When my first partner and I started looking at what we wanted to include in our concept back in early 2004, one of the options was bottling a tea beverage I had developed. We visited two reputable bottling companies in our area and hired a food chemist to help us. He had wonderful credentials and was extremely knowledgeable. One of the things he 
did was to send us home with a number of preservatives to taste for ourselves. Bottling required something as natural and neutral as possible in taste; we settled on malic acid over citric acid and some of the other choices. Malic acid comes from fruits such as apples and, since this was to be more than just simple brewed tea in a bottle, the malic acid seemed to work best with the recipe.
However, the more we tasted the preserved beverage as compared to the original, freshly made version, the more we realized we just couldn’t bring ourselves to have it bottled. As it turns out, we might be farther along today financially if we had. By bottled standards, it was “really good.” But we couldn’t get past two things:
1. The lack of “life” in the taste after a preservative had been added and it had been sitting for awhile
2. The lack of antioxidant value
Recently, on Twitter, a company began following us who does an “antioxidant-infused” bottled beverage. Their promos show stars drinking it and the publicity is all about health. They then emailed me and asked if they could send a rep to show us their line. I asked them how they kept the antioxidants alive after bottling. She said no one had ever asked and she’d have to talk to their R&D department and get back to me. She got back to me, stating that the R&D department would have to look into my question. Then she asked again if they could come and show us their line. I said they were welcome to after the answer was available. She’s never gotten back to me. My tea vendors can tell you how many questions I ask and how I’ve been known to keep asking about any change to the blend until I finally get to the master blender, if that’s what it takes to get an answer.
A few months ago, a beverage rep from a multinational corporation, one that has recently purchased a line of bottled teas, came in to see if we were interested in bringing in some of the line. He was especially excited about the well-known, great-selling, loose-leaf bottled tea, since we are a tea-centric store. As he opened the pages of his sales book to show me photos and the wholesale pricing, I asked him what preservatives were used. He didn’t know. I asked him if I could make him a freshly brewed iced tea while he was looking up more of the information. When he tasted it, he closed up his presentation book and said “I don’t think you’ll be wanting our bottled tea. I’ve never tasted anything like this iced tea you just gave me, ever in my life!”
Friday, a bottling company executive and his wife were in our area visiting, and stopped at our store just to relax and have something cold on a very hot day. He has diabetes, so he wanted something healthy and without sugar. We made them our newly arrived green Rooibos blend with citrus, iced. He tasted it and said, “How can we get THIS taste into a bottle?! I’m always looking for the next new thing.” I answered that they couldn’t. As they were leaving, they stopped to say that when they had arrived they had both been feeling quite poorly, but after drinking the Rooibos they were feeling much better. Maybe a coincidence. Maybe anything iced would have worked on that hot day. The next day, a young man came in and had the same Rooibos, his hot, and as he left, he stopped and said exactly the same thing. Is there possibly something that a freshly brewed, healthy tea or herbal contains that causes that reaction in our bodies that bottled beverages just can’t match?
At any rate, I understand that RTD (aka “ready to drink” aka “bottled”) is a monstrous, profitable, growing category in specialty tea. I also understand that the tea trade associations need money coming into the industry, so they promote RTD and defend it as, if not full of antioxidants, at least better than sodas. And I know that there are investors who would go for a really great-tasting line of Rooibos or tea beverages. But, it’s just not for us. And, truly, I’m hoping it never will be. Because if we did bottle a line of tea, I couldn’t believe in my heart that the consumer was getting the experience I delight in giving them – the one that startles them and makes them smile in surprise. I enjoy making money as much as the next guy, mind you, and so I won’t rule it out entirely. Hopefully, we would be honest enough to put something on the bottle stating “there is no real antioxidant value in bottled tea” … unless someone can prove to me otherwise, of course. I still keep Dr. Li’s study on file and would like to see any opposing studies.
The masses are easily sold on convenience and they love brands that can market well with flash and panache, or sell a look or a feeling or an experience or the perception of health and freshness. But, there are also riches in tiny niches and, at least for now, that’s where we find our joy. In the tiny niche, we brew every single tea, hot or iced, by the cup, and hand it to a smiling consumer who knows he has gone out of his way on purpose to get peak freshness and the most antioxidant value. California Tea & Coffee Brewery brand “Think Healthy, Drink Healthy” TM iced teas. Has a nice ring to it.
