Founded by Baltimore-based entrepreneur Quentin Vennie and actress/wellness mogul Gwyneth Paltrow, Equitea is a new line of USDA Organic RTD cold-brewed teas that are focused on a mission of prioritizing mental health. The lineup currently includes three varieties: Focus with green tea, Recharge with black tea, and Recover with hibiscus. 

The products, which are packaged in 12 ounce slim cans, are made with premium ingredients and lightly sweetened with raw honey. Each contains between 6 and 8 grams of added sugar and between 30 and 45 calories depending on the SKU. In addition, each SKU is enhanced with other herbal ingredients that tie back to the brand’s mission of health & wellness. 

Founded in 2020, the brand started out selling loose leaf tea but appears to have completely pivoted to focus on this RTD line. This is a strategy that has been followed by other tea companies that have successfully pushed into the ready-to-drink space.

As for the liquid that they’ve created, all three are carefully crafted tea-forward products that should appeal to the discerning tea drinker. Here’s a look at each of the three SKUs that we sampled:

• Recharge - Made with black tea, raw honey, lemon juice and ashwagandha, this is a nice riff on a classic lemon flavored iced tea.  It has a bold but smooth tea flavor and mild notes of honey and lemon. 

• Focus - Made with honey, lemon juice, green tea, astragalus, lemon verbena, lemongrass, Focus has a mellow green tea flavor that has a complex lemon flavor thanks to the lemon verbena and lemongrass. 

• Recover - The lone herbal tea formulation, Recover contains hibiscus, honey, cinnamon, allspice, rosehip, elderberry, lemon peel and schisandra berry.  The tart flavor of hibiscus pairs nicely with the added spices and we really like the light berry finish.

As for the branding, we like the play on words with the brand name and it certainly suits the brand’s mission statement that includes things like “being healthy is a human right.”  Plus, it establishes the brand as a tea brand in a clever and succinct way.

Moving on to the label, Equitea has a text-heavy label that follows a top to bottom hierarchy. The first item on the label is the Equitea logo, which features both a large “Equi-tea” that runs on two lines and a much smaller “Equitea” that runs vertically to the left of it. Below this is a rectangular color which features an accent color that’s unique to each SKU and, inside it, white lettering that states the SKU name and the blend of tea.  Continuing down the can, you’ll find a product statement of “cold-brewed, full leaf, enhanced with adaptogens,” an illustration of the hero ingredient, and a bulleted list of sorts that mentions other key ingredients.  Finally, at the bottom, is a USDA Organic logo.

While it’s relatively easy to read all of this, we think that the brand would benefit from tightening up and reducing the amount of text on the front panel. The drink is largely about simplicity and cleanliness and we think that this would help the branding better reflect that. 

In the end, we’re definitely fans of Equitea’s initial line of RTD teas. They are high quality and enjoyable tasting and do a nice job of having a foot in both the premium and mainstream markets. There’s definitely a bit of work to do to refine the label structure, but we think the current version should help them get a foot in the door.