This is the Lychee Longan Iced Tea ($7.80, +$1.00 for large; less ice, minimal sugar) from SoTea, featuring jasmine green tea with lychee and longan.
The beverage presented with a yellow hue, with darker opaque pieces of white lychee and brown longan concentrated at the base, giving way to lighter translucency towards the top.
Initial contact delivered floral jasmine green tea, which quickly developed through the mid-palate as pronounced bitterness and astringency emerged. The bitterness tasted as though the husk surrounding the longan or lychee seed had been blended into the beverage and leached into the tea itself. This persisted from mid-sip through to the finish, significantly affecting the overall drinking experience.
The lychee and longan pieces were sufficiently small to pass through the straw, with a smooth, puréed consistency suggesting they had been blended extensively. Adding sweetness helped mask some of the bitterness, but it remained present in the background through the finish.
Overall, an iced fruit tea with a rising bitter and astringent trajectory and finely puréed fruit texture, resulting in an otherwise accessible structure undermined by persistent bitterness.
This Lychee Longan Iced Tea was purchased from SoTea in Sydney, Australia in September 2026.