September 1996: Clayton & David- sailing in the Caribbean

 

August 1997: IN THE BEGINNING...

The idea for Sweet Leaf Tea was born in 1997 while Clayton was living on a sailboat in the Florida Keys. He wanted to make a ready-to-drink bottled tea that tasted as good as the homemade iced tea that his grandmother "Mimi" used to make.

December 1997: Clayton's sketches for the first tea brewing system

 

May 1998: TAKING IT TO THE STREETS

Sweet Leaf Tea's first delivery van was purchased in 1998 with 200,000+ miles on it, and seemed to be in the garage more than on the road. Somehow, they still managed to get their tea from the brewery onto store shelves.

September 1998: THE FIRST BATCHES

Granny's recipe called for premium tea leaves & pure cane sugar. Following her instructions, the first big batches of Sweet Leaf Tea were brewed in Beaumont, Texas using pillowcases as tea bags & crawfish pots for brew tanks.

February 1999: THE EARLY YEARS

A year after Clayton officially started Sweet Leaf Tea, he was joined by his best friend since childhood, David. They used garden hoses to fill the bottles, a handheld drill to put on caps, and applied the labels by hand.

June 1999: Clayton & David with the first brew tanks

 

April 2000: The first automatic fillers at Sweet Leaf Tea

 

September 2002: Austin City Limits

Our first ACL was a huge success in 2002. We sold nearly 10,000 bottles of tea and had blisters on our hands by the end of the 3 day festival.

October 2003: GROWING STRONG

Sweet Leaf Tea moved headquarters to Austin, Texas, where Clayton and David went to college.

October 2004: Clayton & David with new flavors and a packaging upgrade

 

November 2008: Sweet Leaf Team- 45 employees strong