Tea Party Ends for Coca-Cola and Nestea

Coca-Cola and Nestle are no longer taking the Nestea Plunge together in America. The two multinationals are dissolving their Beverage Partners Worldwide group, which produces Nestea-branded products, in the United States, Forbes reports, so they can each market their own beverages.

Thanks to America’s sudden fascination with healthy living (perhaps partially thanks to Michelle Obama), cola sales are going down, CSPnet.com reports, so Coke is looking to diversify its offerings in the tea-and-juice department.

Forbes sees the two companies redirecting the partnership’s efforts on Canada and Europe, along with plans to “enter into a license agreement with Nestle in Taiwan and Hong Kong.”

This likely means that Coca-Cola will put more energy into its own ready-to-drink tea products such as Gold Peak iced teas, CSP notes. “The company recently also purchased organic tea maker Honest Tea and will soon launch Fuze teas, a fusion of tea and juice flavors, to replace Nestea,” CSP notes.

Vending Times points out that PepsiCo, Coca-Cola’s archrival, “dominates the category with its Lipton RTD teas under a joint venture with Unilever NV.”

The Beverage Partners Worldwide venture was born in 2001,and grew out of a previous partnership between the two companies called Coca-Cola and Nestlé Refreshments.

Below, a look back at a classic TV commercial for the brand: