Loaded tea recipes: six Herbalife teas to make at home

A loaded tea made at home costs a fraction of one from a club, and you choose exactly what goes in it. Every recipe here uses the same few Herbalife products in their regular serving sizes, so one set of products makes weeks of drinks. If you haven't read what's in a loaded tea yet, start there: it explains each product and its caffeine.

Before you start

• The cup. Loaded teas are big: 24 to 32 ounces, mostly ice. A tall tumbler with a lid and a straw is the usual thing.
• A serving is what the label says. Herbal Tea Concentrate is half a teaspoon of the powder. Liftoff is one tablet or one stick pack. Herbal Aloe Concentrate is three capfuls, about half a fluid ounce. Keep to one serving of each until you know how the caffeine suits you.
• Dissolve the tea first. Stir the tea powder into a splash of warm water before it goes over the ice, or it clumps.
• The color and the name come from a sugar-free flavoring: a syrup, a drink-mix packet, or a flavored tea concentrate. Any brand works.
• Caffeine. The totals below add up Herbalife's label figures: Herbal Tea Concentrate 85 mg a serving, Liftoff 75 mg, N-R-G Tea Select about 40 mg. Herbalife's Liftoff label suggests no more than 200 mg at one time and about 400 mg a day. Caffeinated products are for healthy adults; if you are pregnant or nursing, have a medical condition or take medication, ask a health care professional first.

1. The classic Mega Tea

This is Herbalife's own recipe, the one in the Mega Tea kits. Everything else on this page is a variation on it.

• 1 serving Herbal Tea Concentrate (Original or Lemon)
• 1 serving Liftoff (Lemon-Lime)
• 1 serving Herbal Aloe Concentrate (Original)
• Optional: 1 serving Collagen Beauty Booster, as the kit includes it
• Ice and cold water to fill

Dissolve the tea in a little warm water. Fill the cup with ice, pour the tea over it, add the aloe, drop in the Liftoff and let it fizz, then top up with water and stir.

Caffeine, from the labels: about 160 mg.

2. Strawberry lemonade

The pink one. Lemon tea does most of the work; a strawberry flavoring gives it the color.

• 1 serving Herbal Tea Concentrate (Lemon)
• 1 serving Liftoff (Lemon-Lime)
• 1 serving Herbal Aloe Concentrate (Original or Mango)
• Sugar-free strawberry flavoring, to taste
• Ice and cold water to fill

Make it as the classic, and add the strawberry flavoring with the water. A squeeze of lemon on top makes it sharper.

Caffeine: about 160 mg.

3. Peach iced tea (no Liftoff)

A lighter tea for the afternoon, with the caffeine of one serving of tea and nothing else.

• 1 serving Herbal Tea Concentrate (Peach)
• 1 serving Herbal Aloe Concentrate (Original)
• A slice of lemon or a few mint leaves
• Ice and cold water to fill

Dissolve the tea, pour it over the ice, add the aloe and the water, and finish with the lemon or mint. No fizz, so it keeps well in a bottle for a few hours.

Caffeine: about 85 mg.

4. Blue raspberry

The bright blue drink the clubs are known for. The color is the flavoring; the tea and the aloe are the same as always.

• 1 serving Herbal Tea Concentrate (Raspberry)
• 1 serving Liftoff (Lemon-Lime)
• 1 serving Herbal Aloe Concentrate (Cranberry or Original)
• Sugar-free blue raspberry flavoring, to taste
• Ice and cold water to fill

As the classic. Add the blue flavoring last so you can stop at the color you want.

Caffeine: about 160 mg.

5. Tropical, with Herbalife24 Liftoff

Herbalife24 Liftoff is the sports-line version of Liftoff, in a pineapple flavor. It gives a tropical tea without any flavoring at all.

• 1 serving Herbal Tea Concentrate (Original)
• 1 serving Herbalife24 Liftoff (Pineapple Push)
• 1 serving Herbal Aloe Concentrate (Mango)
• Ice and cold water to fill

As the classic, with the Herbalife24 Liftoff in place of the regular one.

Caffeine: 85 mg from the tea, plus the figure on the Herbalife24 Liftoff pack; check its label.

6. The morning tea, with N-R-G instead of Liftoff

N-R-G Tea Select is a milder tea with guarana. Swapping it in for Liftoff makes a drink with less caffeine and no fizz.

• 1 serving Herbal Tea Concentrate (Original or Cinnamon)
• 1 serving N-R-G Tea Select
• 1 serving Herbal Aloe Concentrate (Original)
• Ice and cold water to fill

Dissolve both teas together in the warm water, then build the drink as usual.

Caffeine: about 125 mg.

A gym version with H3O

Not a seventh recipe so much as an add-in: H3O Fitness Drink is Herbalife's electrolyte drink mix. A serving stirred into the peach tea (recipe 3) or the classic (recipe 1) gives the drink its color and a sports-drink taste. H3O lists no caffeine on its label, so it doesn't change the totals above.

Keeping it cheap

A tub of Herbal Tea Concentrate holds about 60 servings in its larger size, a tube of Liftoff ten, and a bottle of Herbal Aloe Concentrate about 30. Bought once, that is a month or two of daily teas for the price of a handful of club drinks. The kits (Mega Tea Discovery Kit and the On-the-Go Kit) are the simplest first order: everything in recipe 1 in one box.

Where to get the ingredients

Herbalife products are sold through independent Herbalife distributors, not in shops or on Amazon. A distributor near you can help you choose the flavors and order them for delivery to your home, and will happily tell you what's in the drink you like at the club. Ask one below.