Hi, I'm Annie from Honest Tea®,
You are probably visiting this website in search
of good, honest tea - Something that simply tastes good, everyday.
Like you, I was sick of being bombarded with thousands of different tea choices, different tea styles and flavours, not to mention the variable quality. Well hopefully this website can make things a little easier for you.
I have had quite a journey through the tea world and would like to share a bit of that story with you here - so if you've got time, pour yourself a nice cup of tea and let's begin...
I started my love of tea with iced tea. Yes, the most refreshing drink in the world! I have been brewing iced tea now for over 6 years now so I know just how you like it, honest, with that real tea taste! Many of you are familiar with our first iced tea, Springleaf - You know the one, brewed fresh from the very best organic tea leaves. Being the first and only organic iced tea produced in Australia from real tea leaves (and with no added sugar) Springleaf was the original Honest Tea®.
It first appeared commercially at our local organic markets in 2004, where rain or shine, we got to know what real tea lovers wanted in an iced tea. We then rolled out the very best tea to every corner of the country, to EVERY state, well except Tassie - sorry guys! From our very first commercial brew back in 2005, the labels on our bottles have read, "Australian owned, Australian made - It's Honest Tea®" And I guess that really sums up, why we are best know as Honest Tea®. But what a feeling it is to watch your business grow! It is like one of the family - we have seen some great times, but also some not so good times...
For those of you who have been loyal iced tea followers, you may remember seeing Honest Tea in the news and on Channel 7's Sunrise in 2006 and again in 2007 starring yours truly... yes, that was my very exciting 15 minutes of fame...
Well, this was when we were fighting a very unpleasant legal game against an American company who owned a similar brand in the US. They thought that if they owned it in The States, they could stop us using it here. Obviously it doesn't work that way and after a futile attempt to attack our trademarks, our original ownership of the brand was confirmed! So, after putting that time consuming and costly game behind us, our iced tea continued to grow!
Did you know that at one stage, Springleaf Honest Tea® was available in over 4,000 outlets in Australia!!! After that, we achieved something we are very proud of... We were the first Australian iced tea company to sell tea to China!!! Unfortunately however, after all that excitement, the market changed... The global financial crisis of 2009 had an effect on many sectors, one being the premium iced tea market. Everyone was doing it tough; our manufacturer, our distributors, our outlets and our loyal customers. I'll be honest; it was not a fun time! So we here at "Teavolution Towers" decided to take a year off in 2010 to re-group and re-focus. Our iced tea lovers trusted us to deliver - all they wanted were a good iced tea and some real honesty, hence this waffling story and the consequent front label brand change!
So, early in 2011, we conducted some very successful in-store trials with the HONEST TEA® brand front and centre and spent many a "tea party" discussing what people are looking for and well... Honest Tea® was away again!
We are very conscious of the importance of listening to our consumers so just like we did with the original Springleaf Honest Tea® launch, we are popping up at local markets, selling Honest Tea® and talking to as many people as we can about what they love (and hate) about iced teas. We learnt so much with our first iced tea by doing this, why wouldn't we repeat it? Drop me a line and let me know if you would like to see Honest Tea® at a market near you!
While I am rambling here, I may as well give you some more of my story... My husband, Matt and I, actually met while working together at a tea company called Unilever back in 1997. Matt has worked in beverage marketing for what feels like forever but I think it was during his time at Diageo that he really developed his passion for listening to consumers and striving to deliver what they are after.
I have always worked in sales and after leaving Unilever, I worked at Schweppes for 7 years. These great companies taught us so much and together Matt and I felt that Australians were missing out on a really good, premium iced tea offering and quite frankly, really good teas.
Thank you for reading my little story - Feel free to drop me a line ([email protected]) or follow us on facebook (Honest Tea Australia) or on Twitter: honesttea_aus
Kind regards,
Annabel Braithwaite-Young (or Annie Young to friends and iced tea lovers!)
Like you, I was sick of being bombarded with thousands of different tea choices, different tea styles and flavours, not to mention the variable quality. Well hopefully this website can make things a little easier for you.
I have had quite a journey through the tea world and would like to share a bit of that story with you here - so if you've got time, pour yourself a nice cup of tea and let's begin...
I started my love of tea with iced tea. Yes, the most refreshing drink in the world! I have been brewing iced tea now for over 6 years now so I know just how you like it, honest, with that real tea taste! Many of you are familiar with our first iced tea, Springleaf - You know the one, brewed fresh from the very best organic tea leaves. Being the first and only organic iced tea produced in Australia from real tea leaves (and with no added sugar) Springleaf was the original Honest Tea®.
It first appeared commercially at our local organic markets in 2004, where rain or shine, we got to know what real tea lovers wanted in an iced tea. We then rolled out the very best tea to every corner of the country, to EVERY state, well except Tassie - sorry guys! From our very first commercial brew back in 2005, the labels on our bottles have read, "Australian owned, Australian made - It's Honest Tea®" And I guess that really sums up, why we are best know as Honest Tea®. But what a feeling it is to watch your business grow! It is like one of the family - we have seen some great times, but also some not so good times...
For those of you who have been loyal iced tea followers, you may remember seeing Honest Tea in the news and on Channel 7's Sunrise in 2006 and again in 2007 starring yours truly... yes, that was my very exciting 15 minutes of fame...
Well, this was when we were fighting a very unpleasant legal game against an American company who owned a similar brand in the US. They thought that if they owned it in The States, they could stop us using it here. Obviously it doesn't work that way and after a futile attempt to attack our trademarks, our original ownership of the brand was confirmed! So, after putting that time consuming and costly game behind us, our iced tea continued to grow!
Did you know that at one stage, Springleaf Honest Tea® was available in over 4,000 outlets in Australia!!! After that, we achieved something we are very proud of... We were the first Australian iced tea company to sell tea to China!!! Unfortunately however, after all that excitement, the market changed... The global financial crisis of 2009 had an effect on many sectors, one being the premium iced tea market. Everyone was doing it tough; our manufacturer, our distributors, our outlets and our loyal customers. I'll be honest; it was not a fun time! So we here at "Teavolution Towers" decided to take a year off in 2010 to re-group and re-focus. Our iced tea lovers trusted us to deliver - all they wanted were a good iced tea and some real honesty, hence this waffling story and the consequent front label brand change!
So, early in 2011, we conducted some very successful in-store trials with the HONEST TEA® brand front and centre and spent many a "tea party" discussing what people are looking for and well... Honest Tea® was away again!
We are very conscious of the importance of listening to our consumers so just like we did with the original Springleaf Honest Tea® launch, we are popping up at local markets, selling Honest Tea® and talking to as many people as we can about what they love (and hate) about iced teas. We learnt so much with our first iced tea by doing this, why wouldn't we repeat it? Drop me a line and let me know if you would like to see Honest Tea® at a market near you!
While I am rambling here, I may as well give you some more of my story... My husband, Matt and I, actually met while working together at a tea company called Unilever back in 1997. Matt has worked in beverage marketing for what feels like forever but I think it was during his time at Diageo that he really developed his passion for listening to consumers and striving to deliver what they are after.
I have always worked in sales and after leaving Unilever, I worked at Schweppes for 7 years. These great companies taught us so much and together Matt and I felt that Australians were missing out on a really good, premium iced tea offering and quite frankly, really good teas.
Thank you for reading my little story - Feel free to drop me a line ([email protected]) or follow us on facebook (Honest Tea Australia) or on Twitter: honesttea_aus
Kind regards,
Annabel Braithwaite-Young (or Annie Young to friends and iced tea lovers!)
