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Zest Tea 2.0 | Energy Teas — Sparkling caffeinated tea. Kicks like coffee w/o the crash.
Zest's sparkling beverages are a line of natural energy teas that have as much caffeine as a strong cup of coffee (3x regular teas) and contain L-Theanine, an amino acid that's been shown to enhance alertness while reducing jitters and crash. The result is a more steady and focused alertness that lasts for hours.
Only 25 cals + 5 g sugar per can.
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Replies
Long time ZT drinker - new packaging looks awesome!
What will the price be for the canned product?
@billyschrero The canned product will be about $3 online (sold in 12 packs and with free shipping). Depending on the route to market for retail we'll see pricing between $2.49 and $2.99. With the current presale + PH discount the product is selling for $2.25 per unit. Thanks for asking and glad to hear you're a fan : )
@aeisenberger Yes but not right away. We're concentrating on the New York market before expanding our retail presence nationally. Our products will be available for purchase nationally online though.
I'm a big fan of the first product, and pleasantly surprised/excited by this new product line. The 25 calories / 5 g sugar per can is great - I'm not a fan of sugary drinks. Just bought a pack and excited to try it!
Question: Is L-Theanine something that was not in the original product? If so, how did you decide / figure out that it was right for these sparkling teas?
@mwil20 thanks man! L-Theanine is naturally in all of our teas. In the bottled form we amped it up a bit, so it has a pronounced effect, which I'm sure you'll notice when you try it!
The combo of Caffeine and L-Theanine is well studied and heavily used in the nootropics world because the 'focusing' effect is very pronounced (unlike some other things in nootropics). All we're really doing is 'optimizing' the levels of L-Theanine above and beyond the natural levels in the teas.
I'm fan of Zest and look forward to trying the latest! Does the carbonation indicate zest is being used more as a substitute for carbonated energy drinks instead of coffee?
@eawharton about half of our customers for bagged teas are 'reformed' coffee drinkers that have either switched part or all of their daily routine to Zest. I think we'll still see some of that with our bottled product, but we're definitely gunning for more of the energy drink market with this product. There's an entire generation of people trying to figure out what comes after Red Bull and our product is well situated as a healthier-than option imho. Thanks for asking : )
Long-time drinker and big fan of your loose leaf lines, so can't wait to try the RTD version. Quick question for you guys—what informed the decision to make the drink sparkling rather than still?
Anyway, can't wait to try it.
@mossadamamerica a lot of what we do revolves around making the tea category a little more exciting. Sparkling beverages have been hot in grocery lately, but we haven't seen much on that front in tea. Plus we think it adds a really nice refreshing edge to the beverage that takes it over the top! Thanks for asking : )
Good morning hunters!
My name is James Fayal and I’m the founder of Zest Tea. Thanks @chrismessina for hunting us!
After a years worth of work in the lab and countless iterations of both flavors and design, I’m amped to be showcasing our new line of sparkling energy teas to the PH community.
The Zest team has worked their tails off building a product that tastes amazing and is beautiful in both design and function. All of the blends have as much caffeine as a strong cup of coffee, but also contain ~100 mg of L-Theanine, an amino acid shown to have a synergistic relationship with caffeine and produce a more steady alertness that lasts for hours. Best of all, we’ve crafted these amazing products with only 25 - 35 calories and 5 grams of sugar per can.
The idea for Zest came up while I was working as a VC analyst. I was an avid tea drinker, but also working extremely long hours. Tea would help me get through the first 6 or 8 hours of the day, but then I’d realize I needed something with a little more kick and switch over to whatever awful coffee or heavily sweetened energy drink was readily available in the office. Rather than continuing to compromise I developed a healthy tea-based energy product. The first version was a line of bagged teas (named Best New Product at the World Tea Expo) that came out in 2014 after a small crowdfunding campaign ($9,955 raised). Since then we have grown to selling over a million dollars of product online and scaled from 0 to 700+ retail stores this year alone (with thousands in the pipeline for next year).
This is our first new product since our launch, so we’re excited about the next chapter of the Zest Tea saga and we’re glad to have the PH community along for the ride!
We’d love feedback on the product, design, website, or anything else. Feel free to comment here or email me directly at James@zesttea.com.
P.S. on top of the pre-sale discount we have a PH special for an additional 10% off with code: PRODUCTHUNT
Perfect drink for sleep deprived tea lovers. Highly recommended!
