How A Hoppy Tea Startup Draws Craft Brew Lovers
How A Hoppy Tea Startup Draws Craft Brew Lovers. Hoplark HopTea cofounders Dean Eberhardt (left) and Andrew Markley in their Boulder, Colo. brewery, which produces a sparkling tea brewed with hops.HOPLARK HOPTEA
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.
HopTea, which launched nationwide in Whole Foods Market in August, is the brainchild of two college buddies, Dean Eberhardt and Andrew Markley. They had always dreamed of starting a business together, and true to the best of entrepreneurial cliches, they hatched their venture in a garage in Boulder, Colo.
Only these two friends, who had gone their separate ways after college, didn’t act on their startup fantasies for a decade.
Eberhardt, 37, was working in his family’s plastic recycling business in Chicago, while Markley, who lived in Madison, Wisc., had gone on to get a PhD in biochemistry; as a a post-doc, he researched the genetic engineering of pond scum to create sugars and amino acids. He was hoping to get a job as a professor, but after a brainstorming session three years ago in Madison, the two friends decided they would finally start their company.
Inspiration for exactly what they would sell came one night in Chicago. Eberhardt, who had stopped drinking for a month to see if it would help him lose weight–he has since lost 50 pounds in all–had taken his friend to his favorite brewery.
“The problem was I was a huge craft beer aficionado and I missed it,” recalls Eberhardt. “Andrew ordered a double IPA. I grabbed it and smelled it, and said, ‘Why can’t I experience this right now?’” It wasn’t the alcohol he craved as much as the comeradery of sharing a brew with a friend, he says.
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