For years, Nestea was the most popular iced tea. 75 years after a Nestea first appeared on the supermarket shelf, the brand is now over. As the "Lebensmittelzeitung" (LZ) reports, brand owner Nestlé has confirmed a sales stop. The drink will disappear from supermarkets by the end of March.

Accordingly, Nestlé confirmed to the newspaper that "the contract with our previous distribution partner has come to an end". According to "LZ", trading partners have already been informed that the iced tea is no longer sold. The decision has two reasons. The "LZ" reports that a change in strategy at Nestlé was the decisive factor. Accordingly, the sugary drink had been under scrutiny for a long time. Nestlé did not want to reveal to the “LZ” whether there would be an alternative to the Swiss company’s iced tea after the sales stop.

Another reason may have been the dwindling market share of ice tea. One of the most popular drinks on the market for years, competitor Coca-Cola launched its own product, Fuze Tea, at the end of 2017 and was immediately successful. The competition from new varieties such as BraTee by the popular Berlin rap star Capital Bra also gave Nestea a hard time. Nestea played an increasingly smaller role on the beverage shelves, last year the sales market share was still around 1.7 percent, reports the "LZ". In 2017, the drink was still the market leader with a double-digit market share.

It should not have been due to the dwindling popularity of iced tea. According to a Statista survey, a projected 9.54 million consumers aged 14 and over bought and consumed iced tea in the past 14 days at the time of the survey - a significant increase compared to previous years.

In the past few months, well-known brands have repeatedly disappeared from the shelves in supermarkets. The US company PepsiCo announced in February that Punica fruit juices will no longer be sold. Production had already been stopped in the autumn of last year. In early March, it was announced that Mars would stop selling the once-popular Wrigley's chewing gum. Price increases by food companies also repeatedly lead to products disappearing from supermarkets for a short time. Edeka also announced at the beginning of March that it would be removing around 450 Mars products from its range.