• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Trendingnow

1

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year

2

Despite a $500 million net worth, Shaq just finished his fourth degree. He warns graduates: 'Your character will take you further than your resume'

3

Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 

1

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year

2

Despite a $500 million net worth, Shaq just finished his fourth degree. He warns graduates: 'Your character will take you further than your resume'

3

Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 
RetailNestle

Nestlé Has Brewed Up a Makeover for Nestea

By
John Kell
John Kell
Contributing Writer and author of CIO Intelligence
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
John Kell
John Kell
Contributing Writer and author of CIO Intelligence
Down Arrow Button Icon
February 14, 2017, 7:00 AM ET
ProEXR File Description=Attributes=channels (chlist)compression (compression): ZipdataWindow (box2i): [0, 0, 8499, 8499]displayWindow (box2i): [0, 0, 8499, 8499]lineOrder (lineOrder): Increasing YpixelAspectRatio (float): 1.000000screenWindowCenter (v2f): [0.000000, 0.000000]screenWindowWidth (float): 1.000000=Channels=A (half)Ambient Occlusion Output.A (half)B (half)G (half)R (half)Reflection Shading Output.B (half)Reflection Shading Output.G (half)Reflection Shading Output.R (half)Shading Incidence Output.A (half)Transparent Shading Output.B (half)Transparent Shading Output.G (half)Transparent Shading Output.R (half)
Courtesy of Nestle

Nestlé has underaken a major brand overhaul for the Nestea ice tea brand, aiming to evolve the brand to be more on trend by touting fewer ingredients and a “clean” nutritional label.

The Swiss food conglomerate on Tuesday announced it has fully remade the Nestea brand. That means the new Nestea will come with new recipes, a new logo, and a new bottle to help Nestlé tackle the $4.5 billion ready-to-drink tea category. Nestlé says the remake is the largest overhaul in Nestea’s 70-year history. The new Nestea bottles will start to hit retail shelves nationwide this month.

“The brand has never gone through the total evolution that it is going through today,” Karen Ress, vice president and general manager of Nestlé Waters North America’s tea unit, told Fortune. “We revolutionized every aspect of the brand.”

The big changes include reformulated fruit flavored teas and four new so-called real brewed teas. The fruit-flavored teas contain no high fructose corn syrup and no artificial ingredients or flavors. The real brewed teas are streamlined and only contain four ingredients: water, sugar, tea and citric acid. Those teas use leaves from Nilgiri, India. The new bottles, meanwhile, have grips and a wider mouth than the older Nestea bottles.

“The tea itself and how we come to market had to change,” said Cassin Chaisson, Nestlé Waters North America tea marketing director. She said that while consumers trusted Nestea and they know the brand—it has 84% awareness in the United States—the old version wasn’t meeting current demands for an iced tea. “We had to look at ourselves and say, we aren’t providing what they want in tea today,” Chaisson said. “We wanted that frank conversation.”

Nestlé’s move to plot a pivot for the brand is the first big undertaking it has taken for Nestea since it walked away from a 50-50 joint venture with Coca-Cola (KO) several years ago. The Swiss company took full ownership of the brand and by moving to cut down on the amount of sugar it uses in Nestea’s beverages, it mirrors what Nestlé is doing to cut back on sugar found in the company’s candy products. Nestlé’s Nesquik is also undergoing a sugar transformation.

Adults are increasingly concerned about the amount of sugar they consume and are increasingly making new purchasing decisions to avoid it. Food brands are aiming to tackle those concerns head on by launching new products with less sugar or reformulating existing products to cut down on the levels of sugar that are used. Big soda companies like PepsiCo (PEP) and Coke have both promised to remake their portfolios to rely less on sugar.

But there’s a balancing act that all these brands must maintain when tackling the sugar conundrum. They want to avoid certain sweeteners that consumers say they don’t want in their drinks, like aspartame, and ultimately, people still want some of their beverages to taste sweet.

