On this date 25 years ago, I started Honest Tea...

On this date 25 years ago, I started Honest Tea...

On this date 25 years ago, I started Honest Tea out of my home in Bethesda, Maryland.  With the support of my wife, Julie Farkas, and my HT co-founder, Barry Nalebuff, we aspired to create a national (even international) mission-driven brand to help move people toward healthier diets that are more planet-friendly and mindful about their sourcing practices.  For a period of time, we accomplished that goal.  Retail sales of Honest branded drinks exceeded $400 million around 2017, and the products were carried in over 150,000 outlets. It's an ironic moment to mark the occasion because today the last vestiges...

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Just Ice Tea | #6

Eat the Change

Just Ice Tea | #6

Just Ice Tea | #6

It’s been a busy summer. On May 23 we learned that Coca-Cola was discontinuing Honest Tea. After two weeks of mourning, we announced on June 6 we were going back into the bottled tea business. On September 6 we sold our first bottle of Just Ice Tea at a PLNT Burger in New York City. And tomorrow we will be officially introducing the line & sharing some of the more than 1,000 retail launch partners. So how did we manage to mobilize from the Go Decision to Launch in three months? First, we have to be honest. This wasn’t a...

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JUST ICE TEA #5

Eat the Change

JUST ICE TEA #5

JUST ICE TEA #5

The 5th variety of tea we will be launching is a peach blend featuring teas from China & India. I’ve written about our tea from China so today I will focus on the Korakundah Tea Garden nestled in the hills near the Nilgiri Mountains in S. India. It is one of the most magical places on Earth. I have visited the garden several times over the years & my son volunteered as a teacher at the village school. The landscapes are breathtaking, but it's also an impressive integration of nature & agriculture. Wild leopards, water buffalo, tigers & snakes roam through the tea bushes,...

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JUST ICE TEA | #4

Eat the Change

JUST ICE TEA | #4

JUST ICE TEA | #4

The fourth variety of tea we are disclosing is a blend of black tea and lemonade (we will be withholding the name and label until our official launch).  This blend of flavors was Honest Tea’s second best-selling variety, so we are confident it will be warmly received. The tea leaves come from an organic, Fair Trade certified farm in Mozambique, run by a relatively new supplier who was able to revitalize dormant fields into a thriving organic tea garden.   While we know taste is critical to the success of a variety, it’s the people selling the product that can...

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