Terrific, thought-provoking article. Thanks!
What a thought provoking post Diane. There are few people these days who would walk away from $$$ to uphold their principles. I can’t imagine there isn’t a compromise to make here however. Yes, without artificial sweeteners, bottled tea is MUCH better than soda. We are a country addicted to soda. Soda is bad on so many levels even if we leave the sweetener issues aside. Isn’t there a way to add healthy ingredients into the tea without destroying the flavor? Isn’t it reasonable to provide such a bottled tea for those who just aren’t near facilities to make it fresh or have the time to make it? Shouldn’t consumers be able to drink the next best thing? Shouldn’t you be able to benefit financially from such a product? I do hope you got those business cards…….!
Thanks for encouraging us to really THINK about this. RTD’s are such an important component to our industry, as you’ve mentioned, that we need to find a HEALTHY solution/compromise.
Thanks Michelle & Jennifer. It’s things like ‘anti-oxidant infused’ or the perception that antioxidants are fully viable in bottled teas or juices/beverages that are not totally fair to the consumer. A thread I see running through tea business conversation boards like Tea Professionals or World Tea Expo is how it’s the job of the tea industry to educate the consumer about tea; doesn’t that include things like how bottling affects the tea?
I would have to agree with you Diane. Here’s the reality unfortunately. RTD’s are such a big player in the industry that people are afraid to loose that rich market share. As in almost ALL businesses I know, the mighty dollar is the bottom line. Look at the medical field and health care for example. You would except human life and pain and suffering would be held up to a higher standard. Illness/pain is a HUGE money machine. You seem to be the exception to the rule. It isn’t a flattering reality and ultimately we can all convince ourselves that RTD’s are superior to soda so why knock it. Personally, I don’t suspect the cross over from ice tea drinkers to hot tea drinkers is significant but it might be worthy of some investigation. The other dirty little secret relates to pesticides.
Michelle, we’re not an exception to wanting to make money. It’s a choice of how we want to make it for all of us. Not putting down people who bottle tea, just saying that I believe consumers are being misled as to its’ attributes. :) Pesticides you say?? Nooooo!!!
I am in total agreement.It is how as tea enthusiasts have a duty to educate our customers but they need to be receptive too to want to listen and question certain ethics.
I didn’t communicate that properly. You’re the exception to put your values over money in the instance of RTD’s. Of course you need to make money. You’re not a nonprofit foundation. You’re a business owner.
Just wanted to say thank you for telling the truth about RTD tea. My husband and I are planning to start a small business to promote the goodness of tea to the public. When we attended theWorld TeaExpo in Las Vegas, we were surprised by all the flavoring, coloring, sweeteners and preservatives many tea merchants could use in their products to sell tea and make $!! This approach will not be ‘our cup of tea’ for sure.
Hello, I have been making a tea blend with Chinese green tea, fresh grated ginger, fresh grated lemon pith/zest, fresh lemon juice and honey.
I boil everything but the tea and lemon juice for a number of minutes, and then take it off the heat, and put the tea leaves in, and let them steep for about 5 minutes. After I strain everything out, I add the lemon juice. I have been trying to do this in larger quantities, because this is a fairly labor intensive process, so I would like to make a large quantity so I didn’t have to do it so often.
It looks like water bath canning of the tea is difficult due to the low ph value of tea, unless the lemon juice brings down the ph enough to make it safe for long term storage. It seems pressure canning will make it safe for storage, but I’m not too sure what will happen to the quality.
I will press on with the pressure canning approach, because it will kill all the micro-organisms responsible for botulism and other stuff. My understanding is that anti-oxidants are chemical compounds and not enzymatic in nature, but high heat breaks them down, which is a shame.
I was hoping to come up with a brew that could be stored without refrigeration for a nice quantity of time, otherwise I guess I could freeze it, but that will probably also clobber it too…
If anyone has any comments on this, I thank you kindly.
I just read your article and would like to thank you for putting it together. I was looking for guidance in bottling my tea for my own consumption. You referenced a study by Dr. Li. Will you provide a reference to the study?