Honest Tea Launches Summertime Classic With a Twist: Zero-Calorie Lemonade Sweetened With Organic Stevia

BETHESDA, Md., May 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Honest Tea®, the nation's top-selling organic bottled tea company, is introducing zero-calorie Classic Lemonade, the first zero-calorie Honest Ade naturally sweetened with organic stevia. This new variety joins Passion Fruit Green Tea in the zero-calorie line-up.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110503/LA94049)

Classic Lemonade is a delicious USDA-certified organic, caffeine-free thirst quencher.  It delivers the refreshing tartness of fresh lemons perfectly balanced with naturally sweet organic stevia extract, an FDA-approved, leafy plant native to South America.  Stevia delivers natural sweetness, but does not contain any calories.  

"Most summertime drinks deliver short-term refreshment and long-term calories," said Seth Goldman, President and TeaEO of Honest Tea. "Our Classic Lemonade provides the satisfying taste of fresh-squeezed lemons and you won't have to worry about squeezing into your swimsuit."

The zero-calorie beverage is being offered in Honest Tea's PET bottle, which is fully recyclable and BPA-free and phthalates free, does not leach, and requires less energy to produce and ship. The label features a lemon slice as the wheel on an old-fashioned penny farthing bicycle.  

Classic Lemonade will be available at a suggested price of $1.79 at a variety of retail stores in New England and the Mid-Atlantic starting in May 2011 and in expanded distribution to the West and East coasts later in the year. The drink has 0 grams of sugar and 0 calories per 8 fl. oz. serving.

For more information, visit www.honesttea.com.  Follow Honest Tea on Twitter: @HonestTea and like us on Facebook: Facebook.com/HonestTea.

About Honest Tea

Honest Tea is the nation's top-selling organic bottled tea company with a mission to make great-tasting, truly healthy organic beverages sweetened with less sugar and fewer calories than most bottled beverages. Honest Tea's product lines include: Honest Tea ready-to-drink bottled teas in glass and PET #1 bottles, Honest Ade organic thirst quenchers, Honest Kids drink pouches and Honest CocoaNova, a brewed cacao infusion.  All varieties are USDA-certified organic and Fair Trade Certified™. Since Honest Tea was founded in Bethesda, Md. in 1998, the company has sustained an annual compound growth rate of more than 60 percent. In addition to being named one of The Better World Shopping Guide's "Ten Best Companies on the Planet based on their overall social and environmental record," Honest Tea was also listed as one of PlanetGreen.com's "Top 7 Green Corporations of 2010," received Greenopia.com's coveted 4-Leaf Rating as "the greenest beverage company" for the third year in a row and was recently ranked by The Huffington Post as one of the leading "8 Revolutionary Socially Responsible Companies." In March 2011, The Coca-Cola Company purchased Honest Tea, completing a transaction that began in 2008 when Coke took a minority interest in Honest Tea.

SOURCE Honest Tea