That Arizona hard lemon iced tea, you know, the one they sell down at the store. My grandson, he likes it. Says it’s good. Me? I don’t drink that stuff, too fizzy. But I was lookin’ at the can the other day, and you know what I saw? A whole bunch of numbers and words I didn’t understand. Nutrition facts, they call it. So, I thought I’d try to figure it out, what’s in this stuff that everyone’s drinkin’.

First thing I saw was calories. That’s how much food energy is in it, I reckon. This Arizona tea, it says it has about 140 of them calories in one can. That’s like, a lot or a little? I don’t know. Seems like a lot to me, just for a drink. But then, what do I know? I’m just an old lady, used to drinkin’ plain water.

Then there’s this thing called “carbs.” What in the world is a carb? Sounds like something you’d put in your car, not your belly. But it says there are like 35 grams of these carbs in that Arizona hard lemon iced tea. That’s a whole lot, it seems. I heard someone say carbs turn into sugar, and that ain’t good for you. Too much sugar makes you fat and sick, they say. And this hard tea, it has about 19 grams of sugar. That’s like, 4 teaspoons! My goodness, that’s a heap of sugar for one little drink.

And what’s this “added sugar”? They put even more sugar in it? Why would they do that? Ain’t it sweet enough already? My land, young folks these days, they eat so much sugar. No wonder they’re always bouncing off the walls. It says there are about 17 grams of that added sugar. They put more sugar in that drink than the maximum amount you are supposed to eat in a whole day! How am I supposed to understand that?

• 140 calories, that’s a lot for a drink.
• 35 grams of carbs, whatever those are.
• 19 grams of sugar, like 4 teaspoons.
• 17 grams of added sugar, even more!

Then there’s a whole list of other things, sodium, protein, something called “total carbohydrates,” and fats. My eyes started to glaze over readin’ all that. I don’t know what half of it means. They put this stuff in the tea, but does anyone even know what it is? This Arizona hard lemon tea, it’s got a lot of stuff in it, that’s for sure.

They even put these things called “vitamins” and “minerals” in there. Sounds like somethin’ you’d find in a rock. Maybe that’s good for you, I don’t know. But it all just seems so complicated. In my day, we just drank water or tea brewed from leaves. None of this fancy stuff with all these numbers and words.

Then I saw the ingredients. What they put in this Arizona hard lemon iced tea. It says “premium brewed tea.” Well, that sounds alright, I guess. But then it says “high fructose corn syrup.” What in the tarnation is that? Sounds like something they make in a factory, not on a farm. And “citric acid.” That sounds sour. Why would they put that in a sweet tea? It don’t make no sense.

This Arizona hard iced tea has less sugar than some other big brands. That’s what I heard. I guess that is good. It is still a lot of sugar. But I guess if you like this sort of thing, this one is not as bad as some of the others. They have a grade for this kind of thing. This tea got a C. I guess that is okay. They say it has some stuff in it that is not good for you. This tea has 90 calories. Some people say that is good and some say that is bad. It is all so confusing!

Arizona hard lemon iced tea nutrition facts, that’s what they call it. A whole lot of numbers and words that don’t make much sense to an old lady like me. I guess if you like that sort of thing, you’ll drink it anyway. But me, I’ll stick to my plain water. It’s a lot simpler, and I know what’s in it. Nothing but good old H2O.

Maybe this Arizona Iced Tea ain’t so bad. Or maybe it is. I just don’t know. All these numbers and fancy words. It’s all too much for me. But I tried my best to figure it out. Hope it makes some sense to you young folks. You’re the ones drinkin’ it, after all. Just be careful with all that sugar, you hear? It ain’t good for you, no matter what they say on that can.