Hoplark Sparkling HopTea – the Citra Bomb One

Hoplark, from Boulder, Colorado, makes a lot of different hop beverages, both hop tea and hop water—regular flavors and limited editions—look at their website, it’s almost overwhelming. I bet there are some real fanatics who try them all—and I love the idea of seasonal and limited releases. The HopTeas I’ve seen come in these bold, 16-ounce cans with really busy, intense, flat-color, and grey, can art—a lot of graphics and text on it—fairly overboard, really—but you wish it was a 20-ouncer, or bigger. This one is made from white peony tea and Citra hops—which, I guess, is hops with floral and citrus flavor, just like it sounds. I suppose it is citrusy, but it’s mostly hoppy, and delicious. The color is a pale, pale green—lovely. I want to drink only this, in life, give up all the rest of it. Well, not really… but I do wish I could afford to have this around all the time. I’m thinking of moving to Boulder, so maybe you can get it cheaper there… or maybe my ship will come in or something, or I’ll plan a big heist of their warehouse. It’s the wild west, right? I’ve had white peony tea before—and it was delicious, but really subtle—but I kind of forgot about it. I don’t know if anyone makes bottled, cold, white tea, but probably. One thing I do know—I never really made a point of thinking about this—that bottled, sweetened green tea is really gross. Fuck that shit. Green tea (and probably white tea) should never be sweetened. The combo of this white peony tea and hops, specifically these Citra hops—they really hit a home run with this one, and they know it. It’s an excellent drink. Not too subtle with the hops, just enough. This stuff isn’t cheap—really kind of pricy—but seems like it should cost more—it’s actually worth it. Maybe it is cheap for something truly gourmet.

9.21.23