21 Feb 2017 US: Starbucks rolls out bottled iced teas in partnership with AB InBev
Starbucks has debuted the new range of bottled iced teas that it announced it would launch in partnership with Anheuser-Busch last June.
The Teavana craft iced teas have begun shipping to select grocery and convenience retail locations in New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and Missouri.
There are four flavours in all: ‘vibrant’ pineapple berry blue herbal tea, ‘invigorating’ peach green tea, ‘punchy’ passion tango herbal tea, and ‘tropical’ mango black tea.
Each new flavour takes a green tea, herbal tea or black tea base and combines it with on-trend ingredients like hibiscus, lemongrass, mango and mint. The iced teas are 100kcal or less and are inspired by some of Teavana’s most popular blends.
Starbucks agreed to buy the tea retailer for $620-million back in 2012.
The Seattle-based company claimed that its latest iced teas ‘will transform the $4-billion ready-to-drink tea category and enter the high-growth group of premium, ready-to-drink tea’.
It partnered with Anheuser-Busch last year to produce, bottle, distribute and market the first ready-to-drink range under the Teavana brand.
Starbucks said that, between 2015 and 2016, its US locations have sold more than $1-billion’s worth of handcrafted Teavana tea beverages, representing 11% growth in year-on-year sales.
Source: Food-Bev.com
Read a review of the range here on BevNet.com: http://www.bevnet.com/reviews/teavana
… Overall, Starbucks and ABI have what appears to be the makings a product that can compete in the mainstream premium RTD tea set. While there’s still room to evolve the flavour profiles, the packaging and positioning of the product seem spot on.