Nestea is a brand of iced tea and cold beverage solutions owned by Nestlé, manufactured by The Coca-Cola Company and distributed by Nestlé's beverage department in the United States and by Beverage Partners Worldwide (BPW), a joint venture between The Coca-Cola Company and Nestlé, in the rest of the world. It competes with Unilever/PepsiCo's Lipton Iced Tea and Fuze Tea. Nestea provides a variety of tea products, including liquid and powdered tea concentrates, refrigeratable teas, and ready-to-drink bottles dispensed by vendor or vending machine. The beverage comes in several flavors, depending on the country.
Since the start of 2017, Nestlé and Coca-Cola agreed to end the iced tea Nestea joint venture after 16 years of collaboration. One of the reasons for this, is that Coca-Cola and Nestlé wants to pursue different strategies in a rapidly changing market. Nestlé will handle the distribution of Nestea in most countries excepted in Canada, Spain, Portugal, Romania, Andorra, Bulgaria and Hungary where Coke will retain a license.
The new recipe, launched by Nestlé after the end of the joint venture, does not contain artificial colors and flavors, corn syrup and no GMO ingredients anymore. Also, Nestea ready-to-drink iced tea is made with stevia extract and can be found in different flavors such as lemon, raspberry and peach. The new recipe sources its tea leaves form Nilgiri, a region in India known for producing high-quality tea.