Snapple, a ready-to-drink tea beverage, is bottled by the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group. According to the Snapple website, its beverages are made from the best ingredients available. Snapple's name comes from a carbonated apple beverage from the company's original product line.
Snapple green tea beverages come in two flavors, green tea and peach, and in regular and diet versions.
Green Tea
Snapple green tea ready-to-drink iced tea beverages start with green tea. Green tea, made from the camellia sinensis plant, contains several antioxidants and an amino acid, which are beneficial for good health. The camellia sinensis plant leaves are cut and steamed. The leaves are not roasted as they are to make black tea. The drying and steaming create a smooth and mild taste.
Snapple uses a green tea concentrate in its green tea beverages. First, hot water or another liquid is passed through the green tea leaves. The tea does not steep in the water like when you're brewing a cup at home. The liquid passes through, producing a green tea extract without any bitterness. Once the extract process completes, all excess tea leaf material and particles are removed to become the concentrate. This process produces a light colored liquid.
Snapple uses the green tea concentrate and adds additional green tea extract. Both are combined with filtered water to provide the base liquid for Snapple's green tea beverages. Natural flavorings, sugar and ascorbic acid are included in the original green beverage from Snapple. Citric acid is added as a preservative and provides a citrus flavor.
Peach Green Tea
Snapple's other green tea ready-to-drink beverage is peach green tea. The first ingredients are the green tea mixture and filtered water used to make all the Snapple green tea beverages. The peach tea differs in the sweeteners, number of preservatives and flavorings added. Peach green tea is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar and contains natural peach flavoring.
Several preservatives are added to the peach green tea. Sodium hexametaphosphate and calcium sodium EDTA protect the flavor. Freshness is preserved with sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate.
Diet Versions
Snapple offers diet versions of both the green tea and peach green tea. Green tea is low in calories naturally, so the ingredients do not change much in the diet variety.
Sucralose, also known as Splenda, and acesulfame potassium, another artificial sweetener, along with sugar are ingredients in the diet green tea. Sucralose and aspartame are the sweeteners in the diet peach green tea.
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