Honest Tea Founders Return With Just Ice Tea
Seth Goldman and Barry Nalebuff, co-founders of Honest Tea, have returned to the bottled tea business alongside celebrity Chef Spike Mendelsohn with the launch of Just Ice Tea, a ready-to-drink organic iced tea brand focused on sourcing simple ingredients and Fair Trade Certified teas and sweeteners. The organic tea line will hit shelves nationwide beginning September 2022 and is the latest addition to Eat the Change, the planet-friendly snack (and now beverage) company founded by Goldman and Mendelsohn in 2020.
The news for Eat the Change’s expansion into the bottle tea space follows Coca-Cola’s May 2022 announcement that it would discontinue Honest Tea this fall. Goldman and Nalebuff founded Honest Tea in Bethesda, Md., in 1998.
“Just Ice Tea is picking up where Honest Tea left off, but we are tripling down on our commitments to our core values – Fair Trade Certified, organic and just sweet enough,” said Goldman “We are thrilled to have the opportunity to once again serve, and hopefully expand, the community of tea growers and retailers we assembled who were abandoned by the discontinuation of Honest Tea.”
The brand is named Just Ice Tea because “Just Ice” refers to the set of working standards and environmental principles the team aims to support through Fair Trade premiums and working standards. The brand is also committed to supporting our planet through organic certification, which uses a third-party verified approach to avoid the use of synthetic pesticides, herbicides, insecticides and fertilizers. Honest Tea was the first bottled tea brand to offer organic (1999) and Fair Trade certified varieties (2003).
“We didn’t want to leave our loyal customers high and dry, either,” Nalebuff said. “Challenging the line from F. Scott Fitzgerald, he predicted ‘We think act two will be even better’.”
Honest Tea fans will recognize new renditions of crowd favorites with Just Ice Tea. While similar, some key differentiators to note are: no cane sugar (Fair Trade Certified Organic agave and/or honey are used for sweeteners), glass bottles only, a bit less sweet and chef-crafted by Mendelsohn, who leads innovation at Eat the Change.
“Teaming up with mission-driven leaders and innovators, like Seth and Barry, to launch the next generation of bottled tea is truly a milestone moment for me,” Mendelsohn said. “Innovation is my favorite part of being a chef, and we’re excited to introduce this new line of chef-crafted teas made with responsibly sourced ingredients from our trusted partners.”
Just Ice Tea will launch with six SKUs with a SRP of $2.69-$2.89. Flavor names and varieties include:
● Berry Hibiscus Herbal Tea: Organic herbal hibiscus and blackberry leaves are brewed and blended with blackberry juice for a fruity caffeine-free blend.
● Honey Green Tea: Real-brewed green tea leaves and a “just sweet enough” taste of agave and honey offers a classic taste of this popular blend.
● Moroccan Mint Tea: Blend of real brewed green tea and mint makes for a refreshing taste with a hint of honey at only 35 calories for the whole bottle.
● Original Green Tea: Smooth, unsweetened green tea is as simple as it
gets. No flavoring (except from real-brewed tea leaves) and no sweetener – just the clean taste of real brewed green tea.
● Peach Oolong Tea: Real-brewed oolong and black tea leaves blend with the flavor of fragrant sweet peaches at just 60 calories per bottle.
● ½ Tea ½ Lemonade: Real-brewed black tea leaves blend with the sweet, citrus taste of classic lemonade. Two favorites, one bottle.
Just Ice Tea will be distributed nationwide and begins to hit shelves September 2022. Just Ice Tea is available first at Sprouts Farmers Market nationally and PLNT Burger locations in New York City. Other retailers set to carry Just Ice Tea include, but are not limited to: Whole Foods Markets, Hy-vee, Town & Country, Central Market, New Seasons Market, Erewhon, MOM’s, Roots, Yes! Natural Markets, Giant Foods, PCC, Dawson’s, Market of Choice, ION Group, Oliver’s, Rainbow Grocery, The Food Bin, Ellwood Thompson’s and The Common Market.
Gourmet News featured news about Just Ice Tea in our August issue. Subscribe now so you don’t miss anything!
Olipop Names Camila Cabello as Brand Ambassador
Functional soda brand Olipop has signed multi-Grammy nominated Cuban born singer/songwriter Camila Cabello as its first major brand partner. While known primarily as a singer, songwriter and actor, Cabello is also a passionate businesswoman working to support brands with impactful missions. The partnership will center around deep creative collaboration on upcoming marketing initiatives, as well as ongoing involvement and advocacy of their shared mission in the health and wellness space.
