I've been checking out this forum for some time, but haven't found the answer to this question, so excuse me if this seems like a stupid question. I have had a dream of starting my own line of food products for some time.. One of the products I want to produce is a fresh brewed bottled iced tea.. I've been making this iced tea my own special way since I was 12 years old. Now the tea I make is made using tea bags from 2 different tea companies, one of whom already has a bottled iced tea on the market.. But it tastes nothing like mine, since I also add tea from company X and natural flavoring and cane sugar. My question is: Could I legally bottle this tea and sell it with my own label on it, or would I need to go to the two tea companies involved and get consent? If I'm not allowed to do this, I guess a followup question is, what are my options -- would I actually have to grown my own tea?

I suggest you seek legal advise from a professional.