Howard Schultz is a Powerful Man, We Hear…

Web Site The Daily Meal has chosen Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz as the "Most Powerful Person in Drink," presumably because without Starbucks such a list wouldn't have gotten written at The Daily Meal. We, of course, are disappointed that they forgot US... but if that doesn't extinguish your burning desire to look at it, here's the list.

Harris Poll Names Beverage Brands of the Year

When it comes to brand value, consumers flock to a handful of beverage brands including Green Mountain, Coke, Gatorade, Lipton, SoBe, vitaminwater, and Poland Spring, according to the results of a new Harris Interactive poll and study. The annual Harris Poll EquiTrend study measures and compares the health of more than 1,500 brands by analyzing the responses of over 38,500 consumers on questions related to brand value and loyalty.

Rohan Oza, Former Glaceau Vitaminwater CMO, To Be Featured at BevNET Live

BevNET is delighted to announce that Rohan Oza will deliver a keynote presentation on Tuesday, June 5 as part of BevNET Live in Manhattan. Oza’s high-energy presentation will focus on how beverage entrepreneurs can deploy creative disruption as a technique to build their lifestyle brands. Oza will offer insights into the key cultural trends that are affecting beverage marketing and product development and offer methods for the BevNET Live audience to formulate strategy around those trends.

Review: m?r Sparkling Enhanced Water

m?r, which was previously reviewed in 2008, has evolved from being a “beverage for the mind and body” to a “sparkling enhanced water.”  With a three flavor line and enjoyable…

Pack Changes On Tap for Vita Coco

Labeling changes are on tap for leading coconut water brand Vita Coco, which is conducting a line refresh that will migrate across the country throughout the summer.

Review: CocoZona Espresso

While it’s way too early to call coffee flavored coconut water a trend, the number of products in this fledgling space has increased to three.  However, AriZona’s CocoZona “Espresso” takes…

TSG Sells Pop Chips Stake to Verlinvest

TSG Consumer Partners, a private equity firm known for its profitable investment in a number of food and beverage companies including Vitaminwater and Voss Water, has sold its stake in San Francisco-based Pop Chips to Verlinvest, a Belgian-based private equity group. Pop Chips has a number of beverage investors, including Rohan Oza of Vitaminwater fame.

SymphonyIRI Lists Most Successful New Beverage Launches of 2011

Single-serve offerings of coffee and tea led the way for the most successful new beverage launches in 2011, according to SymphonyIRI’s 2011 “New Products Pacesetters” report. The report, which compiles the top new food and beverage brands based on dollar sales, lists carbonated, sports and energy categories as having the second-most active launches within the beverage industry.

Review: Zingi Well

Zingi Well is an upstart line of java turmeric and ginger enhanced beverages.  While we’re seeing an uptick in spice enhanced beverages coming to market, these concepts are still in…

AriZona Lets Facebook Fans Vote on New Flavor; BevNET TV’s First Taste Sampling

In celebration of their 20 year anniversary, AriZona is offering the chance for their fans to vote -- via Facebook -- on one of three new flavor concepts that they’ve created. Since it would be impossible to have every fan that votes try the flavor samples (and what fun would it really be to just vote based on the name of a flavor?), AriZona asked a variety of people, including food writers, celebrity chefs, random consumers on the streets of New York, and yours truly, to work as “Flavor Panelists.”

Review: Caveman Foods Organic Water Kefir “Vanilla”

Caveman Foods is a manufacturer of a line of organic kefir water beverages. Their products, which we’ve previously reviewed, utilize a variety of original flavorings (things like saffron). Now, we’re…

AriZona Introduces CocoZona Espresso

And there's another one in the pool... AriZona has leaped into the growing sub-segment of coconut water/coffee combos with the introduction of CocoZona Espresso. The new beverage - the first product extension in AriZona's fledgling CocoZona line - is a 100 percent coconut water and espresso blend and contains 50 mg of caffeine and 70 calories per 14.5 oz. bottle.