“Consumers in fruit tea, they love sweet, fruit-flavored tea. But they don’t want the calories or the sugar,” said Chaisson. She explained that to maintain sweetness, Nestlé added the sweetener stevia to cut back on the amount of sugar calories that Nestea drinkers would get from their tea. But the company was still able to maintain that sweet, fruity flavor.

In another segment of tea drinkers, the preference is less about fruit and more about a tea-forward taste. The brand’s real brewed teas aimed to tackle two top concerns for that health-conscious crowd: eliminating high fructose corn syrup and reducing sugar. “They want real brewed teas in a more streamlined formulation,” explained Chaisson.

American drinkers today are “looking for flavor are looking for choices that have a healthy halo, they don’t want the baggage that carbonated soft drinks or juice has,” she said. That’s a competitive advantage for the tea category, as consumers have broadly cut back on their intake of sodas and juices because of concerns about the calories and high sugar count often associated with those beverages.

About the Author
By John KellContributing Writer and author of CIO Intelligence

John Kell is a contributing writer for Fortune and author of Fortune’s CIO Intelligence newsletter.

See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Retail

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Retail

James Daunt sits in a booksop, gesturing with both hands and smiling.
AIbooks
Barnes & Noble CEO clarifies the bookseller’s stance on AI-written books after refusing to ban them: ‘This is a straightforward rejection of AI books’
By Sasha RogelbergMay 22, 2026
8 hours ago
Walmart shoppers are filling their gas tanks with less than 10 gallons for the first time since 2022, and its CFO calls it ‘an indication of stress’
EconomyRetail
Walmart shoppers are filling their gas tanks with less than 10 gallons for the first time since 2022, and its CFO calls it ‘an indication of stress’
By Marco Quiroz-GutierrezMay 22, 2026
10 hours ago
trump
EnvironmentWhite House
Trump reverses grocery, air conditioning pollution regulations because they’re too woke
By Matthew Daly and The Associated PressMay 21, 2026
1 day ago
target
Retailearnings
Target posts biggest jump in comparable sales in 4 years as turnaround takes shape
By Anne D'Innocenzio and The Associated PressMay 20, 2026
2 days ago
Variational co-founders Edward Yu and Lucas Schuermann pose for a picture
CryptoCryptocurrency
Variational raises $50 million Series A to bring liquidity from traditional markets to blockchain rails
By Jack KubinecMay 20, 2026
3 days ago
A Pizza Hut workers prepares an order for delivery.
LawFood and drink
Pizza Hut franchisee claims $100 million losses from ‘cascading operational breakdowns’ in AI adoption gone wrong
By Sasha RogelbergMay 19, 2026
3 days ago

Most Popular

Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year
Success
Jeff Bezos wants the bottom half of earners to pay zero income tax—he says nurses making just $75K should save $12K a year
By Preston ForeMay 21, 2026
1 day ago
Despite a $500 million net worth, Shaq just finished his fourth degree. He warns graduates: 'Your character will take you further than your resume'
Success
Despite a $500 million net worth, Shaq just finished his fourth degree. He warns graduates: 'Your character will take you further than your resume'
By Preston ForeMay 20, 2026
3 days ago
Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 
Workplace Culture
Bolt CEO says he let go of his entire HR team for creating problems that didn’t exist: ‘Those problems disappeared when I let them go’ 
By Preston ForeMay 19, 2026
3 days ago
Pay transparency is exposing a bigger problem: Most companies can't explain why they pay what they pay
Workplace Culture
Pay transparency is exposing a bigger problem: Most companies can't explain why they pay what they pay
By Sydney LakeMay 20, 2026
2 days ago
Indeed chief economist says we’re entering an era of ‘great mismatch’ thanks to a generational imbalance of workers
Success
Indeed chief economist says we’re entering an era of ‘great mismatch’ thanks to a generational imbalance of workers
By Emma BurleighMay 22, 2026
11 hours ago
McKinsey partner says up to 50% of work hours could be transformed within the next 5 years
AI
McKinsey partner says up to 50% of work hours could be transformed within the next 5 years
By Emma BurleighMay 21, 2026
1 day ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.