Sweet | Iced | Green | Loose Leaf | Bottled

Top Sweet Tea Brands

#1. Gold Peak

The Brand: Gold Peak Tea, manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company, was first introduced in 2006. The chilled version of this tea was launched in 2009.

Need To Know: This brand’s ready-to-drink iced tea is brewed with high-quality tea leaves and is bottled after brewing. In addition to Sweet Tea, Extra Sweet Tea, and Slightly Sweet Tea, Gold Peak’s flavors range from Georgia Peach to Green Tea.

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#2. Milo’s

The Brand: Before becoming a tea brand, Milo’s was first established as a restaurant in 1946. The founder, Milo Carlton, had just returned from serving in World War II. His philosophy was to use high-quality ingredients and to never use preservatives. Today, Milo’s is committed to giving back through donating 1% of its profits, conserving water, and celebrating diversity within the company.

Need To Know: Known for their gallon jugs of sweet tea, Milo’s also sells lemonade, peach tea, and unsweetened tea.

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#3. Sweet Leaf Tea Company

The Brand: Sweet Leaf was launched in 1998 in Beaumont, Texas. Its co-founder, Clayton Christopher, had a dream to brew a bottled tea that tasted just as good as homemade. The company started with a $10,000 loan and Christopher’s family recipe.

Need To Know: Today, Sweet Leaf is owned by Nestle Waters, who invested $15 million into the company in 2009. Sweet Leaf’s tea is sold in glass bottles, brewing flavors such as lemon, peach, mango, and pomegranate.

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#4. AriZona

The Brand: AriZona Iced Tea was founded in 1992 by Don Vultaggio in Brooklyn. Within its first three years, AriZona sold 18 million cases of tea. In 2002, they started selling canned Arnold Palmers, which consist of half tea and half lemonade. Today, over 500 million Arnold Palmers are sold each year.

Need To Know: AriZona is known for its 99 cent tallboy cans, as well as bottled teas. They continue to demonstrate their success in the tea industry and are also beginning to branch out into the coffee and snack food industries.

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#5. Joe Tea

The Brand: Steven Prato founded Joe Tea in 1998 in Hoboken, New Jersey. Once the company expanded, its products could only be found in remote locations between Vermont and Washington, D.C. Counterintuitively, this brand does not spend money on advertising.

Need To Know: Joe Tea can be found at Whole Foods. They continue to sell tea in plastic and glass bottles, and also carry a variety of bottled lemonades, as well as potato chips. 

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Top Iced Tea Brands

#1. Dean’s

The Brand: Dean’s is owned by Dean Foods, which was established as a dairy company in 1925. In 2001, Dean Foods was acquired by Suiza Foods. Dean Foods owns several food brands, such as Friendly’s, Creamland, and TruMoo. 

Need To Know: Today, this brand continues to expand its food products, which range from dairy products to pickles. Even though Dean’s is known for their dairy products, they sell ReadyLeaf sweetened and unsweetened iced tea in gallon and half-gallon jugs.

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#2. Honest

The Brand: Honest Tea was founded in 1998, out of co-founder Seth Goldman’s home. Goldman’s mission was to create the perfect thirst-quenching drink for after his daily run. By 2001, Honest Tea had reached over $3.2 million in sales.

Need To Know: Honest Tea’s mission is to create great-tasting, organic beverages. They are committed to sustainability, integrity, and honesty. Honest has a variety of unique tea flavors, such as Peach Oolong, Moroccan Mint, and Mango White.

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#3. Fuze

The Brand: Fuze Beverage was founded in New Jersey in 2000. By 2006, sales had exceeded 11 million cases, and products were carried by most major retailers. In 2007, The Coca-Cola Company bought Fuze for around $250 million.

Need To Know: Fuze manufactures teas and enriched, non-carbonated, fruit drinks. Because Fuze enhances their beverages with vitamins, herbs, alternative sweeteners, they are now known in the “new age” beverage industry.

