Lazy Bear Tea Keeps Environmental Impact In Mind As It Builds RTD Tea Business

Three young entrepreneurs, including a woman who grew up in a coffee-growing region of Colombia, are working to build a business based on leftover coffee cherry husks (cascara) from Nicaragua. Their product is Lazy Bear Tea, a family of RTD teas currently distributed in the New England region, but looking to expand. Co-founder Daniela Uribe saw a market opportunity – and a partial solution to food waste – in the discarded coffee cherry husks when she first tasted the tea made from the dried husks. The company has been selling three SKUs of RTD tea (natural, lemon agave, and mint); a fourth flavor, cascara chai, with ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, fennel, black pepper, and agave syrup, is being introduced this month. Uribe’s mission is to be successful with a value-added product that combines the social impact of Honest Tea with the mainstream appeal and distribution strength of Snapple.