Drink of the Week: Twrl Milk Tea

During the summer, I could easily drink iced coffee all afternoon. But for the sake of my resting heart rate, I resist. And so I was intrigued when I stumbled upon the adorable cans of Twrl Milk Tea. While I would typically relegate a milk tea or boba tea to the “sweet treat” category, the Twrl Milk Tea strikes the perfect balance of lightly sweet, gently caffeinated, and 100-percent refreshing.

Launched by longtime friends Pauline Ang and Olivia Chen to replicate the milk teas they grew up loving, Twrl takes a decidedly modern approach. Ang and Chen source organic tea leaves directly from family farms in Japan and China, including black tea, roasted hojicha green tea, and jasmine pu’erh. The brewed teas are lightly sweetened with agave syrup. (Each flavor contains only 6 or 7 grams of sugar.) Ditching dairy, Twrl instead opts for pea milk for its lower sugar levels and small carbon footprint. The teas are canned with nitrogen to preserve freshness and lend a subtly creamy texture. The result is a remarkably fresh milk tea that lets the earthy, toasty, and floral flavors of the tea really shine. Iced coffee who? $44.95/12-pack, twrlmilktea.com