Sweet Leaf Tea Company
Sweet Leaf Tea Company is a producer of ready-to-drink organic teas and lemonades made with 100% pure cane sugar, owned by Nestlé and headquartered in the Penn Field Business Park in the South Congress area of Austin, Texas. It was founded in Beaumont, TX in 1998 by Clayton Christopher and David Smith. Sweet Leaf Tea is available in 16 oz recyclable aluminum cans, 16oz glass, 12oz PET and 20oz PET at specialty grocers across the United States. On April 2, 2008, Sweet Leaf Tea Company announced $18 million in private  funding from Catterton Partners. On May 29, 2008, Sweet Leaf Tea Company filed suit against an Arizona-based company for the name of their sweetener, SweetLeaf Stevia. On March 23, 2009, Nestlé Waters North America made a $15.6 million investment in Sweet Leaf Tea. It acquired the rest of the company in 2011. History. Sweet Leaf Tea was founded in 1998 in Beaumont, TX by Clayton Christopher, using $10,000 and his grandmother's recipe for home-brewed iced tea made with cane sugar. Early production consisted of brewing tea in crawfish pots in Hen's kitchen, using pillow  cases as "tea bags" and; then using garden hoses to transport the tea to plastic bottles. In March 2009, Nestlé Waters North America invested $15.6 million in the company. In March 2010, Clayton Christopher stepped down as CEO and was succeeded by former Nestle General Manager Dan Costello. In April 2010, Sweet Leaf acquired Cincinnati-based Tradewinds Beverage Co. Since 2012, Sweet Leaf has replaced the organic brewed tea that was in the original recipes with organic tea concentrates. Products. Teas Lemonades Headquarters. Sweet Leaf is headquartered in the Penn Field Business Park in the South Congress area of  Austin, Texas. Sweet Leaf originally had its headquarters in Beaumont, Texas. The headquarters moved to Austin in October 2003. In the mid-2000s, Sweet Leaf had its headquarters in an area west of Downtown Austin. In 2007, Sweet Leaf relocated to the South Congress area. In April 2009, the company began to look for a larger headquarters space. In October 2009, Sweet Leaf announced that it planned to move its headquarters to a LEED certified building during that month. In December 2009, the company moved its headquarters to the Penn Field Business Park in South Congress. Sweet Leaf Tea Company Sweet