A project that has been two years in the making is finally here- this week, we are chilling our very own exclusive Plantation Iced Tea at your nearest neighborhood store! From taste to can design, we have been working on this locally-inspired drink, along with our partners from Ball Corporation and Ito En Hawaii, and our creative agency, Theory.

The first stage, back in late 2016, was to come up with a recipe that could resonate with the Hawai’i consumer. Our Category Manager of Beverages, Debbie Rojas, met with Ito En Hawaii to develop the recipe she (a Plantation Iced Tea fan herself) was envisioning. Balancing the mixture of fragrant tea with sweet and tart pineapple juice was a challenge. Several variations were made for the rest of the Merchandising team to sample and provide feedback. After many blind taste tests and voting, the winning mixture was determined!

With the recipe established, it was time for the second stage to begin: design! We had the flavors, we just needed to visually portray that onto the can. With Theory, we poured over pages and pages of images, colors, inspirations and their original concepts. Finally we landed on the colorful, elegant yet relaxed design- a nod to the fruity notes of the tea and incorporation of our signature greens and oranges.

By fall of 2017, the product was finally coming together. All that was left to do was to approve the final mock-up before going into production. This third stage was a process, but necessary to perfect! Our team went to Ball Corporation in Kapolei to see the cans cut, printed, dried and shaped. It was amazing to see the process of a 10,000 lb coil, 5 miles long, transform into oodles and oodles of cans. We went through about three runs of mock ups due to technical adjustments of the layout, but finally everything was in place, literally!

The can you see on shelves today is a product of many hands and minds. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!