This is news you might want to sit down for. It turns out that Arizona Iced Tea has been keeping a secret from us, and it’s not necessarily a small one.
A lawsuit was filed against the company after it became apparent that their very popular green tea didn’t contain one of the ingredients that’s listed in bold on the front of the bottle. If you’re envisioning one of their tallboys right now, you’d probably remember that right at the bottom it says, “with Ginseng and Honey.”
Ginseng is popular for boosting your energy and is even associated with lowering your blood sugar. It’s actually a pretty nifty root additive to include in your products. And that’s where the problem lies — Arizona Green Tea actually doesn’t contain any of it.
Who knows what went wrong with the production, but Kalesha Niles and Jason Lahey — who are filing the lawsuit — have actual proof. They went to two completely different laboratories to test out the tea, and neither found any evidence of ginseng. It kind of makes you wonder whether or not other companies are lying to us, too. Who would have thought to actually test a claim like this?
Arizona’s green tea has been a beverage staple for quite some time.
Not only does it taste good, but its iconic can is almost a work of art. In fact, it makes consumers really think that the tea is naturally good for you.
Taste aside, it has also inspired some wardrobes. Similar to the Trix yogurt dress that Taylor Swift wore the other day, people have had Arizona-inspired outfits to share with the internet.
In a way, it’s almost crazy that it took people so long to discover that the drink wasn’t what it seemed. When it comes to your health, a lie like this is even more deceiving.
According to Delish, “ginseng” isn’t found on the small list of ingredients on the can. But, it’s kind of hard to miss.
In fact, it’s right under “Green Tea,” meaning it’s something they wanted to advertise. It’s not like they didn’t know it was there.
Crack open a cold one! pic.twitter.com/6PMDOFyv2b
— AriZona Iced Tea (@DrinkAriZona) November 14, 2017
The lawsuit believes that the company wanted customers to believe ginseng was in the drink to try and raise the price. Arizona is notoriously cheap, but if you had to choose between Arizona and another tea, wouldn’t you pay more for the one that might actually make you more alert?
Nothing in life is guaranteed…except 99 cent big cans. 😎
— AriZona Iced Tea (@DrinkAriZona) April 20, 2017
“Defendants know that if they were to use enough ginseng in the product to actually provide energy to consumers, their revenues and competitive advantage would suffer,” the lawsuit said, per Delish. Still, wouldn’t you assume the company would at least include a little?
Now, here’s the thing. It’s not like anyone should have thought this tea was healthy.
I was drinking an Arizona iced tea and some lady felt the need to tell me it's not healthy.
— Sarah (@klennersarah) June 4, 2016
The tea shouldn’t serve as a replacement for a daily vitamin. Healthline reports that it contains 17 grams of sugar, some of which comes from the honey. (Yes, unlike the ginseng, that’s actually in there.)
But still, claiming your tea has an ingredient that it doesn’t is a little shady. If the tests proved there was a small amount in there, this case might be thrown out.
What!! No ginseng!? All these years they've just been pouring bottles of honey into their cans. Wow. https://t.co/87kbFfeELH
— willard watson (@wwwillarddd) April 26, 2019
Instead, knowing that it wasn’t detected at all, Arizona could have a real problem on their hands. Now that it’s out in the open, fans aren’t all that happy.
Wow... of course this is the only “drink” (other than beer and water) that I ever buy at a store. It’s still good as all get out but jeez! https://t.co/3oGHzikYMX
— Ross A. Renfrow (@ross_renfrow) April 26, 2019
In short, people should be honest about their food. If they spoke up and said that it’d no longer contain ginseng to keep costs down, sure. It’d bum people out. But they’d have likely been forgiven, especially if the taste didn’t change.
It looks like Arizona might be in a lot of trouble. That means that if you still have a bunch of unopened bottles that claim they contain ginseng, they may be worth a lot of money someday.
So far, Arizona has yet to comment on social media about what’s going on. It’d be interesting to see if they admit that their tea lacks ginseng. Or, maybe they have an explanation that makes sense.
