Supermarket Black Tea
Published April 1, 2016.
Which black tea you should buy depends on how you take it—plain or with milk and sugar.
Supermarket Whipped Toppings
Published April 1, 2016.
Are supermarket whipped toppings any good?
Mexican Lagers
Published January 1, 2015.
We sampled the four best-selling imported Mexican lagers plain and cooked in drunken beans.
Hard Apple Cider
Published October 1, 2014.
We tasted four nationally available hard ciders both plain and cooked in recipes.
Grapefruit Juice
Published August 1, 2014.
Grapefruit juice runs the gamut in terms of tartness and sweetness. We put five nationally available brands to the test to see if we could find a well-balanced juice.
Lemonade
Published June 1, 2014.
A small brand squeezes past the big names.
Orange Juice
Published March 1, 2014.
Is the sunny image of our favorite breakfast juice actually just pulp fiction?
Frozen Orange Juice Concentrate
Published April 1, 2013.
We’d long written off frozen concentrated orange juice as a relic from the 1950s and were shocked to find that we actually liked two of the products.
Supermarket Medium-Roast Coffee
Published March 1, 2013.
Decades after they convinced Americans to drink ultradark French and Italian roasts, the producers of blackened beans are coming out with lighter options. So how’s the coffee?
Sherry
Published October 1, 2012.
In the test kitchen, we use sherry in a variety of recipes. Does it matter what type and brand you cook with? In a word, yes.
Supermarket Green Tea
Published August 1, 2011.
The Japanese and Chinese have sipped green tea for more than a millennium. Suddenly, Westerners are drinking it, too. So which tastes best?
Tomato Juice
Published November 1, 2010.
We wanted to find a a product that we work well cooked in recipes, that we could also drink straight from the bottle.
Instant Espresso Powder
Published March 1, 2010.
Is the right espresso powder the secret to intense chocolate flavor in brownies and other baked goods?
Decaffeinated Coffees
Published December 1, 2009.
Has grocery store decaf coffee improved as much as the high-octane stuff in recent years? Or is that asking for the moon?
Iced Tea
Published September 2, 2009.
Do specialty packages blended specifically for iced tea really make a better pitcher than a chilled-down version of the old-fashioned stuff?
Bottled Iced Teas with Lemon
Published August 1, 2009.
We were looking for iced teas that actually tasted like tea. Could any deliver?
Hot Cocoa Mix
Published February 1, 2009.
The best cocoa mixes feature a double dose of chocolate.
Orange Juice
Published March 1, 2008.
High-end orange juices claim to taste better and fresher than ordinary not-from-concentrates. At twice the price, are they a sweet deal?
Iced Tea
Published August 10, 2007.
Several teas in the supermarket are labeled specially blended for iced tea. We held a brew-off among four of them and the winners of our regular tea tasting to determine if these specialty teas really made a better pitcher of iced tea.
Supermarket Tea (Best Taken Plain/Black)
Published July 1, 2007.
Do upscale brands and higher price tags translate into a better cup of tea?
Supermarket Tea (Best Taken with Milk)
Published July 1, 2007.
Do upscale brands and higher price tags translate into a better cup of tea?
Premium Teas
Published July 1, 2007.
Supermarket teas have improved in quality; does it still make sense to buy premium teas?
Hot Cocoa
Published February 1, 2007.
We found a surprising result—hot cocoa can be too sweet.
Orange Liqueurs
Published September 1, 2006.
For cooking, do you need to spend big bucks for the prestige brands, or will something cheaper work just as well? What about for mixed drinks?
Supermarket Whole Bean Coffee
Published November 1, 2005.
We secretly replaced our tasters' favorite gourmet coffee with supermarket beans. Could they tell the difference?