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#4. Turkey Hill

The Brand: Turkey Hill was established over 85 years ago in Pennsylvania Dutch Country as a dairy brand. This company started as a family business, but is now owned by Kroger. Turkey Hill expanded to selling ice cream in 1980, and today they continue to sell a variety of drinks and dairy products.

Need To Know: Although Turkey Hill is best-known for their ice cream, their iced tea is a well-kept secret. They carry iced tea in a variety of flavors, including orange, raspberry, and peach.

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#5. TAZO

The Brand: TAZO Tea Company was founded in 1994 in Portland, Oregon, by Steve Smith. The name “Tazo,” was supposedly inspired by a whirling mating dance of ancient Egyptian Pharaohs. Tazo was bought by Starbucks Corporation in 1999 and is now served at Starbucks and Seattle’s Best Coffee.

Need To Know: In addition to finding this brand at Starbucks, you can also find their tea bags, K-Cups, iced tea mixes, and bottled iced tea at some local grocery stores.

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Top Green Tea Brands 

#1. Choice Organics

The Brand: Choice Organics was founded in 1989 as the first exclusively organic tea brand in the United States. Throughout its history, Choice Organics has been a leader in the organic tea industry. In 2000, this brand became the first in the U.S. to use Fair Trade Certified tea. They also became the first to obtain Non-GMO Product Verification in 2010. 

Need To Know: Choice Organic Teas remain committed to sustainability and pure ingredients. In addition to selling organic green tea, they also sell organic Earl Grey, chamomile, English breakfast, and peppermint teas. 

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#2. Bigelow

The Brand: Bigelow was founded in 1945 by Ruth Campbell Bigelow in her New York City brownstone. Bigelow was unsatisfied with the commodity tea that was typical at that time, so she aimed to create something higher-quality. After she died in 1966, her husband, and eventually her son, took over the business.

Need To Know: Bigelow is now based in Connecticut and is still completely family-owned. In addition to green tea, this line sells over 130 different tea varieties.

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#3. Yogi Tea

The Brand: Yogi Tea was established over 30 years ago with an original blend of cinnamon, ginger, clove, black pepper, and cardamom. Yogi is committed to health, wellness, quality, and sustainability. 

Need To Know: Besides green tea, Yogi now manufactures over 40 tea blends, made from 140 different spices and botanicals. This brand is USDA Certified Organic, is committed to sourcing responsibly, and has high standards for its ingredients.

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#4. Good & Gather

The Brand: Good & Gather was launched by Target in 2019, and was created by using direct input from consumers. This brand’s products contain no artificial sweeteners, flavors, synthetic colors, or high fructose corn syrup.

Need To Know: Good & Gather’s sales reached $2 billion in 2020, so this brand has been a success. Other than green tea, Good & Gather specializes in meat, frozen foods, snacks, and dairy products.

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#5. Trader Joe’s

The Brand: The first Trader Joe’s store was opened in 1967 in Pasadena, California. By the time Joe Coulombe, the founder, retired in 1998, there were over 19 stores. Trader Joe’s is now owned by the same owners as Aldi Nord, another grocery retailer.

Need To Know: Trader Joe’s is best known for its low prices on specialty food items. 8 in 10 items found in Trader Joe’s belong to the store brand. This store carries many unique teas, as well as green tea. Other than tea, the brand carries cheap produce, unique frozen foods, and affordable flower arrangements.

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Top Loose Leaf Tea Brands 

#1. Teavana

The Brand: Teavana was established in Atlanta, Georgia in 1997. The owner, Andrew Mack, invested his life savings into starting this brand. This turned out to be a worthy investment; in 2012, Starbucks bought Teavana for $620 million.

Need To Know: In 2018, Starbucks closed all Teavana stores but continued to carry certain products, but these were only available at Starbucks. Teavana is a member of the Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP) which ensures that tea products are ethically produced and distributed.

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#2. Celestial Seasonings

The Brand: Celestial Seasonings was founded in 1969 by Mo Siegel, who originally hand-picked wild herbs for their original tea blend in Colorado. In 1972, this company introduced two other tea brands: Sleepytime and Red Zinger, which became their best-selling teas.

