The Best Thing I Ate This Week: Crazy Fruit Tea

As a food editor, eating all kinds of things — both delicious and disastrous — is part of the job description. Not everything that goes into my mouth ends up in a review or article, but some things are just too good not to share.

Last week I headed to Mesa to try cheese tea at Boba Tree. The cheese tea was an experience I don't regret having, but I fell head-over-heels for another of their specialty drinks this week.

I should preface this by saying that I am not a juice person. After years spent in the Arabian Gulf, where the idea of forgoing a glass of super-sweet juice in favor of water was unthinkable madness in the mind of a host, I have had my fair share of fresh juice and juice cocktails. It is not something I willingly choose. But in the tremendous heat of the last few weeks, I've been feeling parched and there is only so much plain ol' water one can drink.

That may be why, despite my juice aversion, the massive, Big Gulp-sized cups in which fruit slices were suspended in an unknown liquid, caught my eye at Boba Tree. I asked about it and was informed that it was their "crazy fruit tea." It sounded sweet. But after the guys working at the counter insisted I try it, I gave in.
Turns out that the so-called "crazy fruit tea" is a delicate, iced jasmine tea served in an extra-large cup stuffed with fresh slices of pineapple, orange, kiwi, strawberry, and whatever else they have on hand, fruit-wise. Sweetened with just a touch of passion fruit juice, the tea is infused with a whisper of the flavor of the fruit bobbing inside. Best of all, it isn't sugary or all that sweet at all.

It was, hands-down, the most refreshing drink I've had all summer. The biggest perk was the fresh fruit, which became grabbable as I drank down the tea. The slices take on a bit of the green tea herbaciousness, and are about as refreshing as the drink itself.