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Steaz Gains In-School Approval |
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Monday, 24 March 2008 |
 The Healthy Beverage Co., makers of Steaz Sparkling Green Tea, has recently announced that it will now offer its line of green tea drinks in 12-ounce cans that have received approval from the USDA for use in school cafeterias.
The beverages are to be released in conjunction with the launch of the Steaz Healthy Schools Initiative, a program that encourages companies to provide healthier foods for school programs that will enable students and teachers to make better food and beverage choices.
The tea in the cans comes in four flavors: raspberry, orange, green tea with lemon and root beer. It contains no caffeine, is sweetened with organic cane sugar juice instead of high fructose corn syrup, and has the same good-for-you antioxidants and polyphenols as does a cup of green tea.
The primary difference in ingredients between the canned tea and bottled tea is that the cans contain organic acerola juice, a tropical cousin of the cherry with a high vitamin C content, explains the company. Because the new canned drinks are being marketed towards children and young adults for use in schools, according to Steaz co-founder Eric Schnell, nutrition was paramount, and the Brazilian acerola juice within one can of tea fulfills one's daily vitamin C requirement.
In an attempt to be more school-friendly, the tea in the cans also is decaffeinated—in contrast to the bottled tea, which contains caffeine.
Aside from being nutritionally beneficial to grade schools, the cans also allow Steaz to sell its product in venues that may not have been as accessible before, simply because cans are more easily transportable than bottles.
"They can be sold in stadiums, public schools, beaches, outdoor events, food service and vending, all of which, as a company, we are trying to enter in the next couple of years," says Schnell. "Portability is the big factor here."
Iowa's public schools were the first to receive the canned tea on Jan. 1, 2008. It is now present in more than 350 schools in the state. Steaz soon plans to extend the cans' availability to schools nationwide.
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