It’s only $1, but crazed fans think AriZona iced tea tastes like a million bucks.
The vivacious colorful-canned drink from the New York-based company has famously stayed priced at just 99 cents, but it’s become a bonafide pop culture phenomenon over the years. Crazed fans have gotten tattoos of the infamous cherry blossom tree, collected hundreds of beverage cans or wrapped their car in AriZona’s Georgia Peach can design.
Just ask Hannah Mead, a Lorton, Virginia resident and self-proclaimed “Zonie,” the name given to AriZona superfans who obsess over collecting rare or limited edition merchandise. The 26-year-old has been enthralled with the brand since her first sip of AriZona’s Green Tea with Ginseng and Honey drink as a child.
“It left such a memorable taste with me. I was like, ‘I love this,’” Mead told The Post. “I’ve fallen in love with the brand ever since.”
As a member of the “Zonie gang,” Mead’s dedication to the brand extends beyond collecting cans and wearing AriZona merchandise.
She redesigned her 2011 Remake V2 Wide body Genesis Coupe 2.0t with AriZona green tea cherry blossom decals and headlights that project the car’s AriZona-themed name. She named the car GeniZona because it’s a combination of a Genesis coupe and AriZona Iced Tea.
“I came up with the overall concept, like my license plate used to say $0.99,” Mead said. “I was trying to get people to understand that it’s themed after the Iced Tea.”
AriZonaLand
Many zonies remain loyal to the AriZona brand because, for over 30 years, it’s still cost-friendly, has attractive packaging and the drink’s taste remains the same.
But it also spawned a fandom that attracted customers to anything the brand produced from juices, coffee, alcohol, candy, clothes and shoes.
Now, it’s opened AriZonaLand, located in Keasbey, New Jersey, is an immersive museum all about AriZona Iced Tea’s history, which is attached to a factory that produces the popular beverage.
The area is also known as the experience center, a museum format where guests can learn about the different artifacts that tell the story behind the iced tea company.
When tourists walk inside they’ll see the nearly 1 million square feet of AriZona-inspired decorations incorporating retro colors, brand artifacts, handcrafted chandeliers made from an old bottling filler and the first-ever AriZona merchandise store.
Mead, who actively curates content around her love for the brand, revealed how she discovered she was featured in the AriZonaLand museum in a display showcasing her devotion to the company.
“I almost started crying. I could not verbally express how much that meant to me because I’ve been so dedicated to the brand,” Mead professed.
As the attendees explore the two-level building, they can go upstairs to gain knowledge about how the brand got started, collaborations, various products the brand has curated, the evolution of the canned drink and how the company implements sustainability.
Quali-tea
AriZona Iced Tea sweetened the beverage industry in 1992 when co-founders Don Vultaggio and John Ferolito desired a drink that reminded them of paradise.
“Somebody walks into a store, sees an attractive can or bottle,” Vultaggio, the chairperson of the Arizona Beverage Company, told the Post. “If they haven’t had it before and they say, ‘Well that’s interesting and the price is great,’ and they take it home and they drink it and like it. What are they going to buy next time they shop that product? [AriZona]. Because it makes sense.”
It didn’t take long for the “big can” drinks, ranging in various flavors from Muncho Mango, Green Tea and the infamous Arnold Palmer beverage, to become a pop culture phenomenon by quenching everyone’s thirst for only .99¢.
“We can focus on some basic things that appeal to the average person and our consumers, the average person, when he’s thirsty or she’s thirsty and want to have their thirst quenched with something to taste good, that’s consistently good, that looks great and is fairly priced,” Vultaggio said.
Despite the Iced Tea being named after Arizona, a place Vultaggio never visited prior to the beverage’s development, he felt a connection to the desert-like ambiance.
“I always associated Arizona with a healthy, clean and dry feel that was different from the Brooklyn feel,” Vultaggio told CNN. “Having a name associated with a lifestyle, which is an environment and climate that made you want to grab a refreshing iced tea.”
And the beverage has shockingly remained .99¢ despite inflation, even though it should cost $2.26 according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ price calculator.
“Our ability to maintain price even at a time when everything was going up was [that] we don’t have what I’ll call it ‘foolish spending,’” Vultaggio said.
Ded-tea-cated company
Despite being under a buck per can, zonies are known to spend up to $850 on merch.
AriZona’s first-ever merchandise store, located in AriZonaLand, features seven exclusive products that can only be purchased at the store. The storefront also has AriZona tumbler cups, clothing, accessories, shoes, cosmetics, stationary, backpacks, skateboards, bicycles, surfboards, roller skates and plush pillows on display.
At the NJ factory, zonies can also immerse themselves inside the process of how AriZona Iced Teas are curated inside the AriZonaLand factory, which has accents of pink and teal paint along with green tea cherry blossom prints plastered across the floor.
“It’s the coolest factory I’ve ever been in and I’ve been in factories all over the world,” Vultaggio added.
As tourists walk throughout the facility, standing over the batches of tea, the smell of AriZona Iced Tea’s Muncho Mango drink fills the entire room.
Tour guides allow 24 “zonies” to begin the walk-through as long as they wear a hair net and remove items such as jewelry and clothing items with fringes, to avoid those items from falling into the drink patches.
“We are protecting our beverages. This is a live working factory and we want to make sure that we have the utmost food safety requirements,” Nicole Cusson, 37, a senior human resources and safety manager at the site, told The Post.
Vultaggio always knew he wanted to give AriZona lovers the opportunity to see how their favorite Iced Tea drinks were produced, when he started developing this venture nearly five years ago.
“I thought it’d be great to have the ability for them to see where it’s made,” Vultaggio said about the bright and cheery factory. “That was the genesis of the idea. I think you’re going to leave with, ‘Hey, I like this product and I like it more now since I’ve seen how it’s made.“
Tourists are welcome to learn about AriZona’s manufacturing process with a free guided tour during hours of operation, Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., as long as guests sign up on the company website.
