Honest Tea, the US’s top-selling organic bottled tea brand, is giving its glass-bottled line a makeover in an attempt to more fully encapsulate its overall values and mission.
“Our glass-bottled line continues to be the top- selling bottled tea in the natural channel, and even as we’re having one of our best sales years to date, we felt now was the time to double-down on our mission,” said co-founder & TeaEO, Seth Goldman.
The beverage company says it is refreshing four aspects of its product:
- Fair Trade Certified™ Sugar: In addition to all of its organic teas being certified Fair Trade, all of its organic sweetened varieties will now contain only Fair Trade Certified organic sugar.
- 1% for the Planet commitment: The brand’s bottle labelling will now highlight its membership in the 1% for the Planet initiative, which commits the company to donate at least one percent of the line’s annual sales to organizations promoting positive environmental impact.
- New label graphics: The glass-bottle labels are being redesigned to ignite the inspiration behind each of the beverage varieties, as well as aligning more closely to the overall Honest Tea image. Some of the major changes include highlighting the visuals showcased in the brand’s iconic “T” and introducing a new brand logo that will be used across all Honest beverages.
- New variety: The company is also releasing a new tea variety: Radiant Raspberry Tea, a Fair Trade Certified, organic black tea from Southern India.
Honest Tea's Jenny Burns (L)
and
Fair Trade USA's
Mary Jo Cook
will discuss
Fair Trade's new
Impact Measurement and
Management Framework
at
New Metrics '14
Honest Tea was the first beverage company to introduce Fair Trade Certified tea to the market in 2003, and it has now added organic cane sugar to its list of Fair Trade certified ingredients. Fair Trade sugarcane premiums will help financially support community development projects in Paraguay, as chosen by farmers (such as healthcare provision, farming equipment, better-quality education and microloan funding schemes). Goldman visited Paraguay earlier this year to meet some of the farmers these Fair Trade schemes will be likely to support.
To mark Honest Tea’s commitment to 1% for the Planet, the campaign’s logo will now feature on the back of every bottle. Organizations including Fair Trade USA, National Parks Foundation, FoodCorps, Bethesda Green and Trees for the Future will benefit from the donations of this campaign.
“We are thrilled to make the switch to Fair Trade Certified sugar and sign on with 1% for the Planet,” Goldman said. “To mark the occasion, for the first time in 16 years, we (nervously) took steps to refresh the look of our much-loved glass line. We surprised ourselves with the new label design — a fun, eye-catching way to expand on our story.”
As Honest Tea expands its adherence to Fair Trade principles for its ingredients, it also plans to adopt a new framework developed by the NGO to define, measure and communicate the impacts Fair Trade enables for farmers, workers, businesses and consumers. Join us in Boston on September 25 as Honest Tea’s Jenny Burns joins Fair Trade USA’s Mary Jo Cook in presenting the organization’s new Impact Measurement and Management Framework at New Metrics ’14.