Press and Partnerships

BEER WITHOUT THE CALORIES

One of my favorite breweries doesn’t actually make beer. Hoplark HopTea’s unique take on tea has the same hoppy taste as my favorite craft brews, but without the calories. A $45 a month subscription gives you access to a special 12-pack every four weeks (and other discounts). They also stock these awesome teas at Whole Foods. —Michael Leibel, social media and audience development editor, Bloomberg Businessweek

HOPLARK HOPTEA IS BREWED LIKE A CRAFT BEER, BUT WITHOUT ALCOHOL

"Friends Andrew Markley and Dean Eberhardt founded Hoplark HopTea in Boulder, Colo., and spurred a new beverage category: tea brewed like a craft beer but without alcohol. The hop-brewed sparkling teas have a flavor profile similar to an IPA but with zero sugar and calories, and come in a 16-ounce can ($3). The four flavors — made with loose-leaf black, chamomile, white, or green — have names like The Really Hoppy One, The Calm One, The White Tea One, and The Green Tea One. Each bears a deep to light hopped fragrance and flavor and a craft beer’s slight pleasant bitterness. Markley, a biochemist, and Eberhardt, with a background in manufacturing, were both home brewers, but the idea came to Eberhardt in his final days on the Whole30 diet, when he stopped drinking for a month. “I was looking for a way to experience sharing a craft beer with a friend, but in a way that was fun and unexpected,” he says. “We thought of replacing the malt in beer with tea because, like malt, tea comes from a single plant but can be presented in a wide variety of ways.” It’s a hip, hoppy option for someone abstaining or just as a thirst quenching, non-alcoholic alternative. Available at Whole Foods Market locations and at hoptea.com."

The best hoppy alcohol-free drinks aren’t N/A beers

"Today, most of the larger American craft breweries are tripping over themselves to introduce a lower calorie, lower carbohydrate beer in the vein of macro light beers, just with the hallmark of more hop flavor. But at least one, Brooklyn Brewery, has already released a fully non-alcoholic beer. What’s more, at last year’s Great American Beer Festival (GABF), I sampled a dozen such beverages from upstart non-alcoholic brewing companies. Yet, taste being subjective, my personal favorite wasn’t even an N/A beer at all. The most delicious, hoppy alcohol-free beverage was a carbonated, dry-hopped iced tea: Hoplark HopTea out of Boulder, Colorado.

Some HopTea consumers never liked alcohol in the first place; some are newly sober. Some simply participated in #dryjanuary. For many non-alcoholic beer drinkers, it’s all about having something to order at a bar that looks and feels as much like beer as possible. But sparkling HopTea meets all those criteria and then some: The color is amber like a great pale ale. Its bubbly. The hops provide the bitterness and floral bouquet hopheads crave. And while full-flavored beers commonly pack around 200 calories and non-alcoholic craft beers tiptoe around 100 calories, most Hoplark teas pack the nicest, roundest of numbers: zero. Which is equal to its carbs. In this Certified Cicerone’s opinion, it’s certifiably tasty."

Why Are Mocktails Trending Now?

"Tea brewed like craft beer means you taste tea at the first sip and beer at the finish. Hoplark's combination of organic teas and fruit juices brewed with the hops make these a great refreshing take on get your caffeine fix, too."

The Biggest Food And Drink Trends For 2020

"The “sober curious” movement has helped fuel the rise of tasty, nonalcoholic drinks. But even if you have no plans to give up alcohol, a zero-proof drink is a solid choice if you’re looking for bold flavors next time you crack open a can.

Hoplark’s HopTea “is a cool brand out of the Rocky Mountains that’s in all of our stores,” Landrieu told HuffPost. “It’s brewed like a craft beer, but it’s a tea blend. Their use of hops is the defining characteristic.” The brand produces both non-caffeinated and heavily caffeinated drinks, like The Really Hoppy One with black tea, sparkling water and two types of hops."

How A Hoppy Tea Startup Draws Craft Brew Lovers—And The Sober Curious

"The first time I took a swig of Hoplark HopTea, I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting much. Iced tea is seldom my go-to beverage, but I was intrigued by the slightly weird concept: a canned, sparkling tea that is brewed with hops, just like a craft beer, but without any sugar, gluten, or calories–or for that matter, any alcohol. The taste was refreshing, and yes, very beerlike. 

What they have going for them: HopTea is really tasty and different, and the cofounders are certainly passionate. I’m looking forward to their next moves."

Our Top 10 Food Trends for 2020

"With so many consumers seeking out alternatives to alcohol, unique non-alcoholic options are popping up everywhere, from menus at the world’s most acclaimed bars to specialty stores... Add to that options enjoyed straight from the bottle or can, like hops-infused sparkling waters and zero-proof apertifs, and you can be sure guests avoiding the bar cart will never get bored."

DRINK OF THE WEEK: HOPLARK HOPTEA

"Using an essential ingredient of the beer industry, Boulder-based Hoplark created HopTea, a new, alcohol-free beverage that’s already racking up awards. Made with with organic tea leaves, Hoplark adds hops like Simcoe and Citra to the brew to extract complementary herbal and citrus notes before the beverage is carbonated and canned... The result is a refreshing sparkling tea with the subtle bitterness of a freshly poured beer."

Libations: HopTea is in a glass of its own

"Oct. 1, 4:30 p.m.: At my desk and wanting to hit happy hour, I crack open a can of intensely flavored HopTea, “The Really Hoppy One,” brewed with black tea plus Citra and Simcoe hops. Crisp, bitter notes and 70mg of caffeine pull me out of an afternoon slump, and I make a 5:30 p.m. CycleBar class ready to crush it."

Hoplark HopTea Lets You Enjoy Craft Beer Hops Without the Alcohol

"The craft-beer enthusiast and homebrewer realized it was the experience of hanging out at a brewery with friends that he missed even more than the beer itself. After eighteen months of perfecting a drink, Eberhardt launched Hoplark at the South Pearl Street Farmers' Market, with no real expectations other than wanting to share something that he was happy to drink himself."

10 Food Trends You'll Soon Be Seeing Everywhere

"Hoplark’s sparkling HopTea is brewed with hops, and is halfway between an iced tea and a craft beer. It was kind of mind-blowing — the taste of beer and tea, but no alcohol!"

11 New Products You'll See In Austin Grocery Stores Soon (Hopefully)

"I could have finished a whole can of this Boulder based brewery’s alcohol-free tea, which is brewed like craft beer but with a tea base."

Boulder County Businesses Win Notice at Natural Products Expo

Local Companies Find Niche with Better For You Beverages

"For years, a question brewed in the minds of Dean Eberhardt and Andrew Markley: How to find a drink that is as interesting as craft beer, but with no calories and alcohol? Unable to find one, the Boulder homebrewers decided to concoct one."

For press and partnership inquires, please contact: press@hoptea.com