Honest Tea (U.S.) is a bottled

organic Organic may refer to: * Organic, of or relating to an organism, a living entity * Organic, of or relating to an anatomical organ Chemistry * Organic matter, matter that has come from a once-living organism, is capable of decay or is the product ...

tea company based in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...

. It was founded in 1998 by Seth Goldman and

Barry Nalebuff Barry J. Nalebuff (born July 11, 1958) is an American businessman, business theorist, and writer. He is a Milton Steinbach Professor of Management at Yale School of Management and author who specializes in business strategy and game theory. His pu ...

. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of

The Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation founded in 1892, best known as the producer of Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Company also manufactures, sells, and markets other non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups, ...

History

Honest Tea was founded in 1998 by Seth Goldman, a graduate of

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and the

Yale School of Management The Yale School of Management (also known as Yale SOM) is the graduate business school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. The school awards the Master of Business Administration (MBA), MBA for Executives ...

who got the idea to found a beverage company while he was at business school. There were two key ideas behind the company: to bring beverages to market that were

and not as heavily sweetened, and to conduct the business using

fair trade Fair trade is an arrangement designed to help producers in developing countries achieve sustainable and equitable trade relationships. The fair trade movement combines the payment of higher prices to exporters with improved social and enviro ...

principles. Goldman and one of his

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

professors, Barry Nalebuff, conceived the idea for the company and raised $500,000 in startup funds from friends and family. The first order for Honest Tea was from Fresh Fields, an

East Coast East Coast may refer to: Entertainment * East Coast hip hop, a subgenre of hip hop * East Coast (ASAP Ferg song), "East Coast" (ASAP Ferg song), 2017 * East Coast (Saves the Day song), "East Coast" (Saves the Day song), 2004 * East Coast FM, a ra ...

natural grocery chain that was later acquired by

Whole Foods Market Whole Foods Market IP, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon, is an upscale American multinational supermarket chain headquartered in Austin, Texas, which sells products free from hydrogenated fats and artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives. A US ...

. Honest Tea was available on

Independence Air Independence Air was a low-cost airline, owned by FLYi, Inc., headquartered in the Loudoun Gateway Corporate Center in Dulles, Virginia, United States (near Washington, D.C.) that operated from 1989 until 2006. Its route network focused on the e ...

flights. By 2006, Honest Tea had revenue of $13.5million and was selling about 1.5 millioncases a year. The Coca-Cola Company purchased a 40-percent stake of the U.S. company at $43million in 2008. It bought the rest of the company in 2011.Paul Ziobro March 1, 201
Coke Buys Rest of Honest Tea
/ref> In 2009, Honest Tea US received an unpaid endorsement when ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' reported that it was

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...

's preferred beverage. A separate small company,

Springleaf OneMain Holdings, Inc. is an American financial services holding company headquartered in Evansville, Indiana, with central offices throughout the United States. The company wholly owns OneMain Finance Corporation and its subsidiaries, through w ...

, controls the Honest Tea trademark in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Honest Tea lost an attempt to claim the rights to the phrase in Australia in 2007. In 2015, Annabel Young won her case against Coca-Cola in Australia as the original brand name holder, retaining the Honest Tea brand. In 2021, Coca-Cola introduced Honest Yerba Mate.

Yerba mate Yerba mate or yerba-maté (''Ilex paraguariensis''; from Spanish ; pt, erva-mate, or ; gn, ka'a, ) is a plant species of the holly genus ''Ilex'' native to South America. It was named by the French botanist Augustin Saint-Hilaire. The leave ...

is a traditional beverage in South America, brewed from leaves and stems of the yerba mate plant. On May 23, 2022, Coca-Cola announced it would stop carrying Honest tea beverages as of December 31, 2022.Schere, Dan (May 26, 2022).
Honest Tea founder Seth Goldman laments planned discontinuation of product he created in Bethesda
. ''Bethesda Magazine''. Coca-Cola decided it would only carry two brands of tea,

Gold Peak Tea Gold Peak Tea is a brand of ready-to-drink iced tea manufactured by The Coca-Cola Company. It was first introduced in 2006 while a chilled version was launched in 2009. Past formulations of the product had won the ChefsBest award for best taste w ...

and Peace Tea, because they are "best positioned to meet consumer preferences for high-quality brewed teas with different levels of sweetness and flavor". Coca-Cola expected that discontinuing the Honest tea line would allow it to "prioritize production and distribution" of other beverages, particularly in light of ongoing supply-chain issues that have caused Coca-Cola to be unable to meet consumer demand for Gold Peak. Coca-Cola said it plans to continue carrying its line of Honest Kids organic fruit juices. Honest tea is one of approximately 200 brands that Coca-Cola decided to discontinue carrying between 2020 and 2022.Meisenzahl, Mary (May 25, 2022).
Coca-Cola is discontinuing Honest Tea by the end of 2022, in a move the brand's cofounder called a 'gut punch'
. ''Insider''.

Notes

External links

* * {{Coca-Cola brands Coca-Cola brands Iced tea brands Companies based in Bethesda, Maryland Coca-Cola acquisitions American companies established in 1998 Food and drink companies established in 1998 1998 establishments in Maryland