Just Ice Tea Unveiled Its First Flavor And Plans For The Future

In an announcement shared by parent company Eat the Change, Honest Tea fans are getting an early peek at what the relaunched and renamed ready-to-drink brand Just Ice Tea will look and taste like. It's an exciting next step for those who were disappointed by Coca-Cola's decision to discontinue the Honest Tea line earlier this year.

Created by Seth Goldman and Barry Nalebuff in 1998, Honest Tea was sold to the international beverage company in 2011. When Goldman heard of Coca-Cola's decision to stop making Honest Tea and instead focus on its Gold Peak and Peace Tea brands, he expressed concerns for the farmers, employees, and other people involved in the Honest Tea vision. Eventually, Goldman announced plans on LinkedIn to create a new ready-to-drink tea line that would continue in Honest Tea's footsteps. The selected name for the company, Just Ice Tea, is meant to reflect its mission to support strong work standards and to create beverages that are certified organic.

During the course of six weeks, Eat the Change will unveil one new Just Ice Tea flavor per week. Along with announcing the first flavor, unsweetened green tea, the company also shared the ingredients that will go into the product: filtered water, Organic Fair Trade Certified green tea, organic citric acid, and ascorbic acid. To develop its varieties for Just Ice Tea's launch, the company explained it took into consideration feedback from Honest Tea fans as well as Eat the Change co-founder and celebrity chef Spike Mendelsohn's opinion. While the flavors may be similar to Honest Tea's products, the company cautions the recipes have changed a bit and asserts they feel the products are even better than their predecessors.

Glass 16-ounce bottles will be used for Just Ice Tea, which is the same way Honest Tea was packaged when it hit the market in 1998. "We think a chilled glass bottle delivers the ideal sensory taste experience," reads the announcement. Additionally, Just Ice Tea will use honey or agave nectar, not cane sugar as Honest Tea did, to sweeten; The products overall will be a little less sweet.