Coca-Cola in early stages of green tea variant launch

Coca-Cola is understood to be developing a new variant – Coca-Cola Green – of its core range, which could include extracts of green tea. The company has registered both “Coca-Cola Green” and “Green by Coca-Cola” as trademarks.

It is understood the project is still in the early stages of development and it is not clear if it will be launched next year or if it is part of long-term innovation plans.

The move comes just weeks after the soft drinks giant scaled back a joint venture with Nestlé, which focused on developing tea and coffee-based drinks and functional products. The venture, called Beverage Partners Worldwide (BPW), has now been reduced to focusing on black tea-based drinks.

BPW will continue to market the “calorie burning” drink Enviga, which has been launched in the US and will be launched in Europe next year (MW June 22). Enviga includes extracts of green tea, which BPW claims can help the body burn up to 100 extra calories a day as part of a diet and exercise programme.

One soft drinks executive says: “The functional part of the soft drinks market is showing enormous growth at the moment, so it would be logical for Coca-Cola to be exploring that area.”

A spokesman for Coca-Cola GB declined to comment on the speculation, adding: “It is common practice to register whole rafts of names that may be of use in the future – or not.” Over the past couple of years, Coca-Cola has registered trademarks such as Coca-Cola Blak, Makkio, Zero and Relentless. All were subsequently launched.