The Rebirth Of Honest Tea Is Nearly Complete With New Branding

Fans of Honest Tea were devastated earlier this year when Coca-Cola announced plans to discontinue production of the ready-to-drink tea. One of the company's co-founders, Seth Goldman, was quick to respond, announcing just weeks later he would be launching a new brand that would carry on Honest Tea's legacy, as reported by Food Dive. Now that new brand has a name, per Food Navigator, which brings it one step closer to its eventual launch date.

Founded by Goldman with Barry Nalebuff in 1998, Honest Tea quickly went on to become one of the hottest bottled iced teas on the market (via Honest Tea). Besides its range of Tad Sweet flavors, the brand was known for its commitment to the environment and humane business practices. Honest Tea was sold to Coca-Cola in 2011. 

In May of this year, when Coca-Cola announced it would discontinue the tea brand by the end of 2022, the parent company shared it would be holding onto the Honest name for its juice line, Honest Kids. This decision meant that Goldman couldn't simply relaunch Honest Tea, and that led the co-founder to work on finding a name for the brand's rebirth.

In a LinkedIn post, Honest Tea co-founder Seth Goldman announced that his new ready-to-drink tea brand would be called Just Ice Tea. The new brand is being launched as a part of the Eat the Change company that Goldman operates with chef Spike Mendelsohn, per Food Navigator.

Goldman shared on LinkedIn that the name Just was chosen for several reasons: it captures many of the company's ethical goals in terms of supporting workers, working standards, paying a fair price to suppliers, caring for the environment, and of course making simple drinks that taste great. "Of course, Just Ice Tea won't, and doesn't claim to, address most of the injustices in the world. But we know the fair trade and organic approach creates better economic opportunities for our partners and less damage to the planet," wrote Goldman.

Goldman says that his decision to get back into tea was inspired by conversations with former Honest Tea suppliers. They expressed a fear that Coca-Cola's decision to discontinue the brand would send shockwaves through the organic and fair trade markets. Goldman hopes the new tea brand can help support these suppliers.