusion is at the heart of what we offer to our customers and Riddles – as the first alcoholic ice tea drink to hit supermarket shelves – is both a new and exciting product, from a new and exciting founder!”

Overall

I like Riddles Lemon Ice Tea and Riddles Mango Ice Tea. At about £2 a can, I’d happily buy either if I was going out to a party or some such occasion.

I don’t drink very often these days, and Riddles feels both safely subtle and special case, but because reaching for the booze isn’t a regular task for me, I don’t think Riddles will make it onto the regular shopping list.

99 calories is a blessing; protein would have been too good to believe, and the important summary is that I’m happy to recommend you scan the drink shelves for the cans on your next Sainsbury’s trip.

Disclaimer: My two cans of Riddles were given for free and for review.