Which Twisted Tea Flavor Is the Best? I Tried All 13 to Find Out

The boozy beverage aisle has more options than ever before. The shelves hold classic options, like beer and canned wine, plus trendy spiked seltzers that are popular for packing an alcoholic punch while remaining light and refreshing. But there’s another canned beverage staple that has been around for decades that fits that description while innovating and adding new flavors all the time: Twisted Tea.

While most are familiar with the beverage’s real iced tea flavor, the brand is following the lead of other canned cocktail companies and offering its signature alcoholic iced tea in fresh new flavors. From tropical options, like pineapple and a spicy mango variety, to light versions with fewer calories than the original, everyone can find a favorite Twisted Tea to try.

If you think you might think you have four or five flavors from which to choose, but you might be surprised to learn that at the moment there are 13 (!) different kinds. That was a surprise to me, too, so I did what any enterprising food writer would do and gathered up all of the options and did a semi-scientific taste test to find the best Twisted Tea flavor.

Whether you’re sipping some on the porch with pals, loading up the cooler for a game-day tailgate or just chilling at home on a Saturday afternoon, there’s a Twisted Tea flavor for you. Here’s what I found when I sipped my way through the spiked tea line.

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What Is Twisted Tea?

Twisted Tea is an alcoholic iced tea drink that first hit the shelves back in 2001. The brand, which is part of the Boston Beer Company, shares an owner with other popular drinks, including Truly, Samuel Adams and Angry Orchard. But even among other brands in the same portfolio, Twisted Tea stands out for its unique formula. Brewed like real iced tea and then combined with malt-based alcohol, it’s a 5% ABV drink that’s as delicious on summer days out in the sun at a barbecue or pool party as it is at home watching football.

Twisted Tea once only offered a black tea flavor with a hint of lemon, but the brand has expanded to offer flavors like raspberry, mango and peach. In addition to new flavor profiles, the brand has also added a light version with less added sugar and 110 calories and “extreme” cans that pack in more booze.

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How I Tested These Twisted Teas

Once I gathered all the different flavors of Twisted Tea, it looked like I was ready to host an epic party. But in reality, I had work to do. The first step was chilling all of the cans in my refrigerator because nobody wants to drink a room-temperature spiked iced tea.

Once all the drinks were cold, I lined up all of the cans, got out my notebook and began sipping each flavor. I started with the classics—original, half and half, lemon—before moving into some of the more inventive flavors. Some of the Twisted Tea offerings come in both regular and light varieties, so I tested those side by side to really compare the flavor differences.

I wasn’t sure if Twisted Tea would be able to replicate the spicy and sweet flavor of mango with tangy chamoy for its mangonada flavor or if the smooth mouthfeel of crisp iced tea would come through when paired with flavors like raspberry and black cherry. Read on to find out what I thought of Twisted Tea’s slate of flavors.

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13 Twisted Tea Flavors, Ranked Worst to Best

13. Twisted Tea Light Peach

It can be difficult to nail a light beverage—and unfortunately, I was disappointed with the lower-calorie versions of Twisted Tea’s flavors. With artificial sweeteners added and a lower 4% ABV, these beverages had a synthetic sweetness that was tough to overlook and the mouthfeel of the tea fell flat compared to their higher alcohol counterparts. I found the peach flavor tasted the most sickly sweet.

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12. Twisted Tea Light Raspberry

The light raspberry flavor also had an off taste. While I enjoyed the regular raspberry can (more on that later), the light version was too watery and didn’t pack in enough raspberry flavor for me.

11. Twisted Tea Light Half and Half

A half lemonade, half iced tea drink is one of my favorite non-alcoholic drinks. It’s a lunchtime go-to, so I was excited to try it in its alcoholic form here. Unfortunately, the light version was extremely watery, and I missed the sweet kick of the lemonade to balance out the earthy flavor of the tea.

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10. Twisted Tea Light Lemon

Compared to all the other light flavors, the lemon variety came out on top. Lemon is tart as a baseline, so perhaps that’s why the sweeteners weren’t overpowering here. I appreciated that the lemon flavor came through, but I also felt that the tea notes got lost in the drink and didn’t stand out as well as they did in the regular lemon version.

9. Twisted Tea Mangonado

Mangonado was hands down the flavor I was most excited to try. Inspired by the traditional Mexican treat, I wondered how sweet mango flavor and spicy chamoy would pair with the rich flavor of spiked iced tea. It turned out that I was right about this being a difficult balance to achieve. I felt the drink lacked the spiciness I was expecting, and the lime flavor that was advertised on the can was undetectable.

8. Twisted Tea Pineapple

I love pineapple, but pineapple-flavored items can trend in the candy direction very easily, and that’s what I found in the Twisted Tea pineapple flavor. Those who love pineapple gummies or other artificially flavored pineapple treats may love it, but I felt this can didn’t have the authentic sweetness I wanted.

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7. Twisted Tea Mango

The mango flavor of Twisted Tea was also very sugary. While I didn’t taste strong mango flavors, this flavor was vaguely fruity in a way that was enjoyable. My main note for the mango variety was that I couldn’t taste the tea as much amid the fruity punch of flavor and overwhelming sweetness.

6. Twisted Tea Raspberry

When it comes to spiked seltzers, my favorite flavors are raspberry and black cherry. There’s something about the berry-forward sweetness that just works when you’re day drinking. The raspberry Twisted Tea was no exception. I enjoyed the raspberry flavor, but it did trend on the more syrupy side compared to other raspberry-flavored alcohol I’ve had over the years.

5. Twisted Tea Peach

Peach and tea go together beautifully, so I was excited to crack open my can of peach Twisted Tea. I’m happy to report that this one was enjoyable. Do beware that peach-flavored items can be polarizing, though. Some people love the ultra-strong flavor of peach alongside sweet iced tea, while others can find it cloying and too intense. If you fall into the latter camp, you may not fall in love with this drink. But peach tea fans will definitely want to grab this flavor.

4. Twisted Tea Black Cherry

As I mentioned before, black cherry is a favorite of mine when it comes to fruit-flavored alcoholic drinks. I enjoyed Twisted Tea’s take on this popular flavor, but I did feel some of the tea flavor was masked by the intense tartness and slight bitterness of black cherry.

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3. Twisted Tea Extreme Lemon

Twisted Tea also offers an extreme lemon flavor that dials up the alcohol content of its most classic fruit flavor. At 8% ABV, the extreme can has double the ABV of Twisted Tea’s light flavors and 3% more alcohol than the standard. This is clearly denoted with a black stamp on the label and lightning bolts through the “X.” Maybe I was swayed by the warning label-style exterior, but I did feel like this one tasted boozier than the others. Even with that extra punch, the lemon flavor was nice and subtle paired with the brand’s signature black tea.

2. Twisted Tea Original

Before this taste test, I hadn’t had Twisted Tea’s original flavor in a handful of years. It was a welcome surprise that the classic flavor still holds up. I found the original to be a refreshing drink with a lot of nice lemon flavor to cut through the richness of the black tea. I couldn’t imagine finishing some of these flavors because they were cloyingly sweet and unbalanced, but the Twisted Tea original had a nice combination of sweetness and richness with a refreshing dose of acidity that I’d be happy to drink all afternoon.

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1. Twisted Tea Half and Half

It was not a surprise that the half and half came out on top. The combination of lemonade and iced tea is hard to beat, so Twisted Tea’s version that adds alcohol to the party makes it even better. The brand did an excellent job of packing in lemonade flavor without veering into candy-like sweetness, and there’s still a bit of pucker-inducing lemon to stand up to the tea. Many of the stronger Twisted Tea flavors seemed to mask the iced tea flavor that makes the brand so beloved—but the half and half version toes the line perfectly so you really do taste half lemonade, half tea, and lots of delicious flavor.

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