Need To Know: Today, this brand sells over 1.6 billion cups of tea each year. Celestial Seasonings’ products have expanded to include a variety of herbal teas, black tea, green tea, and iced tea.

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#3. DavidsTea

The Brand: DavidsTea started in 2008 in Toronto, Canada. Their mission was to serve great tea with friendly and exemplary customer service. Today, this brand has over 240 stores throughout Canada and the United States.

Need To Know: DavidsTea has the largest selection of organic teas and infusions in North America. With over 150 tea varieties, you can find something here for everyone.

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#4. Republic of Tea

The Brand: The Republic of Tea was founded in 1992, on a mission to get cups of tea into the hands of everyone. This brand is committed to ethics and sustainability by supporting organizations such as the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition and the Whole Planet Foundation.

Need To Know: The Republic of Tea is a member of the Ethical Tea Partnership. This brand has a selection of over 300 different teas, which are all certified gluten-free, and include decaffeinated options. They have also created award-winning packaging for their products. 

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#5. T2 Tea

The Brand: In 1996, T2 opened its first store in Fitzroy, Melbourne. By 1999, T2 opened a second store in Chadstone, Melbourne. Today, T2 is a global company and a certified B-corporation.

Need To Know: T2 continues to run stores throughout the world, as well as selling their products online. They carry an array of different teas, like green, black, white, oolong, and chai, as well as teawares, like teapots, mugs, and jugs.

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Top Bottled Tea Brands

#1. Snapple

The Brand: Snapple was established in 1972 in the New York City metro area. The founders, Arnold Greenberg, Leonard Marsh, and Hyman Golden, originally established this company under the name, Unadulterated Food Products, Inc. In 1978, when they began to manufacture carbonated apple juice, they began to call the brand, “Snapple.” Today, Snapple is owned by Keurig Dr. Pepper.

Need To Know: Snapple is the number one American retailer of bottled ice tea and the number two seller of fruit drinks. They carry a variety of bottled drinks, including flavored tea, lemonade, and juice.

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#2. Pure Leaf

The Brand: Pure Leaf Tea was launched in 2012 by The Pepsi Lipton Tea Partnership, which is jointly owned by PepsiCo and Unilever. This partnership also owns other tea brands such as Lipton and Brisk.

Need To Know: Pure Leaf offers bottled teas that are brewed from real tea leaves. Their bottled tea selection includes sweet tea, flavored teas, herbal iced tea, and organic iced tea.

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#3. Lipton

The Brand: In 1871, Lipton originally opened as a grocery store in Glasgow. The founder, Sir Thomas, believed that anyone should be able to enjoy great tea. He then founded the tea packaging company, Thomas J Lipton Co., in which he aimed to make tea less expensive. Today, Lipton tea is sold in over 150 different countries and is owned by The Pepsi Lipton Tea Partnership.

Need To Know: Lipton has a huge variety of teas that are sold at most major grocery retailers. Their tea ranges from bottles to mixes, and includes iced, hot, black, green, flavored, herbal, and matcha tea.

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#4. SoBe

The Brand: SoBe was created in 1995 in South Beach, Florida. Their first product, a bottled black tea, included a unique blend of ginseng and guarana. They continue to pride themselves on the unique flavor combinations offered in their beverage selection.

Need To Know: SoBe offers a diverse range of teas and drinks that use real stevia and sugar, and are enriched with vitamins. In addition to green tea, SoBe also has flavors called “Tsunami,” “South Beach Sunset,” and “Offshore Breeze.”

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#5. Bai

The Brand: Bai first started selling beverages in Princeton, New Jersey in 2009. By 2013, Bai was selling 100,000 cases per month, and by 2014, they started distributing nationally. In 2016, Bai was acquired for $1.7 billion by the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group.

Need To Know: Bai carries unique bottled tea flavors, such as Tanzania Lemon, Rio Raspberry, and Socorro Sweet Tea. They also carry a variety of other drinks, such as infused beverages, antioxidant water, and lemonade.

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