Pros:Super caffeinated! You only need one cup to get you going.
Cons:Hard to find locally to buy
Hey Bethany, online is still our number one sales channel (and the only channel to buy the new bottled teas for now), but our bagged teas have growing distribution. If you don't mind me asking, where do you live?
Big fan of the original Zest products. I noticed that the flavors for the new products are slightly different than the hot tea flavors. What were your thoughts behind this decision?
@matt_shaver some of the flavors were inspired by the originals (Pom Mojito obviously and Citrus Hibiscus as some similar notes to Blue Lady), but we were aiming to come out with 3 flavors that are very distinct from each other and appeal to a wide customer base. The Chai is completely new and imo could become the most popular because it's delicious and the concept of a 'sparkling' chai is unique in itself.
Hey Zest Team - My office is hooked on your bagged product. Will you be making the canned product available through your subscription service too?
@jason_gates That's the plan! Might take us a little while to get it integrated, but probably within the next month or so. Thanks for the question and glad to hear the Compology team is loving Zest : )
Still primarily a coffee drinker, however I have become immune to the caffeine levels in coffee and don't really get a boost from it any longer. Have used your hot teas when I know that I need to feel that boost. I take it your cans will contain the same amount of caffeine as your bags, but with the added amino acid levels? Looking forward to trying it out!
@jessevanwest You nailed it Jesse! The additional amino acids (about 100 mg added L-Theanine) should be noticeable in these blends compared to our bagged teas.
I am a huge Zest Tea drinker and would recommend it to anyone looking to get off of coffee and into a caffeinated tea that helps you feel stronger.
Pros:It's tasty and delicious and doesn't give you jitters
Cons:Wish it was available nearby at the store :(
Hi James. I've actually never had ZT. As someone who drinks a cup of coffee every day, can you speak a bit more to the positives of the caffeine in your drinks versus coffee? Are there other PH people who can chime in here on comparing the two? Any idea when it will be available in Seattle, or is buying online my best bet?
@dan_bloom Hi! Thanks for the questions. One of the big differences between Zest and coffee is the L-Theanine that our product contains, which helps moderate the caffeine boost and produce a more steady and prolonged alertness. You can look up the synergistic relationship between caffeine and L-Theanine if you are interested in learning more. We don't have any major chains in the Seattle area yet, but we do hope to get Safeway sometime soon, so keep an eye out. For now online is definitely the easiest place to buy (and the only place for the bottled beverages)!
Just ordered a variety pack. I'm a sucker for specialty drinks that try to be as healthy as possible. Can't wait to use this instead of coffee for a couple of weeks.
Been drinking zest since it came out, and I’ve stuck to it because it‘s really a great taste.
Pros:Great taste you can’t find anywhere else. I’ve always liked tea over coffee, and this gives it the caffeine boost I need.
Cons:Been ordering online directly from the website. Would be great to have it at a local store.
Slowly but surely we're building out retail, so hopefully you can find it nearby soon!
For some reason coffee just doesn’t feel right in the afternoon. These are refreshing and get the job done. Crisp and can taste the quality of the tea.
Pros:love these for afternoon burst of energy. Great flavor without being too sweet
Cons:Wish I could get it at the Walgreens on my block.
We're building out retail now! The new sparkling beverage is an even better fit for convenience stores like Walgreens, so hopefully you'll be able to find it there soon.
Thanks for the feedback : )
Love the idea and the alternative to coffee by way of black tea. Personally, I drink matcha in the mornings as it makes me feel much more energized and focused without the crash of coffee, and the taste is so much more enjoyable! I do love teas as well though so I'd be interested to try it. The one thing I found difficult on your site was finding the ingredients.
@desiree_chance Thanks for the feedback! If you want to try our hot teas, here's an offer to get our mini sampler, which allows you to try all flavors at a much smaller cost before committing to bigger orders: https://www.zesttea.com/products.... Thanks again!
Blue lady is freakin delicious
Pros:Serious buzz and very high quality
Cons:none
I can't wait to try all the flavors.
Pros:less sugar/better taste than popular energy drinks
Cons:Sell the cans in 16oz and 20oz rather than just 12oz!!! :P
Thanks for the feedback Giles! We'll definitely look into more size varieties in the future.
A very solid alternative to coffee - give it a try!
Pros:great flavor, but still mild as a good tea should be - definitely more caffeine than your typical cup of tea
Cons:....