ASI Tea Company is headed South!! After canvassing the Southeast over the last several months and gaining distribution in all major metropolitan areas of Georgia, South Carolina & North Carolina, the Savannah Based Yaupon Tea manufacturer is now Southbound.  Establishing their brand in Jacksonville at The Earth Fare Location, the company has sights set on expanding distribution in the Sunshine State and Southeast.

“Florida is a great place to sell our Wild Picked, ready to drink ASI Yaupon Tea – it’s warm year round. Florida also has an educated population looking for local, authentic, healthy products like our loose leaf ASI Yaupon Tea.” Said Lou Thomann, Founder of ASI Tea Company.

ASI Tea Company produces an organic line of calorie sensitive, bottled Yaupon Teas featuring U.S.native & indigenous ingredients as well as a loose leaf tea available in stores and online.

“Our mission at ASI Yaupon Tea is making a healthy, natural and excellent tasting Yaupon Tea Beverage for the modern, healthy consumer as we rediscover this American native treasure we call ASI”, says Lou.

ASI Tea Company, rooted in Savannah, started on the shelf of Brighter Day Natural Foods located in Savannah on July 3 2014. The team of Lou Thomann and George Ryan set out across the East Coast attending trade shows, performing in store product demonstrations, working sponsored events, attempting to capitalize on any chance they had to get their message out. It appears that they have amassed a variety of listeners.  ASI Tea is brewed from the only significant native source of caffeine in North America so their message has gained quite a bit of attention in most every marketplace from Health Food Stores to Convenient stores. Even Presidents, Famous Actors, Musicians, and published Health Experts are finding us. Now, ASI is setting its sights on Florida, then across the Gulf Coast All the Way to Austin TX.

George Ryan, V.P. of Tea explains ,  “We were told from the get-go in our first couple of months on the shelf, we needed to attend the SOHO expo show in Orlando, which is the major Natural foods show on the East Coast. After exhibiting there in December, we received a lot of very positive feedback and buyers welcoming our entire line.  Then we turned to one of our larger grocery accounts, Earth Fare, for some shelf space. We stocked the Jacksonville store last month. It’s a great location, brand new store and great people. We are confident ASI will do well in that location as our flagship location in the Sunshine State.”  ASI tea now has product reps working Sarasota, Boynton Beach,  Gainesville, Indiatlantica, Melbourne & Tallahassee.

ASI Tea has stocked over 65 locations in the Southeast since its debut on July 3, 2014 . ” It has been a crazy ride so far and we are just starting. Most people are amazed that we have come so far in 6 – 7 months. Passion and perseverance and a great product to boot. Well, Lou and I have devoted the majority of the 1400 minutes in a day promoting ASI tea and educating the Southeast about our rediscovered, American treasure. There are only two of us, so our hat collection has become quite large.  We are building a strong following out there with the only bottled Yaupon Tea in the world, said George.

ASI Tea targets the health conscious buyer looking for an organic, cleansing, naturally caffeinated beverage without processed sugars or preservatives, as well as those looking for a healthy choice between the water and the sodas on the go or in the office.

“It really is that special”, Lou explains “Simply, it is more real than dirt”. Not a watered down, sugar laden, acidic tea in a plastic bottle. On the shelf we are filling the gap between the artificially caffeinated junk and the hum drum of bottled water. It is the cleanest tea in the market place, no doubt.”  Lou adds ,  “ the antioxidants are off the chart! We will be coming out with our Southern “kinda-sweet” tea in March for those who like it a little sweeter. We are in the South and just couldn’t get away without a slightly sweeter tea for those who are demanding it. But we will be using all natural, unrefined, organic, Non-GMO domestic cane sugar for that blend. It adheres to our model.”

ASI tea’s immediate plan is continue stocking shelves in Major Natural Food Grocers in the Southeast and Florida like Whole Foods & Earth Fare among others. As well, ASI is in discussion with one of the largest grocery chains in the United States and the two top natural foods distributors in the U.S.

According to George; “Our phase one plan is to make ASI Tea available in all of the states where our Yaupon Tea plants naturally grow. It’s like a truly organically grown marketing concept from Mother Nature. It’s a big area to cover but we have 3 states down and 4 more to go,  it kind of feels like Smokey & The Bandit – loaded up and trucking”, laughs George.