Despite what you might think, canned iced tea is an excellent opportunity for coffee brands to diversify their menu and appeal to more consumers.
Iced tea has been an extremely popular drink for decades. It has a longer history as an RTD than coffee. Still, it continues to show sustained growth, driven by legacy consumer demand and its versatility as a naturally customisable RTD beverage.
Today, many variations of classic iced tea are available on the market, from beverages infused with botanicals and real fruit flavours to kombucha and cold brew tea. For coffee brands, these all offer an excellent way to diversify your menu.
We spoke with Steve Lovegrove, commercial director at Canton Tea and member of the European Speciality Tea Association, to learn more about how the canned iced tea market has developed and how iced tea appeals to modern consumer habits.
How has the iced tea market developed over time?
In recent years, a push for improved health and wellness among younger, more aware consumers has heralded more growth for the RTD segment. Some segments, such as kombucha and other fermented teas, have seen particular growth thanks to this – positioned now as healthy alternatives to sugary soft drinks.
However, iced tea, as a broader market, has been around for much longer than RTD coffee or kombucha. This means consumers are far more familiar with it, and there’s less of a need to make people aware of the category at large.
Iced tea was first introduced in the United States in 1904 at the St. Louis World Trade Fair when fast-thinking tea purveyors added ice cubes to hot tea samples to combat unseasonably hot weather.
Some 120 years on, more than 80% of all tea consumed in the United States is iced or cold, with the market worth over $14.7bn.
However, the US represents just under a quarter of global iced tea consumption – the Asia-Pacific region is far and away the largest base of iced tea drinkers. This is because tea is the general beverage of choice for millions (if not billions) across many APAC countries.
For most tea-consuming markets, iced tea represents more opportunity for growth and investment, dovetailing with changing consumer demands and requirements for beverages that are simultaneously refreshing, functional, and highly customisable.
As busier lifestyles and convenience-led purchasing have grown in recent years, the introduction of RTD canned iced tea has offered businesses new opportunities to enter the iced tea market and meet more consumer trends.
How does iced tea fulfil modern consumer needs?
According to a 2024 report, iced coffee drinkers are more “indulgent”, whereas iced tea drinkers are described as being “health-led, feeling that iced tea is compatible with their personal wellness beliefs and goals.
“Consumers are looking for refreshing, low-calorie iced teas that can be consumed on the go and are an alternative to carbonated beverages,” says Steve.
Iced tea is naturally suited for health-led product variation – it can be infused with natural fruits and botanicals like lemon, peach, or strawberry hibiscus, for example. It can also be fermented to create kombucha beverages (which are supposed to benefit gut health).
“Iced matcha has been one of the hero products over the last couple of years. It is now commonplace, with many cafes offering a variety of flavoured options, allowing the consumer to explore this popular product,” says Steve.
“I would envisage flavoured chilled matcha being available as a mainstream RTD beverage in the future as the category is seeing significant growth.”
Additionally, cold brew tea (similar to iced tea but differing in preparation) is growing at a pace, and it has several key differences that appeal to modern consumers.
Traditionally, iced tea is made by steeping tea leaves in hot water and then cooling the beverage with refrigeration or serving over ice. Cold brew tea, meanwhile, is made by steeping leaves in cold or room-temperature water for a longer period of time. However, recent technological developments have significantly reduced the time required for full extraction.
Tea’s tannic, astringent flavour emerges when the leaves are exposed to high temperatures. As such, cold brew tea is more mellow, delicate, and smoother. In many cases, this allows for a ”greater expression” of natural flavours – something that appeals to many younger consumers.
There is clear evidence in the marketplace that iced tea manufacturers are aware of these consumer trends and are responding in kind. For instance, American RTD iced tea giant Arizona offers a line of cold brew tea touting all-natural ingredients and real fruit infusions.
This isn’t new, either. Almost 10 years ago, Gold Peak became the first Coca-Cola brand to surpass $1 billion in sales in a single country. One of the largest iced tea brands in the world, its product portfolio includes an unsweetened iced tea RTD, a green tea variant, and naturally flavoured raspberry, peach, and lemon options.
Even tea companies that focus on tea leaves and tea bags instead of RTDs are offering products specifically designed for cold brewing in an effort to broaden their appeal to younger consumers.
How to source your own canned iced tea products
Capitalising on new consumer trends is easier for bigger businesses and multinationals because they have large budgets, state-of-the-art facilities, and pre-existing brand awareness.
However, start-up costs and challenges can be debilitating for smaller businesses and brands looking to enter the canned iced tea market for the first time. For example, aluminium can manufacturers often demand sizable minimum order quantities (MOQs) in the tens of thousands. This requires a significant upfront investment for brands to simply enter the market.
Moreover, when selling canned iced tea products in multiple markets, different safety regulations apply, often overlapping with national and international standards. This means there is already plenty of legislation to navigate, which can be extremely time-consuming for SMEs.
Luckily, brands can instead seek out private label RTD manufacturers with more approachable terms regarding MOQs, costs, and lead times. At Hardtank, for example, we offer private label clients MOQs as low as 3,000 units per SKU. Similarly, our lead times can be as low as six weeks, making getting to market a quicker and more realistic endeavour.
Our manufacturing facilities are also BRC-certified and compliant with the most stringent safety regulations. They help canned iced tea brands navigate production and logistics challenges while building consumer confidence in safe, high-quality RTD beverages.
We also believe that private label RTD partners should accommodate your packaging and branding requirements. That’s why our products are designed to be uniquely yours – with fully customisable cans to match the rest of your menu.
Finding the right private label canned iced tea partner
We’ve worked hard at Hardtank to offer our clients a comprehensive, trustworthy and high-quality private label service that helps them get to market quickly and confidently.
Moreover, our private label RTD service does not stop at canned iced tea – we offer a wide variety of different RTD beverage products, from single-origin nitro coffee to strawberry hibiscus cold brew. This ensures that as your business grows and converts customers, Hardtank is ready to help you expand your product suite and keep them happy.
Visit our website or contact us directly to learn more about incorporating canned iced tea into your product portfolio and about even more RTD beverages.
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Canned iced tea
