We tested 36 tea/lemonade Arnold Palmer combinations. This was the best

Remember that ESPN industrial for SportsCenter years in the past, the one with Arnold Palmer? Palmer and his caddie are in the broadcast firm’s cafeteria. Arnie stops at the lemonade and iced tea dispensers; grabs a glass; then pours a little bit of the tea, a bit extra lemonade, and finishes it off with one other splash of tea.

Scott Van Pelt and the late Stuart Scott — each carrying trays — are in line behind The King, and as Palmer and his caddie stroll away, Van Pelt whispers, “that was awesome.”

“I know,” Scott whispers again.

It was an excellent TV spot — virtually all of these SportsCenter adverts had been — and it lately received me considering: What is the best Arnold Palmer recipe? Is it a 2-to-1 ratio as that ESPN industrial prompt? Or does the basic golf clubhouse beverage work higher as an equal mix of iced tea and lemonade? And what about the iced tea and lemonade themselves? Surely, some teas and a few lemonades will work higher collectively than others.

There was just one method to discover out, I surmised, so I ran out to the retailer and acquired six bottles of iced tea and 6 bottles of lemonade, focusing solely on merchandise which might be more likely to be accessible nationwide. For teas, I purchased Arizona Sweet Tea, Arizona Just Tea, Pure Leaf Sweet, Pure Leaf Unsweetened, Gold Peak Sweet and Gold Peak Unsweetened. On the lemonade aspect, I grabbed bottles of Calypso Original Lemonade, Nantucket Nectars Squeezed Lemonade, Dole Lemonade, Minute Maid Lemonade, Tropicana Lively Lemonade and Simply Lemonade.

With the dozen bottles staring again at me from the countertop of my kitchen island, all that was left to do was begin mixing. In an try and make this experiment extra approachable, I carried out the style take a look at in six batches utilizing the tea as a continuing, which allowed me to whittle the subject of 36 whole candidates down to 6 finalists. But earlier than I reveal the prime six, it’s price sharing a handful of observations (a few of which can be apparent):

— In virtually all instances, a 2-to-1 ratio of tea to lemonade produced higher outcomes. This is very true for pairings with sweetened tea.

— The general high quality of some mixtures was simply predictable based mostly on the general high quality of the particular person merchandise, significantly the lemonade. Not surprisingly, lemonades crafted from a miniscule quantity of pure elements — we’re taking a look at you, Dole and Minute Maid, along with your 3% juice — produced mediocre outcomes each time.

— In a number of cases, the taste of the tea in sweetened examples got here by means of extra powerfully than it did of their unsweetened counterparts. The problem then was discovering the proper lemonade to pair with these teas (and the applicable quantity of it) in order that the ensuing drink didn’t style as if it was concocted by Buddy the Elf.

— A 2-to-1 ratio of Gold Peak Sweet Tea and Tropicana Lively Lemonade produced a scrumptious drink — it simply didn’t style like an Arnold Palmer. If you’ll be able to think about a pineapple-flavored gummy bear in liquid type, that’s just about what you get. If that feels like your jam, now you realize.

Without additional ado, right here’s the prime six:

sixth Place: Pure Leaf Unsweetened + Nantucket Nectars Squeezed Lemonade (2-to-1 ratio)

There’s a sharpness to the Nantucket Nectars lemonade that typically didn’t work most often, besides that with this explicit pairing it supplies a pleasant distinction to the spherical and easy notes of the unsweet tea.

fifth Place: Arizona Sweet Tea + Simply Lemonade (2-to-1 ratio)

You might argue that this pairing produces one thing that tastes extra like candy, lemon-flavored tea, versus a lemonade-tea mix, nevertheless it’s the best mixture that includes Arizona’s candy tea, and it delivers sincere citrus notes with the obligatory acidity.

4th Place: Arizona Just Tea + Tropicana Lively Lemonade (1-to-1 ratio)

The average sweetness of this lemonade doesn’t overpower the taste of the tea. Because of that, these two drinks play best collectively in equal measure, the place vivid lemon notes shine and the tea smooths out a lot of the lemonade’s inherent tartness.

third Place: Gold Peak Unsweet + Simply Lemonade (2-to-1 ratio)

As this pairing warms up, the tea and lemonade flavors repeatedly mingle — the tea takes heart stage one second, whereas citrus shines the subsequent. Unfortunately, that interaction is minimized when this combo is ice chilly, which is a disgrace solely as a result of an Arnold Palmer is best loved correctly chilled. 

Runner-up: Gold Peak Sweet Tea + Simply Lemonade (2-to-1 ratio)

There’s a lot tartness to this lemonade that it wants a foil to not be overpowering, and the sweetness from the Gold Sweet Tea does simply that. The mixture of the two is one the place the particular person flavors of each beverage meet harmoniously in the center.

Winner: Pure Leaf Sweet + Simply Lemonade (2-to-1 ratio)

Much like the Simply Lemonade pairing with the Gold Peak Sweet Tea described above, this mix delivers simply what you’d count on from an Arnold Palmer. The sweetness from the tea and the vivid notes from the lemonade play nicely collectively, and with a 2-to-1 ratio, the style of tea comes again on the end. More considerably, that tea taste shines on the entrance finish only a bit greater than the Gold Peak Sweet Tea does, which is what in the end offers this pairing the edge. [Buy the combo here and here.]

Shaun Tolson is a contract author based mostly in Rhode Island. When it involves golf, he covers all the pieces from structure, course opinions, and journey, to gear, devices and equipment, and have profiles. As a way of life author, his experience is rooted in the finer issues in life — wine and spirits, luxurious cars, personal aviation, lodges & resorts, high quality eating, and extra.