Simons: Local tea-maker high on no-cal energy drink

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Barry Cooper's bearded, Hemingwayesque face graces each bottle of Bazza tea from the Cooper Tea Co. It sits just above his company motto: "Life's full of adventure, and it's best to be prepared."

The British-born, Kenya-reared tea entrepreneur recently took on a new adventure with the introduction of that tea, the Louisville firm's first retail product.

Bazza - a no-calorie, high-energy tea - did very well in last fall's Denver market test and went into national distribution in January. Bazza's Raspberry and Green Tea flavors are $1.89 for a 16.9-ounce bottle at 7-Elevens here and nationally.

"Bottled tea and energy drinks are both very hot categories, and I'm proud that we beat Enviga into the marketplace," Cooper said.

Nestea Enviga, a canned green-tea energy drink from Nestlé and Coke, rolled out nationally in February. Its Green Tea, Berry and Peach flavors are $1.29 to $1.49 per 12-ounce can wherever Coke products are sold.

In March, Enviga drew a lawsuit from the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nutrition-advocacy group, challenging the claim on its label that drinking three cans a day would burn 60 to 100 calories.

Bazza's label, on the other hand, doesn't say anything about burning calories. Cooper Tea marketing director Colleen Norvine says the firm is "waiting to see how the research falls out before we make any claims."

Unlike Enviga - which is bolstered with additional caffeine - Bazza uses green tea, yerba matte, cola nut and guarana as stimulants. Caffeine occurs naturally in those ingredients.

For more information on Bazza, go to coopertea.com.

• Elsewhere in Colorado's tea industry, Boulder-based Tea Spot unveiled its latest product, the Tea Maestro infuser tea pot, at this past weekend's World Tea Expo in Atlanta. This was the fourth year at the expo for Tea Spot, the only Colorado tea company that participates regularly.

Business partners Karen Harbour and Maria Uspenski founded Tea Spot in 2003 as a tea room and began to develop and sell retail products in 2005.

In March, Tea Spot began to distribute its hand-crafted, loose-leaf teas nationally through Wild Oats, Whole Foods and independent gourmet and natural-food stores. Offerings include organic blends Boulder Breakfast, Boulder Blues, Earl of Grey, Mango Tango, Meditative Mind, Red Rocks and Crème Caramel, all priced at $10 for a 3-ounce tin, which makes 30 to 50 cups of tea.

Harbour and Uspenski see great things ahead for the Tea Maestro. They hold a patent for "an automatic system for removing tea from hot water at the conclusion of the brewing cycle."

"Because the patent covers a complete new category - infuser tea pots - we'll be able to roll out a variety of automatic steeping systems," Uspenski said.

Harbour and Uspenski expect to start selling the Tea Maestro for $70 at the end of July from their Tea Spot tea room, 1801 13th St., Boulder, 303-442-4832, and Web site, the-teaspot.com.

Have a tip on a new food product or grocery trend? Contact Janet Simons at simonsj@RockyMountainNews.com, 303-954-2547.