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Ok, I don’t know all the details and know little about the world of business, but I find this sad.

We discovered Honest Tea on a trip to West Virginia. Clare wanted Chai tea for breakfasts so we stopped at a Whole Foods to buy some. We didn’t have time to ponder our choices, so grabbed the first box that said chai. When we got to the cabin we read the box and saw that the company was headquartered in Bethesda and walking distance from our house. I took an interest in the company, feeling proud that our town could produce such cool folks. I’ve delighted in their emails and occasionally even considered applying for a job with them. Last summer they moved headquarters a little farther away from us, but still in Bethesda.

While I don’t like their bottled tea (I don’t like bottled tea. Period.) I buy their tea bags quite often.

So now they have partnered with Coca Cola. Isn’t this the same Coca Cola that has had many boycotts against it because of human rights issues? It’s just not right. A company that prides itself on all things good – environmentally conscious, humanitarian and healthy is pairing with a company that is the opposite.

In their blog post, Seth and Barry admit that it might not work out for a number of reasons. They also hope to be a “change agent” by providing the choice of Honest Tea to a wider audience and “creating demand for a more sustainable system of agriculture” by buying organic ingredients. I hope that is the case. I hope they are also trying to be a role model to companies such as Coca Cola and not just get stinking rich.