After months of absence from Canadian shelves, Nestea is back—though not quite the same as before. Keurig Dr Pepper Canada announced last month that it had relaunched the beloved iced tea brand in ready-to-drink formats, rolling out across major grocery chains including Loblaws, Walmart, Sobeys, Metro, and IGA, as well as on Amazon. Canadians can now find Nestea in cans, bottles, and tetra packs, with four flavours available: lemon, peach, raspberry, and lemon zero sugar.
The return has been accompanied by a nationwide marketing campaign titled Nothing’s Like Nestea, tapping into nostalgia and long-standing affection for the brand. But while the label may look familiar, the drink inside the can is not the same formula many Canadians grew up with.
The change stems from a licensing shift. Until recently, Coca-Cola held the rights to bottle and distribute Nestea in Canada, but as of December 31 it stopped producing iced tea under Nestlé-owned trademarks. Keurig Dr Pepper acquired the branding rights, but Coca-Cola retained ownership of the original Nestea recipe. That same formula has since been repurposed for Coca-Cola’s own Fuze Iced Tea, which it promotes with the slogan “new name, same taste.”
“The beloved taste that Canadians have enjoyed for decades is a recipe proudly created and owned by Coca-Cola,” said Phil Cox, general manager of Coca-Cola Canada. The company insists that Fuze is made with the same ingredients, sourced from the same suppliers, and produced in the same Canadian facilities as the old Nestea. “Any other product on the market will be entirely separate,” a Coca-Cola spokesperson emphasized.
Keurig Dr Pepper, for its part, has avoided confirming details about Nestea’s current formula, though it promises innovation and quality under its stewardship. Nestlé continues to manage the powdered mix of Nestea in Canada.
For loyal iced tea drinkers, this means that what was once a single brand has split in two: Fuze offers the familiar Coca-Cola recipe, while the reborn Nestea represents a new chapter under Keurig Dr Pepper. Whether Canadians embrace the reboot or stick with Fuze remains to be seen, but what’s clear is that the iced tea market just got more competitive.