NuZee Inc. (doing business as Coffee Blenders), Plano, Texas, and Farmer Bros. Co., Northlake, Texas, announced a strategic partnership under which Farmer Brothers will provide access to manufacturing capacity as NuZee continues to roll out new coffee and tea products in the United States. Under the agreement, NuZee may place up to 50 co-packing machines in Farmer Brothers' 500,000-square-foot, SQF-certified, zero waste facility in Northlake, Texas. 

San Diego-based Medical Marijuana Inc., a publically traded cannabis company, announced that its subsidiary Kannaway has released its new single-serve coffee and tea pods, which are infused with 10 mg of hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD) in each pod, the company says. The single-serve coffee pods – Kannaway French Roast – are made with 100 percent premium Arabica coffee beans and are batch roasted by a fifth generation roast master, it adds. 

David Rio launched its latest tea flavor: Black Rhino Cocoa Chai.

Starbucks Coffee Co. expanded its K-Cup offerings with the release of Starbucks Sweetened Iced Coffee and Tazo Sweetened Iced Tea K-Cup packs.

Red Rose Tea is brewing up three of its best-selling black tea blends in a new single-serve-cup format.

Salada Tea has partnered with the American Cancer Society to help the fight against cancer. As part of the partnership, Salada Tea donated $25,000 to the organization and is promoting awareness of its cancer research, education and prevention mission with special-edition packaging and inserts in all Salada Tea products.

As the seasons change, fashion and tabloid magazines jump on the opportunity to highlight the latest fashion trends. In its latest white paper, Chicago-based Euromonitor International uses that same mentality for the beverage marketplace.

 Last year, sales of tea and ready-to-drink (RTD) tea increased 5.1 percent, reaching $4.3 billion in food, drug, convenience stores and mass merchandisers, excluding Walmart, according to Mintel’s July 2011 “Tea and RTD Teas – U.S.” report.  

Tea continued to capitalize on a positive year in both the bagged and loose leaf tea segment as well as the ready-to-drink (RTD) segment. RTD showed the most growth at 8.5 percent for more than $2.3 billion in sales, according to SymphonyIRI Group, Chicago, for the 52 weeks ending May 15 in U.S. supermarkets, drug stores, gas and convenience stores and mass merchandise outlets, excluding Wal-Mart. Bagged and loose leaf tea sales experienced a 1.8 percent increase for more than $782.5 million, the market research firm’s data states.