This partnership is a testament to the better-for-you beverage’s current exponential growth and long-term ambition to transform the traditional soda industry, as Cabello is going against the grain by choosing to partner with an up-and-coming brand like Olipop.
“What we put into our bodies can lead to so many different health issues, including negative effects on your mental health,” said Cabello. “I’m proud to partner with a brand that is working to provide healthier drink options that align with how I strive to live.”
“Authentic alignment with our talent partners is critical to us, and our partnership with Camila sprung out of her organic love for the product and our love for her amazing values and creativity,” said Ben Goodwin, Olipop’s founder, formulator and CEO. “We are thrilled to partner with Camila to amplify Olipop ’s involvement in meaningful cultural moments born out of making a positive change in society and spreading true enjoyment in the process.”
Cabello was previously announced as an Olipop investor in February 2022, but is deepening her relationship with the brCaand with this new deal. OLIPOP’s delicious product offerings, health benefits, and transparency to customers have attracted additional strategic celebrity and business investors including Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Nick Jonas, Joe Jonas, Kevin Jonas, Mindy Kaling, Logic, Gwyneth Paltrow, top execs from ClassPass, TikTok, Shake Shack, Equinox, and many more.
Since launching in 2018, Olipop has already achieved a striking valuation of $200 million, disrupting the traditional soda industry and amassing widespread appeal for its tasty, nostalgia-infused flavors, and proprietary gut-friendly formulation. The brand was started by beverage entrepreneurs Goodwin and David Lester who set out to create a functional soda—one with a familiar and delicious taste but with the added benefits of microbiome and digestive health support.
While traditional soda is loaded with sugar and additives, each can of OLIPOP has only 35-45 calories, contains two to five grams of natural sugars, and provides nine grams of prebiotic plant fiber, which is one-third of the daily recommended amount. The product is eliminating the consequences of the traditional soda category, and making way for a new functional soda with benefits, changing the trajectory of health outcomes for many consumers.
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Central Perk Coffeehouse Breaks Into Reality
EDITOR’S NOTE: Try reading this announcement about Central Perk without having the “Friends” theme loop in your brain. We couldn’t!
Warner Bros. Themed Entertainment with CenPer Holdings, composed of industry experts from the coffee, specialty food and beverage, hospitality, and entertainment worlds — including “Top Chef” and multiple James Beard Foundation Award Winner Tom Colicchio — announced Central Perk Coffeehouse, a modern-day coffeehouse inspired by the hit TV series, opening its first location in 2023.
Imbued with the same heart and soul as the iconic setting from the series, Central Perk Coffeehouse will be a place for fans (and friends) to slow down and come together over great coffee and eats.
Fans know Central Perk as the gathering place for Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Chandle>r, and Ross — the ultimate hang-out spot — not only to get a delicious cup of coffee but also where the gang spent much of their free time conversing and making memories. Fast forward 28 years and a modern-day version will open its real doors in 2023.
“Central Perk is more than just a coffeehouse, it was a home away from home for our six favorite ‘Friends’,” said Peter van Roden, SVP, Warner Bros. Themed Entertainment. “Working closely with the CenPer Holdings team in creating this fresh, yet familiar environment, we’re looking forward to giving fans a coffeehouse of their own — coffeehouses that captures the heart of the show while delivering a first-class coffee experience.”
While the first location and opening date will be announced soon, fans will immediately be able to get their coffee fix now with the launch of Central Perk Coffee, a line of artisanal quality coffees made with the highest quality premium Arabica beans available in three select varietals:
– “How You Doin’?” (medium roast)
– “Pivot Blend” (medium/dark roast)
– “We Were on a Coffee Break” (dark roast)
“Our goal with this partnership and the Central Perk brand,” Colicchio said, “like all of my food and beverage enterprises, is to secure the best ingredients and then deliver superior products and services for a great customer experience. With Central Perk, we can’t wait to offer friends old and new a really enjoyable premium cup of coffee and hope they settle in with us for the next chapter of this beloved story.”
Each blend is available in whole bean and ground formats, as well as BPI Certified compostable single serve coffee pods compatible with Keurig K-Cup brewers. Single Central Perk Coffee products are also available. All coffees are sustainably sourced, produced and packaged using responsible environmental practices.
Central Perk Coffee can be orderedby visiting www.centralperk.com. The first 6,000 subscribers will receive a complimentary collectable can of “How You Doin’?” coffee, a medium roast ground varietal. This individually numbered limited edition tin was created exclusively for true “Friends” fans and coffee lovers.
Fans can watch “Friends: The Reunion” special and binge all 236 episodes of the original beloved series on HBO Max.
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